Anatomy of a Movie Scene: Willing and Eager- “State Fair” (1962)

The scene in the above video has long been an interest of mine, dating back to my film student days. The film is a fairly inconsequential remake of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic State Fair. Despite having a stellar cast (Pat Boone, Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Pamela Tiffin and Tom Ewell to name a few) the movie is barely a blip on the radar of classic cinema. However, it is in the humble belief of this film student (graduate level... that means something, darnit!) that there is a lot going on in this film (especially as it relates to gender) which makes the 1962 remake of State Fair worthy of more attention.

The above musical number (and please check it out of context) leapt out to me as interesting from my first viewing of the film (at age 13). Why yes, I was watching Pat Boone at that age... wasn’t everybody? Superficially, ‘Willing and Eager' seems a bit steamy for cinema of the early 1960s, but nothing over-the-top... however, the scene gets quite a lot of depth when you analyze the respective performers (Pat Boone and Ann-Margret) star  personas to an elementary reading of what we are seeing in the music number.

Pat Boone is quite literally the personification of America in the 1950s. Boone entered public consciousness in 1955 when his cover of the Fats Domino hit Ain’t That A Shame hit #1 on the US music charts. He had another top 10 hit the next year with a cover of Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally. Boone was an adorable, squeaky-clean kid from the deep South (Florida) who wore his religion on his sleeve. He was ‘safe’ alternative to the rockers of the era: Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. While these men were largely responsible for the musical revolution happening during the period, they were loaded with racial and sexual overtones which were incredible threatening to the conservative leanings of the majority of 1950s audiences.

Here’s a clip of Boone performing his 1957 hit, Love Letters in the Sand. He was the boy which a girl growing up in 1950s suburbia could feel comfortable taking home to mother.

Meanwhile, in 1962 Ann-Margret was an relatively new face in Hollywood having first appeared in the 1961 film Pocketful of Miracles. She followed it up with musicals Bye Bye Birdie, and State Fair in rapid succession, followed by Viva Las Vegas, in which she co-starred opposite Elvis Presley.

Everything about Ann-Margret’s early film persona shows an acknowledgement of the sexuality she undoubtably possessed. And (interestingly) she’s allowed to be unabashedly sexual and still get the guy. In these early films, she is often the girl-next-door.  This is a complete reversal from the blatant punishment of the so-called femme fatales of just a decade earlier.

Check out these clips:

'Got a Lot of Living to Do’: from Bye Bye Birdie (she starts at the 1:20 mark).
‘Isn’t It Kind of Fun’: From State Fair. Contrast this, against the same song in the 1945 original.
‘Appreciation’: From Viva Las Vegas.

This writer believes it is not a huge stretch to say that in this clip from State Fair, the ultimate 1950s good boy has just been (or is about to be) deflowered by the seductive (but harmless) actress Emily.

Let’s look at the visual cues:

1.) There’s a bed in the shot. I repeat a  double bed... not the Hayes Code approved twin beds.
2.) They are all over each other (sources report it was a big thing when Pat Boone kissed Shirley Jones on-screen in April Love just five years earlier.
3.) “Hungry and thirsty and near as can be...” (I don’t think he’s singing about her being peckish).
4.) “Darling let’s count to ten... or five at least...”
5.) “Here I am, look around...”

Look for more from me on the 1962 State Fair, there’s a lot to be analyzed.