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FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Love Me Tender is a 1956 American musical Western film directed by Robert D. Webb, and released by 20th Century Fox on November 15, 1956. The film, named after the song, stars Richard Egan, Debra Paget, and Elvis Presley in his acting debut. As Presley’s movie debut, it was the only time in his acting career that he did not receive top billing.

Love Me Tender was originally to be titled The Reno Brothers, but when advanced sales of Presley’s “Love Me Tender” single passed one million—a first for a single—the film’s title was changed to match. This was the only time that Presley played a historical figure.

Plot

Presley plays Clint Reno, the youngest of the four Reno brothers, who stays home to take care of his mother and the family farm as older brothers Vance, Brett and Ray fight in the American Civil War for the Confederate Army. The family is mistakenly informed that eldest brother Vance has been killed on the battlefield. After four years of war, the brothers return home and find that Vance’s former girlfriend Cathy has married Clint. Although Vance accepts this wholeheartedly (“We always wanted Cathy in the family”), the family has to struggle to reach stability with this issue. The subplot of unresolved passion carries the film; it is made clear from the outset upon the Reno brothers’ return home that Cathy still loves Vance, although she is true to the younger Clint. Honor prevails for Vance, but jealousy leads Clint into irrational rivalry for the Cathy’s love.

In the film’s opening scenes, the three Reno brothers, serving as Confederate cavalrymen, attack a Union train carrying a federal payroll of $12,000, not knowing that the war had ended only a day before. The Confederates come to a decision to keep the money as spoils of war, an issue that will come back into the plot after the Reno brothers return home. A conflict of interest ensues when Vance tries to return the money against the wishes of some of his fellow Confederates, all of whom are being sought by the U.S. Government for robbery. The film reaches its tragic climax with Clint’s death during a final shootout. In the end, the money is returned, the Reno brothers are released, the other three ex-Confederates are arrested, and Clint is laid to rest at the family farm.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

1630s

• DIED 1630: JOHANNES KEPLER (ASTRONOMER)

1730s

• BORN 1738: SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL (ASTRONOMER)

1800s

• 1806: PIKES PEAK FIRST SIGHTED BY ZEBULON M. PIKE

1840s

• 1849: FIRST U.S. POULTRY SHOW BEGAN, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
• BORN 1849: JAMES O’NEILL (ACTOR)

1880s

• BORN 1881: FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS (NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST)
• BORN 1882: FELIX FRANKFURTER (U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE)
• BORN 1887: MARIANNE MOORE (POET)
• BORN 1887: GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (PAINTER)

1910s

• BORN 1919: JOSEPH WAPNER (JUDGE & TV PERSONALITY)

1920s

• 1920: FIRST MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
• BORN 1929: ED ASNER (ACTOR)

1930s

• BORN 1932: PETULA CLARK (SINGER)
• 1937: SADIE HAWKINS DAY DEBUTED IN AL CAPP’S LI’L ABNER COMIC STRIP

1940s

• BORN 1940: SAM WATERSTON (ACTOR)
• 1948: FIRST GAS-TURBINE ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE IN THE UNITED STATES WAS TRACK-TESTED, ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA

1950s

• DIED 1954: LIONEL BARRYMORE (ACTOR)
• 1956: ELVIS PRESLEY’S FIRST MOVIE, LOVE ME TENDER, PREMIERED
• BORN 1957: KEVIN EUBANKS (MUSICIAN & THE TONIGHT SHOW BANDLEADER)

1960s

• BORN 1969: HELEN MERSI KELESI (TENNIS PLAYER)

1970s

• BORN 1972: JONNY LEE MILLER (ACTOR)
• DIED 1978: MARGARET MEAD (AUTHOR)

1980s

• BORN 1988: ZENA GREY (ACTRESS)

2000s

• 2006: A MAGNITUDE 8.1 EARTHQUAKE STRUCK JAPAN

COURTESY www.almanac.com