December 4, 2023 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, get the real story of the most exciting time in 20th-century music - the loyal, riotously successful, often heartbreaking agency of a stalwart Dutchman for an American king.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Up next, we have.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
An insider's look at the most legendary partnership in show
business history. I'm talking about the relationship between Colonel Tom
Parker and Elvis Presley. If you've see in the movie
or read about this at all, Colonel Tom Parker is
always the bad guy. Here to tell the true story
is an insider who knew both men.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
My name is Greg McDonald. I was a longtime friend
and associate and employee of Colonel Tom Parker, and after
Elvis passed away, I was coming home to Palm Springs,
where the colonel and I live, and i'd been out
on the road with Ricky Nelson for a tour well
(01:05):
after Elvistide. People would come into the dress Ricky's dressing
room and really give us a hard time about the
colonel because they knew that we were close to him,
and it caused many many fights and a lot of trouble.
So I got home and I'd say to the colonel, Colonel,
you've got to write a book, man, You've got to
(01:26):
get this out as the truth, because this story is
becoming a folklore. And we really got to stop it
because we are actually getting in shout outs and almost
this fights on the road, all of us, not just
Rick and I but all the other guys. And Colonel
wouldn't do it. And I was backstage at Leon Russell
shows in Nashville and Minnie Pearl, who was a dear
(01:50):
friend of the colonel's, and she came and said, you've
got to.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Write a book.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
You'll have to do it because he'll never do it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
It just not his way.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
For the time I Als died till today I've turned
on well booked for big money?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Was my story? Any warm out print?
Speaker 5 (02:11):
He said, no, we want the dirt. All I know
is I sleep very good at night, and Als and
ioware friends.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
The Colonel was born in Brada, Holland, and from a.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Very very very poor.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Working family, living in an apartment, and his apartment was
over a horse stall and the horses were to pull
the big boats along the canals in Holland. And the
Colonel used to say from time to time he didn't
like his father.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
They didn't get along at all. He said he was
a bad, bad man.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Told me several times he was a bad guy, and
I never really knew exactly why.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
It was years before I was born.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But he loved his mother and he supported his mother
till the end of fur line. Right before the Depression,
things were very tough, and he got out of town.
He really went to work on a boat. He wasn't
coming to America. It wasn't his plan. It just happened
that the boat turned out to be running illegal liquor
(03:24):
on the boat. The captain did so when they pulled
up near America, the coastguard brought him into mobile and
they arrested the captain when they got him inside the limits,
and they put the colonel and the rest of the
crew out on a pier, and they didn't speak English.
(03:45):
And that's how the Colonel got to America. The Colonel
got his name. He was up in Virginia's and he
met a family called the Parkers, and they had a
pony circus. So that's where the Colonel started in the
colnival world with the Parker pony Service. It was a
family of nice people that fed him and took him
(04:09):
in and after a while they adopted him. The Colonel
was actually adopted by the Parkers and he changed his
name to Tom Parker. He took the name Tom from
his uncle in Holland, who was a famous circus.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Town in Holland.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
His name was Tom and he loved him, so he
named himself Tom and Parker from the Parker Pony Service. Well,
colonel went out and joined the army because it was
that time. He didn't have much choice. He joined the
army twice and he was twice honorably discharged. I have
his honorable dischargeys. So he didn't become a colonel until
(04:51):
he became a music promoter, and two different governors and
two states made him.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
An honorary colonel.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Jimmy Davis, the singing governor of You Are My Sunshine,
wrote that song and sang it. He made the colonel
the colonel in the state militia. So we're working at
MGM Studios and all of us work over this partition.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
The colonel had one whole half of this small studio
that gave him elvis as an office, and then we
worked on the other side. There was a series of
desks for me and Tom Discin and Eddie Bonja and
Jim O'Brien, all of the colonel's guys. So one day
Eddie Bonja picks up the phone. Who's Tom Diskin's nephew,
(05:42):
And somebody was very angry on the phone that Elvis
had showed up for a recording session. So they were
just raising hell with us on the phone. The colonel
could hear the problem. So the Colonel told Eddie and
I to tell those guys is that we forgot to
tell Elvis about the session. We're sorry, We'll get him
(06:05):
there immediately.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
We hang up. So one of.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The only times that I ever popped up and said anything,
I said, Colonel, we told Joe Esposito yesterday what time
this session was. Why do we have to take the blame.
