Steve Binder

Steve Binder is an Emmy and Ace Award winner for his work as an American producer and director. [ [http://www.caucus.org/members/Binder.html The Caucus ] ] He has achieved success in both television and film. He is arguably best known as director of "Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special" [ [http://www.elvispresley.com.au/elvis/presley/elvis_68_comeback_special.shtml Elvis - 68 Comeback Special - Elvis Presley ] ] , and the Star Wars Holiday Special.

"Thanks to the courage of a young producer named Steve Binder, Elvis did not appear in a tuxedo and croon 'Silent night' to a room of cameramen for his upcoming Christmas special." In a move slated to recapture of what had once been Elvis, Binder "reunited the star with Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana (...) for several mini-concerts" before a live studio audience, where Presley could re-create his rebel image wearing a black leather jacket. [See Kirchberg, Connie and Marc Hendrickx, "Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream" (1999), p.78.] According to Samuel Roy, Binder also "tried to warn Elvis of the danger of his environment and the people around him," but the singer was "rather naive and would not listen." Because Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker hated Binder for challenging him, Parker seems to have put an order out that Binder was no longer to get through the Graceland secretaries, who screened all calls. [See Roy, Samuel, ‘’Elvis: Prophet of Power’’ (1985), p.86.]

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