On The Road With Dirk and Elvis

Friday, March 25, 2022

My not-so-distant relative, the film producer Pandro S. Berman wanted to make a quick exploration film for MGM regarding the upcoming “Beat” scene that was happening at that time.  He finished the production work for Elvis Presley starring “Jailhouse Rock” and was interested in doing a film where Elvis played a ‘beatnik poet. ' For research, Elvis went to City Lights bookstore to pick up on the vibe of the store as well as the local North Beach scene.  He made an effort to get a job at City Lights as a book clerk, but that wasn’t going to work out.  There was also talk of Berman producing a film version of Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road, ” with Elvis playing “Dean Moriarty” and British actor Dirk Bogarde playing Salvatore “Sal” Paradise, the novel’s narrator.

Bogarde flew out of London to meet Elvis in San Francisco.  At the time, Elvis never drank, but still, he met Dirk at the bar Vesuvio, which was practically next door to City Lights.  Dirk wanted to talk to Elvis personally without any managers around or studio people.  He had very little knowledge of the beats, and basically, his understanding of that scene came from his understanding of the Teddy Boys.  He knew and heard of the existentialist scene in Paris occurring at the time, but the beats were a foreign concept to him.   But he desperately wanted to make changes to his image from a teen idol to a serious actor.  Bogarde had a darker side, and he felt he needed to express that side more.  But he wasn’t sure how, and on top of that, he was getting frustrated with the studios back in the U.K. He felt that this could be the role for him to change everything.  Also, he had a great admiration for Elvis.  He didn’t understand the music or that type of culture, but he saw something sincere and raw in Elvis’ approach to music and image.

Elvis was a truck driver before singer, and he could identify with Dean for his natural energy to go out and get going.  Also, in his mind, the name “Dean’ relates to his favorite actor James Dean.  He was aware that his films were lightweight, compared to the world of James Dean, and he wanted an ‘in’ as much as Dirk did.   Bogarde ordered himself a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, thinking it was a very American type of thing to call in a San Francisco bar, and Elvis, being Elvis, ordered a bottle of Coke.   They went together to City Lights, and they each bought a copy of “On The Road” and looked and commented on each page of that novel over their beer and coke.

Sitting in the bar, at one of its small tables, Dirk was suddenly taken back by him being there with the actual iconic Elvis, discussing what they both felt was an iconic novel that surely can be a film vehicle for both of them.  With the help of Berman, they couldn’t possibly imagine this to be a failure.   Nevertheless, history has a way of by-passing moments like these for something that eventually will not be important.  And who knew at this point and time that Dirk Bogarde would enter a second chance in the British film world as one of its most notable actors.