So the colonel walks out to our part of the
office and.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Looks at me.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
He says, mister McDonald, how many records did you sell
last year? And I said, well, none, sir, And he said,
the artist always wears the white hat. Our job is
to wear the black hat and take the blame.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Don't ever forget it.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
He must have said that to me ten times. The
artist always wears the white hat, no matter what. So
the rest of his career and after Elvis passed, the
colonel kept his word on that baby Elvis had done
some things that weren't the right thing to do.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
The Colonel would never ever give him the ever told.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
The day the colonel died, he never stood up and
said what he maybe could have said. And that's why
the artist wears the white hat.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Greg McDonald tell the story
of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, and it's quite
a different story from the mythology. When we come back
more of this remarkable partnership and the real story of
Colonel Tom Parker here on Our American Stories. Leeh Abibe
here the host of our American Stories. Every day on
(07:37):
this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country,
stories from our big cities and small towns. But we
truly can't do the show without you. Our stories are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to Ouramerican Stories
dot com and click the donate button. Go to Ouramerican
Stories dot com and give. And we returned to our
(08:10):
American Stories and with Greg McDonald, an insider who has
written a remarkable book called Elvis and the Colonel, and
insiders look at the most legendary partnership in show business.
And he's co author on that book was Marshall Terrell.
Let's pick up where Greg last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You've got to remember that in those days there hadn't
been a hundred books written about Elvis with a lot
of bad things in the books. They all wanted to
say something bad about Colonel Parker because it must be
the colonel's fault. Whatever the issue was, it couldn't be Elvis.
Even through those years where they started to straighten the
(08:50):
story out a little bit, which it has over the years.
They straightened out the story about the colonel being the
bad guy. They straightened it out a little until the
Boz Lherman movie.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
I always knew I was destined for greatness. As an orphan,
I ran away to the carnival, where I learned the
art of the snow job. I'm emptying a rub's wallet
while leaving. There was nothing but a smile on their face,
but the kind of an act that would get you
the most money the most snow had great costumes and
(09:25):
a unique trick that gave the audience feelings they weren't.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Sure they should enjoy, but they do.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
And I knew if I could find such an act,
I could create the greatest show on.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Earth.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He used to say, what are we going to do?
We're with Elvis Presley for twenty two years, and we
promoted him every day of those twenty two years. He
was our f end and he was our employer. We're
going to go out and beat him up now that
he's dead and he's not here to protect himself. He
said that a lot. He says he's not here to
protect himself. Why should I stand up and say something
(10:13):
that might reflect bad on Elvis, that he was our
friend and he wouldn't do it.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
You could promote all you want to, but if the
people don't want to buy a ticket, that doesn't help.
So I did my part. Alvis did his show, and
we were lucky.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
If the Colonel told you he was going to do something,
you could absolutely count on it. He just needed to
shake your hand. He was a rare guy, and people
had the opposite feeling about him, and they're so dead wrong.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
They don't get it.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Everybody knew when people say hard things about the Colonel,
they take their defending Elvis. But the truth is, if
you were up in Elvis's house here in Palm Springs,
and Elvis might have been mad and cursing the colonel,
but if you did, you'd get thrown out of the house.
(11:09):
It's fine for him to do it, but he didn't
let other people say anything about the colonel that was
his colonel, even if he was mad at you. You know,
in these recent movies, you know, they have the colonel
being a carney when he meets Elvis, And of course
he had been out of the carnival business for years
(11:29):
and years and years before he ever met Elvis Presley,
and he was already a superstar manager, one of the
few that existed, and he had already managed big stars
and had many hit records and movies before he ever
met I always kind of look at it if you
look at the Sun Records when I really like Sam
(11:53):
Phillips was a friend of.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Him, and I liked the Sun Records.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
But the reality of it is Elvis got star arded
in the rockabilly world down there at Sun in Memphis,
made some great records.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But if you.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Really analyze the colonel's input to Elvis' career in those
early days, was he got Elvis off.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Of Sun Records. He used to say, and.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
He got Elvis off the Louisiana Hayride. People say, well,
why do you say that? He said, well, look at
the next album. The Colonel bought the contract off of
Sam Phillips's son, and then he got reimbursed by RCA.
Then Colonel took Elvis Presley to New York and what
did he find in New York. Elvis had been singing
(12:41):
Blue Moon of Kentucky by Bill Monroe and singing all
of those really cool rockabilly songs. But they were just
regional and they were probably never going to be more
than regional hits, even.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Though they were great.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
They were great, and Scotty and Bill were great, and
all of that stuff is legend, Dariel. But the truth
is the Colonel took Elvis to New York City and
introduced him to the rail building. Look at those recordings
and the quality and the level worldwide of hits those were.
(13:15):
It's what made Elvison. Of course the Colonel took him.
