Pat Priest of Munsters Fame Turns Glamorous in Elvis Film

1967

MUNSTER TURNS GLAMOROUS
Bikini Changes Pat Priest's Film Career

By ALI SAR

Changing an already established "image" has been a problem for many performers, unless they prefer to excel only as "character" players.

"Once you're type cast, you're in trouble. If you don't think so, just ask any actor." So believes Pat Priest, who is out to capture a new image for herself in her first motion picture, "Easy Come, Easy Go."

Stands Out

Many viewers will remember Pat from her role as Marilyn Munster in the popular television show "The Munsters." She says, "I'm the only normal one in the cast."

After nearly 80 episodes of "Munsters" Pat found out that it could be pretty hard to convince moviemakers that she could play roles other than Marilyn Munster.

Finally she got her break from veteran producer Hal Wallis, who, after having Pat read to him a few lines from a script, signed her to play opposite Elvis Presley in "Easy Come, Easy Go."

The Presley movie, currently in citywide release, provided Miss Priest with an opportunity to get away from the spell of Marilyn Munster.

Outlook Improves

Unlike the appearance of her television counterpart, the part, like in all Elvis productions, called for the actress to make her debut on the big screen clad in a bikini.

After viewing the finished product, Miss Priest is convinced that she no longer resembles Marilyn and from now on she won't have so difficult a time.

However, she admits the video series has provided her a training ground in addition to supplying her with sizable checks. In fact, she will be collecting residuals from those 80 episodes for a long time.

Of Elvis, with whom she worked with about six weeks, Miss Priest says, "He deserves everything he has ... Success hasn't gone to his head."

In addition to being a television and screen personality, Pat is also a different kind of celebrity. Her mother is former U.S. Treasurer Ivy Baker Priest, who is now the state treasurer.

The actress says that being Mrs. Priest's daughter has helped her career.

"...Having a famous mother only can open the door for you. After that you must prove yourself," she says.

Now that she has broken into movies after being a successful video star, will she concentrate on films?

"I prefer movies," she admits, adding, "but I have to keep busy ... And television allows you to broaden your whole scope of acting."


Capsule Reviews of Current Movies
By WAYNE WILSON

Like a cat with nine lives, Paramount producer Hal Wallis parlayed the limited talents of Elvis Presley into eight money-making movies. His latest, "Easy Come, Easy Go," doesn't seem likely to turn the tide.

It's attractively mounted in a nautical setting which makes for plenty of opportunities to ogle the pretty, bikini- clad girls that have become a trademark of Presley pictures.

Two especially appealing young ladies dress up the proceedings in this production, leggy Dodie Marshall, a bit-part player in Elvis' "Spinout," and Pat Priest, a healthy blonde who made her entertainment mark as Marilyn in "The Munsters" television series.

Presley plays an underwater demolition expert who discovers on his last assignment as a U.S. Navy frogman what appears to be a sunken treasure.

When he gets his separation papers, he raises enough money to dive for the treasure chest, but is thwarted, temporarily, by a beautiful playgirl (Miss Priest) and her money-grubbing traveling companion (Skip Ward).

Best tune is sung by Elsa Lancaster, an eccentric yoga instructor named Madame Neherina.

—The Valley News, Van Nuys, California, March 23, 1967, page 41, maybe. The page has five different page numbers depending on which edition it is.

My Comments (2007): I got this DVD a few months ago and watched it then. I wasn't taking notes to write a "review" but just going by memory now, I thought it was pretty good. Pat Priest's role is in opposition to Elvis getting whatever treasure is supposed to be down there in the wreck. He's just about out of the service, doing bomb-defusing work underwater. He's down there and finds a treasure. He arranges to go back and investigate, and Pat Priest and this "money-grubbing traveling companion" are competing for the loot.

The whole bit with Elsa Lancaster, the yoga class, is pretty funny, but very heavy-handed as a satire on the groovy youth culture of the time. The young people say a lot of far-out, groovy things, deadpanned, profound and pretentious, and of course of no consequence. Elvis looks like he has his doubts about the whole scene, man.

The absolute worst song on the soundtrack album, "Yoga Is As Yoga Does," is actually quite cute in the movie. It's one to skip on the CD, but colorful, funny, and a keeper in the movie. There's some very colorful stuff with this one cat who crazily takes apart Elvis' whole car and has the parts lying around. But he has another crazy car that they're able to go out in.

There's a very humorous sea-captain who runs a scuba-diving shop and is afraid of the sea, and must be a former children's show host because he also does that, pretending, in the back room of his shop. Very crazy stuff.

Then, going way back earlier in the film, when Elvis is with his Navy buddies, there's an excellent number, "The Love Machine," in which they spin a wheel that has girls and their phone numbers on it. They don't exactly know who the wheel will land on, but they can tell the choices are all good. I love this song.

The colors are great, Elvis is excellent, the youth culture stuff is sappy but pleasant, Elvis' love interest is very a perky do-gooder that you're rooting for. The only down thing about the film I can think of is the extended underwater scene toward the beginning. Too much of that.