A Drifting Boat: Easy Come, Easy Go

EASY COME, EASY GO (US, 1967)

Original title: Easy Come, Easy Go

Filming date:

June - August 1966

Release date:

March 22, 1967

Running time:

95min

Production company:

Paramount Pictures

Budget:

US$ 2 millions

Box office:

US$ 1,9 million

Main cast:

Elvis Presley

Dodie Marshall

Pat Priest

Pat Harrington, Jr.
Elsa Lanchaster

Soundtrack:

"Easy Come, Easy Go" (EP)
(March 23, 1967)
"Double Features: Easy Come, Easy Go/Speedway" (CD)
(March 1995)
"Easy Come, Easy Go" (CD/LP)
(FTD - 2007/2020)

Easy Come, Easy Go is the twenty-third Elvis film. In it, retired Navy diver Ted Jackson gets involved in psychedelic adventures while hunting for a supposed lost treasure.

By 1967, "more of the same" had become an euphemism for "the new Elvis movie." Virtually identical situations, cheesy and meaningless music, and increasingly bizarre occurrences were the main characteristics of productions featuring the King of Rock. It is no wonder that Elvis reached the height of his indignation that year, trying to get out of his duties in a near-lethal manner during the filming of "Clambake".

Elvis and Dodie Marshall on scene

"Easy Come, Easy Go" only changed his profession. Instead of being an unemployed singer or a clumsy pilot, he was a Navy officer. Trouble continued to seek out his character, and girls were always at his feet, which caused him great confusion. A little adventure was added to break up the routine, but nothing that changed the status of the production.

The cast includes some notable names. Elsa Lanchaster, who began her career in silent films in 1925 and went on to star in renowned productions such as "Mary Poppins" (1964), plays a somewhat off-center yoga teacher. Frank McHugh, from classics such as "Return of the Terror" (1934), plays a supporting role that would be the last work of his career.

Elvis and Elsa Lancaster

Pat Priest, Herman and Lilly Munster's niece in the series "The Munsters" (1964-1966), plays one of the main roles. Dodie Marshall, Elvis' partner, was the only truly unknown cast member. The actress made only two films in her entire career, both with Elvis (the other being Spinout).

Upon its release, the production failed to recoup its budget and lost at least $50,000. The film finished 50th in box office sales in 1967.

SOUNDTRACK

Recording sessions took place on September 28 and 29, 1966, at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. After the relative freedom of the Nashville sessions in May of that year, which yielded the LP How Great Thou Art and other songs more to Elvis' taste, he was reportedly dissatisfied with the quality of the music for this film.

Seven songs were recorded for the production. "She's a Machine" was not used in the film nor does it appear on the soundtrack album, but it would be released on "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" in 1968. The remaining six appeared on the EP, which failed to chart and sold less than 30,000 units.

Given that the format was no longer a viable marketing medium and considering the poor performance of Easy Come, Easy Go, this was Elvis's last EP.

New Zealand was the first country to abandon the EP, and the work was sold directly on LP on June 12, 1967.

In addition to the six tracks from the film, the album contained six other tracks from three Elvis films that had been successful in Oceania ("G. I. Blues", "Blue Hawaii" and "Fun in Acapulco").

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SUPPORTING CAST

DODIE MARSHALL

Dodie Smyth was born on December 22, 1934 in Belgrave, England, and her career consisted of two films with Elvis and a handful of TV appearances in the 1960s.

Although born in England, Dodie was raised in Philadelphia and took singing and acting lessons in New York before moving to Hollywood in 1964. Television audiences first saw Dodie in the series "My Favorite Martian" (1963-1966), where she played a girlfriend of Bill Bixby's character.

Her first film role was a small but memorable part in Spinout (1966), with Elvis. In her next and final film, Easy Come, Easy Go, she was promoted to the lead. After that, Dodie made a few more TV appearances and then largely disappeared. News of her current whereabouts (in 2025 she would be 89 years old, if alive) is nonexistent.

PAT PRIEST

Patricia Ann Priest was born on August 5, 1936 in Bountiful, Utah. Her mother, Ivy Baker Priest, was Secretary of the Treasury from 1953 to 1961, which gave her a lot of exposure to entertainment in Washington, where she won beauty contests and soon moved to California to act in TV commercials and various programs.

In 1964, in the middle of the first season of the series "The Munsters" (1964-1966), she replaced Beverley Owen in the role of Marilyn. Her appearance with Elvis came a year after the end of the series. Priest wrote in her biography that her memories of that time are incredible, and that her only regret was selling the Cadillac she bought from Elvis.

Although she is not fully retired (she occasionally makes TV appearances), Pat lives in quiet Haley, Idaho, and often attends conventions and shows where she signs autographs. The actress is 89 years old (2025).

PAT HARRINGTON, JR.

Born Daniel Patrick Harrington, Jr. in New York City on August 13, 1929, the actor graduated from Fordham University and served as an intelligence officer during the Korean War. Following in the footsteps of his father, a Vaudeville star, he pursued a career in entertainment and took a job at NBC, beginning his career on Broadway.

Harrington rose to fame in the 1950s as a member of Steve Allen's comedy troupe, gaining recognition for his appearances on "The Jack Paar Show" and for his recurring role on the sitcom "Make Room for Daddy". His later roles included series, "Easy Come, Easy Go" and Superintendent Dwayne Schneider on "One Day at a Time" (1975-1984). From the mid-1980s until 2016, the actor made guest appearances on several series.

Pat passed away on January 6, 2016, at the age of 86, due to complications from Alzheimer's.

ELSA LANCHESTER

Elsa Lanchester Sullivan was born in London on October 28, 1902. She studied dance in Paris and became famous enough that Columbia invited her to cut an album, which led her to meet Charles Laughton, whom she married. She was a major star between the 1930s and 1965, earning many prizes. In the 1960s, she appeared in classics such as "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "Blackbeard's Ghost" (1968. Her last film was "Die Laughing" (1980).

In March 1983, she released an autobiography in which she claimed that she never had children with Laughton because he was homosexual and confessed to having had an abortion early in her burlesque career and another while married to Laughton. Shortly thereafter, she suffered two strokes, becoming totally incapacitated and confined to her bed.

Elsa Lanchester passed away in Woodland Hills, California, on December 26, 1986, at the age of 84. Her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.

FRANK MCHUGH

Francis Curray McHugh was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, on May 23, 1898. Coming from a family that worked in Vaudeville, Frank appeared in plays from an early age and, in 1925, was hired as a resident actor by First National Pictures. A friend of James Cagney, he was an extra or supporting cast in almost all of the actor's films, with an enviable career list of more than 150 productions between 1930 and 1967 - an average of 4 films per year.

From the late 1930s until his retirement, McHugh was known for comic roles such as Captain Jack in "Easy Come, Easy Go", his last film for the big screen. The actor also had a radio show from 1954 to 1956, and appeared in hundreds of series from 1944 to 1969, when he finally retired from acting completely.

McHugh passed away of natural causes on September 11, 1981, at the age of 83.