Of course, they had Sullivan and the Dorsey Brothers and
to those TV shows. None of those country people had
any way to get on those shows.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
No way.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Eddie Arnold had got on those shows because he was
with the Colonel, Elvis going on as a sort of
a rockabilly country kid that was unheard of, and it
made him a huge star. It made him a worldwide star.
What the Colonel really brought was the music business to Elvis.
Elvis had an incredible talent, incredible talent, but that music
(13:55):
had to come from somebody, and it came from Colonel.
One of the first things he did formed a publishing
company with the Beanstocks, Freddy Beanstock and Julian Auberbach. Those
are the biggest publishers in the world people in Nashville.
I doubt that Elvis knew what the word publishing meant
when he first started. I'm not sure in day one
(14:17):
did he know what a publisher was.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So the Colonel started his publishing company, put the biggest
publishers in New York City in the company, and they
went from there. The reason that number of hits it were,
they weren't rockabilly hits. Elvis brought his rockabilly style to them.
(14:42):
But you just look at the songs from Jailhouse Rock,
you know, just one right after another. The great writers
at that time were introduced to Elvis, and Elvis met
the publishing world. They're meeting Elvison coffee shops with hit
songs in New York City. Immediately, the Colonel signs Elvis
(15:05):
Presley of the William Morris Agency.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Well, William Morris was the.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Biggest agent in the world, one of the biggest today
and the owner of the company. Abe last Vogel was
Elvis's agent from the day he signed until Elvis passed
a Blastvogel, the biggest agent in the world, was Elvis's agent.
No one ever talks about Abe Last Vogue to talk
(15:29):
about Colonel Parker, but he also had the biggest agent history.
They had Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and
Morris office had everybody. Elvis was the biggest. They made
Elvis the biggest in that stable. Abe Lastvogel brought Elvis
to Hollywood and introduced him to Howl Wallace and to
(15:51):
all the big producers.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
So Elvis was.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
In the top run from day one, from day one
in the music business in New York and in the
film business than Hollywood. Couldn't get any bigger. So the
Colonel brought a lot to the party. Because Abe last
Vogel and William Morris handled Eddie Arnold. The colonel had
already been to Hollywood and made movies with William Morris
(16:15):
before he met Elvis, so he was already in the game.
And what people don't know is he brought Elvis to
that He brought that talent, that incredible talent. You brought
it to all the right places and it meant a lot.
If you're not in that business, you don't understand how
important it is to get in the door at William
(16:35):
Morris Agency and also be represented by the owner. That's
what the colonel brought. He brought a partnership. The biggest
mistake the colonel ever made was calling himself a manager
of Elvis, because he ended up putting up the original
money and he ended up doing more jobs than a
(16:57):
manager does.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
And you're listening to one heck of a story if
you've ever watched the movie with Tom Hanks. Movies can
get it so wrong, and great actors can get it
so wrong. The idea that Colonel Tom Parker had no experience,
that he'd just fallen off a turnip truck and gone
on to manage the greatest star in the world. Where
we're learning a very different story. My goodness, the experience
(17:20):
Colonel Tom Parker had the knowlogy brought to the table.
How he set up Elvis with the greatest writers in America.
How he got him out of his record contract and
brought him to RCA, How he pulled him out of
Nashville and doing regional music to New York City and
doing music of the world and of the time, introducing
him to the greatest writers, and the writers being introduced
(17:41):
to Elvis the.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Ed Sullivan show, Hollywood. You can go on and on.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Colonel Tom Parker's story continues here on our American Stories,
(18:08):
and we continue with our American Stories and author Greg
McDonald telling the story of Elvis and the Colonel. Let's
pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
He really shouldn't have called himself a manager because he
was the publicist. He was the promoter many many, many shows.
The Colonel promoted himself when they needed work. They were
partners at the end of his life, but in the
beginning they should have had a production company as partners.
And one of the issues of that is Elvis wouldn't
(18:40):
let the Colonel manage anybody else, and the Colonel and
Elvis had a deal that the Colonel wouldn't manage anyone else,
and Elvis wouldn't work for anyone else, so they weren't just.
I mean, managers don't necessarily do that. A lot of
managers will have ten artists. Elvis wouldn't have it. So
they were really partners. But the colonel gets called a
(19:01):
manager that charged too much commission. Just not true because
the colonel's partnership deal is the infamous fifty to fifty
deal that was on the net proceeds, that wasn't on
the gross like most managers work on fifteen percent of
the gross. Colonel never had a deal for fifty percent,
(19:23):
but he never got it. He never got He's been
blamed for that deal for the last forty five years.
It never happened. He got to twenty five percent, and
in the last two he couldn't. There wasn't any money left.
