The significance of the meeting was lost on the pair themselves, however. “Elvis Presley, I’d like you to meet a wonderful young lady, Ann-Margret,” said George Sidney, the director MGM’s upcoming film, Viva Las Vegas. “Ann-Margret, this is Elvis Presley.” They shook each other by the hand gently, managing to garble the words: “I’ve heard a lot about you,” at precisely the same moment, and leaving them staring at each other blankly, before they began to chuckle, awkwardly to begin with, but then with more and more confidence until their laughter was bouncing around the walls like so many pinballs. That meeting would launch a successful professional relationship between Ann-Margret and Elvis that would gradually transform into a romantic one, with the production of Viva Las Vegas providing the backdrop for one of the fieriest on-set love affairs in Hollywood history.

When Ann-Margret met Elvis Presley on the set of Viva Las Vegas, in July ’63, she was 22 and Elvis was 28. With a few years on his co-star, Elvis was already an established actor, with something 14 films in the can. Ann-Margret, on the other hand, was at the dawn of her career. The star of Bye Bye Birdie was well aware that Elvis was a man who had managed to win the heart of practically every woman he’d ever met. In fact, being the late-night fantasy of every housewife in America, he’d even managed to win over the hearts of women he hadn’t met. The last thing Ann-Margret expected, however, was that she too would fall for him.

Before principal photography began, she and Elvis were sent to a recording studio to record their solo numbers for the production. As they ran through their respective material, singing take after take after take, their minds began to wander, returning to that first meeting in the darkness of MGM studios. Then, on July, 11th Elvis and Ann-Margret stepped into the same cramped booth to record three duets, ‘The Lady Loves Me,’ ‘You’re the Boss,’ and ‘Today, Tomorrow, and Forever,’ sparking something that would continue to smoulder as principal photography began, at which point they travelled to Las Vegas.

Here, their romance began in earnest. As Ann-Margret once recalled: “Initially, Elvis and I might’ve admitted that the only heat between us came from the hot desert sun,” but as the days passed it became clear that the co-stars were besotted with one another, with one AP writing a note that read: “They hold hands. They disappear into his dressing room between shots. They lunch together in seclusion.”

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Lyric

 Let’s sing along with the lyrics! 

When it comes twistin’ I just got to keep insistin’
Oh, babe you sure do swing
When it comes twistin’ I just got to keep insistin’
Oh daddy hey, you are the king
Baby you’ve got me beat up and down inside out and across
Oh, yeah!
But in the middle of the night when the moon is shining bright
Ah! You’re the boss
Hey talkin’ ’bout the days when we ended down the hall romancing
Big daddy Hey! You make the scene
Hmm, talkin’ ’bout dancing and down on romancing
Oh, now baby (yeah), you are the queen
Oh, when push comes to shove, when it comes down to love
You’re a horse
Oh, yeah!
But in the middle of the night when the moon is shining bright baby, you’re the boss
You’re the best of everything
You’re a peach, you’re a plum
You’re a diamond, you’re a pearl
You’re the best of everything
Ah, daddy you’re my man
Baby you’re my girl
Now when it comes to knowin’ which way the wind is blowin’
Now baby (mm, tell me), you sure are wise
Yeah! When it comes to knowin’ which way the wind is blowin’
Oh daddy, you take the prize
Baby you’re a genius when it comes to cooking up some chili sauce
Oh, yeah!
Oh, but in the middle of the night when the moon is shining bright, you’re the boss
You’re the boss
You’re the boss
You’re the boss
But in the middle of the night when the moon is shining bright ah, you’re the boss
You’re the boss
Hm-mm baby you’re the boss
Tell me ’bout it baby, you are the boss
You are the boss
Hm-mm, you’re the boss
Hm-mm, baby you’re the boss

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