by Ann Moses
From the Tiger Beat Archives, July 1969
The studio door flew open and out came tall and lovely Lynn Kellogg. Her beautiful golden blonde hair hung down on her shoulders which were covered by an Edwardian style leather coat. Wide wool trousers, a fugal change and huge round sunglasses completed the output.
She looked just as you would imagine the feminine lead in “Hair,” the tribal love rock musical, but NOT as you picture the can-can girl and Elvis dramatic movie “Charro!”
Just the same, Lynn chose to leave her role in “Hair” on Broadway to star with Elvis in his latest film “Charro!” To be sure, it wasn’t Lynn’s admiration for Elvis that made her take the part!
CHANGED HER MIND
“Not at all!” She will blatantly admit.
“I always felt Elvis was a good singer, but I hated his songs and that hairdo.” I was working with Elvis for three weeks in Arizona and one week in Hollywood that changed her mind quick.
Although four weeks isn’t much time to get to know someone very well, Lynn says Elvis is such an open and warm person that he’s very easy to get to know. And like!
“Once I got to know him, I found he was a very nice gentleman; and a very good actor. I’ve heard many directors say they would like to use him in a movie as an actor instead of as Elvis Pressley. Working with him and watching him back, I can see what they mean.”
A NEW ELVIS
In “Charro!” Lynn guarantees the audience will be seeing Elvis the Actor, and Elvis at his finest.
“I think Charro!” is a very good film. I don’t like that type of film myself because it’s violent and I like to see films that set a good example. For the type of movie it is, it’s very good. My new saying is, “Forget about telling it like it is, tell it like it’s supposed to be!”
Lynn observed that Elvis was happiest when he was working the hardest. “He thrives on work. Between shots we fiddled around together and we got into all kinds of harmonizing. His guitarist, Charlie, was with him and we all sat around and sang. It was a groove. We all went swimming once at the hotel and that was fun.”
ELVIS THE MAN
During some of the breaks and filming on the set, Lynn had a chance to learn more about Elvis The Man. “It may surprise some to know, but Elvis studies Yoga. And he knows all about astrology.
“I don’t know how deeply he goes into it, but he sure knows enough to carry on a lively discussion about it. I think the most important thing about Elvis is not that he knows so much about astrology or whatever, the important thing is he knows where he’s at!”
“One day I had a short talk with Col. Parker. I said, ‘Col. what’s the secret to your success?’ And he said, ‘First, you’ve got to have a talent.'”
TOUR OF EL’S MANSION
When Lynn finished on the film and said goodbye to Elvis he invited her to visit his mansion in Memphis. She was working in Memphis last Christmas, so she dropped by to say hello.
She became excited just recalling the experience. “What was the place like?” I asked. “Oh! Wow! It’s fantastic! He used to show it off to people, really open the door and let them in, but he had to put in new carpets every month, so he quit.
“When you first pull up to the gates, the gates had big musical notes on them. Even though it’s out in the country, there’s traffic going by all the time in a steady stream. The house looks like Tara from ‘Gone with the Wind.’ Because it was Christmas time, he had blue lights outlining the house and all the way along the driveway.
TROPHY ROOM
“When you first go in, off the entryway, there’s this one whole entire huge room and the walls are filled with gold records and mementos. Then he has two long rows of drawers, like in a record store, and each one is filled with scrapbooks. Just thousands and thousands of things!
“I was with some friends and we only stayed about an hour. His wife, Priscilla, was there and some of his friends. We went into the living room and there’s a huge double piano–I don’t mean two pianos–but two keyboards on one side and it’s all in gold leaf!
“His bedroom is really something else! There’s a huge bed and on the ceiling he has two television sets. Then there’s a button that you push and armrests come down. There’s also two radios in the control panel.
“He said he wanted to show us his ‘closet,’ and he just laughed and laughed and he led us into this huge room. That was his ‘closet’ it was so wonderful, because he was enjoying all this is much as we were!”
Lynn has kept very busy since filming “Charro!” She has just finished guesting on “The Jonathan Winters Show” and “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.”
Editor’s note: Lynn passed away in November 2020, she was 77 years old.
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