The Elvis spent all the money. It was not the
colonel gambling, had nothing to do. Elvis's money was separate
(19:45):
from colonel's gambling. So they should have been partners, but
didn't happen, so colonel gets.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
To be the bad guy.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I talked to Baron Hilton once about the Colonel's gambling
because there's so much said about it. He says, two
kinds of gamblers. He says, there's guys that will gamble
until they have to go over to the casino office
and pledge their car. And then there's guys like the Colonel,
who walk away when they're.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Done, only because they're done.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
It's not like he ever ran out of munch and
he died a very wealthy man. People don't get it.
He wasn't a broke gambler, not at all. Also, Elvis
and Vernon Pressley needed money generally so bad. There would
have been no way to do anything funny with Elvis's
money because the checking account was probably overdrawn, and they
(20:43):
knew what the money that was coming in was going
to be and when they were going to get it,
and when it's going to get deposited. The whole thing
is silly when they talk about the Colonel doing anything
with Elvis's money. Colonel didn't handle Elvis's money at all.
Vernon Presley did, and then later accounting firm there in
Memphis they handled all of his month. Colonel wouldn't handle it.
(21:08):
Barbara streisand came to the Las Vegas Hilton pitched Elvis
to be her co star in A Star Is Born,
which Chris Christofferson ultimately did, and Elvis got excited about
it for the evening, and it turned into a big
beef because finally the colonel said, you know, she's going
(21:31):
to be your boss and her boyfriend is going to
be the director, and you may not get top billing.
As soon as Elvis heard all of that, then the
colonel had to wear the black hat. He told the
colonel to get rid of it, but he didn't want
to offend everybody like Barbara Streisand and so the colonel
went in there and made the price too high for Elvis,
(21:53):
made them mad, and Colonel's got blamed for that movie
ever since. When Elvis was drafted and went into the service,
RCA and Colonel Parker re recorded a lot of singles
so that they could be released intermittently while he was
in Germany. Elvis was really worried about his career going
(22:18):
the way while he was in the army, But the
truth is he had consistent hot hit singles through the
whole time. He was hot as a pistol till the
day he got out, and as soon as he got out.
He had Elvis appearing on the Frank Sinatra Special down
in Miami, and had movies coming up, and of course
his biggest single of his career was It's Now or Never,
(22:42):
and that was released just as he was brought out
of the army. That was his biggest single of his career.
So they handled it very well, being that he was
gone for two years. Colonel and Morris office and RCA,
they handled it very well. In nineteen seventy one, RCA
(23:03):
had set up in the Colonel had set up a
session in Nashville at RCA Studio B, and they wanted
a Christmas album. Well, Elvis wanted to record, but he
wanted to do other songs. He wanted to go in
and do some Bob Dylan covers and some Peter Paul
(23:23):
and Mary stuff which was hotter at that time. And Elvis,
of course, his Christmas album in nineteen fifty eight was
the biggest Christmas album ever. And a lot of people
don't realize that. Elvis recorded his version of White Christmas
and they sent the dub up to New York and
(23:45):
they played that dub for Irving Berlin who wrote that
song White Christmas. In it at that time it was
the biggest Christmas song ever and been sung by Bing Crosby,
and it was huge. Irving Berlin hates it. He tells them,
don't put it out. It's my song. You can't put
(24:05):
it out. Well, of course they could, and they did so.
Irving Berlin hires a room full of people to call
radio stations and tell them not to play the record.
It's sacrilegious. So well, obviously the album comes out.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
You know, Blue Christmas is on it, White.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Christmas is on it, huge record. At the end of
Irving Berlin's career, disc jockey asking mister Berlin, what was
the biggest royalty check and on what song was it?
During your life? What was your most profitable hit? And
he said, Elvis Presley's version of White Christmas. It's so
(24:49):
you know it was that particular album is the biggest
selling Christmas album, including Mariah Carey and all of those.
It's the biggest selling st You can't get an elevator Christmas.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Not here. Blue Christmas, the Colonel it.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Was his idea, one hundred percent. Elvis didn't want.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
To do it. He was blowing in the wind.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
He did some great songs, but they weren't what was
planned for the session, and the Colonel was almost never
went to recording sessions. So we were in Nashville and
that chet Atkins office actually at RCA, and we could
hear what Elvis. There was a speaker in the conference
room and we could hear what they were recording in
(25:34):
the studio. Well, chet Atkins was calling New York and
giving us up and he'd say, you know, Elvis is
in there singing, but he ain't doing Christmas. And they
call the Colonel and go, you got to have him record.
