5 things to know about ‘Christmas at Graceland’
In 1956, the Youngsters, an R&B combo, released a single titled “Christmas in Jail.”
In 1966, the duo of Jonny and Jon debuted the mournful “Christmas in Vietnam.”
In 1973, wry folk singer John Prine recorded “Christmas in Prison.”
But don’t expect the Hallmark Channel to echo such glum sentiments. When it selects a holiday destination, romance rather than rehabilitation is the aim. Thus, “Christmas at Graceland.”
Here are five things to know about the upcoming made-in-Memphis television movie.
• “Christmas at Graceland” will make its Hallmark Channel debut at 7 p.m. (Memphis time) on Nov. 17 and will be repeated multiple times before the end of the year.
• Mid-Southerners and Memphis visitors will have a chance to be among the first to see the film at a 7 p.m. Nov. 15 screening in the Soundstage auditorium at Elvis Presley’s Memphis, which will follow the traditional 6 p.m. lighting of the holiday decorations across the street at the Graceland mansion. Anyone who purchases a Nov. 15 ticket to a Graceland attraction before Nov. 2 may reserve a seat to the premiere, and some complimentary tickets will be available at the door.
• Eric Close, director of “Christmas at Graceland,” and actor Wes Brown, who stars opposite country singer-turnedactress Kellie Pickler in the film, will attend the ceremony and the premiere. Country music stars Marty Stuart and Scotty McCreery will be the ones who “flip the switch” on the Graceland lights.
• “Graceland” will be the sixth new Hallmark Christmas movie to premiere this season; the channel’s so-called “Countdown to Christmas” cycle started Saturday night with “Christmas at Pemberley Manor” and concludes, 21 movies later, on Dec. 29 with “Focus on Love.” Some stops along the way include “Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe,” “It’s Christmas, Eve” (about, yes, a woman named Eve) and “Mingle All the Way.” (And that’s not even including the 15 holiday movies set to premiere on the affiliated Hallmark Movies & Mysteries network.)
• The movie was shot in July at Graceland and other Memphis locations. Although the temperatures were in the 90s, the cast wore winter coats during outdoor scenes because the story takes place in December. The grounds of Elvis’ longtime home were covered with blankets of lightweight white fabric and spray-on flakes of recycled damp paper to give the illusion of snow.