We got it scheduled for a release at Christmas. Colonel
would send his right hand man, Tom Diskin into the
(25:55):
studio to get Elvis, because Colonel would never walk in there.
That was there at separate turfs. So he bring Elvis
out into the parking lot where I was recently, and
you could see them friendly talking in the Colonel saying
you get to sing Christmas Elvis, and Elvis saying.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, but I want it. He wanted to do gospel songs.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And we're listening to Greg McDonald, author of Elvis and
the Colonel and Insiders look at the most legendary partnership
in show business and his co author was Marshall Terrell
and you can get it at Amazon or wherever you
buy your books. And what a story he's telling, debunking
the mythology that somehow Colonel Tom Parker not only stole
(26:38):
from Elvis, not only ruined his career in his life,
but may indeed have killed him. And that's the impression
you got when you watch that biopic about Elvis with
Tom Hanks playing Colonel Tom Parker.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But oh, what a different story we're hearing here.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I mean the idea that while he was away in
the army, Colonel Tom Parker made sure the pipeline was
filled with song after song, hits, song after hit song.
So when Elvis returned to the States, his career was
not only intact, there was more demand for Presley And
then that story about the Christmas album Be Still My Heart.
If only more talent had more managers and partners by
(27:17):
Colonel Tom Parker. When we come back more of the
story of Elvis and the Colonel here on our American Stories.
And we continue with our American stories and with Greg McDonald,
(27:41):
author of Elvis and the Colonel and insider's look at
the most legendary partnership in show business. Who's continuing with
his story about Elvis's nineteen seventy one Christmas album recording sessions.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
We'll also be hearing how.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
A satellite broadcast a President Nixon's nineteen seventy two visit
to China gave Colonel Parker an idea that would get
one quarter of the world's population to watch an Elvis
concert live on television and the first ever broadcast via satellite.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Let's return to Greg.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
So this was going on for a week. It called
it the Marathon, and he cut some of the greatest
songs Alvis ever cut. So he'd sang three Christmas songs,
and then he went back in the studio because he
knew we were listening, and he recorded a song called
He Touched Me, which was one of his biggest records
and became one of his gospel that he got the
(28:35):
only Grammy for.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
And how great thou art.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Anyway to Colonel didn't mind the gospel stuff, but he
wasn't ready for the Bob Dylan songs.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
He wanted the Christmas songs.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
So the battle between the two super egos was going on,
and that was a real it was friendly that was
in the real friendly.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Days those two.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
But they were nose to nose over what he was
going to record, and they ended up recording thirty forty songs,
and I think they all became chart records. The Colonel
and I used to eat at a restaurant called the
Jolly Roger in Hollywood, and we were one day eating
in there with all of the RCA executives. So they're
(29:19):
telling the Colonel at lunch about this new satellite and Telstone,
and they're telling the Colonel that they'd just done that
Nixon nick and we heard the Nixon promo, but they
were talking about how many people he reached from the satellite,
(29:40):
and the Colonel was really interested. So on the way home,
I'm driving, we're going to Palm Springs. He's got a
cigar and he said, you know, if OURCA would let us,
he called it borrow that thing.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
He didn't realize that I was more involved than that.
He wanted to borrow that thing.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
He says, you know, I think Elvis would like that
he could sing his fans all around the world all
at once.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So this goes on.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
He's chewing his cigar and talking about the angles and
where we would have to for time zones where we'd
have to broadcast from.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
He was in it.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
It was his idea one hundred percent. When we got
back to Palm Springs, he went right in his office.
There were no cell phones yet, so he went right
in his office and I could hear him clay down
the hall. He's obviously got Elvis really excited about this,
which and ultimately it became Elvis's in the biggest show
at that time of any sort of music performer. You know,
(30:38):
Nixon had been a big deal, but no music artist
had ever done it, and the Colonel did that from scratch,
so that was a huge success. The Colonel, who was
a consummate concert showman, always traveled ahead on the road.
(30:59):
He had a layer jet, maybe a Layer twenty three.
He worked on security, He met with the building managers.
He was in charge of tickets. As soon as Elvis
came into that town and walked on the stage, the
Colonel would leave and go to the next town and
he would arrange hotels. He would do so many things
that a modern day manager wouldn't even talk about. Colonel
(31:22):
sort of supervised everything and Elvis knew it. He was
also wrote and placed all the advertising always bought all
the advertising. There was no real promoter. Even though Concerts
West was officially the promoter of the tour, the Colonel
was the promoter. Modern day managers from Hollywood, they would
no more go out into the middle of this country
(31:43):
a promoter show or an anything.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
They wouldn't do that.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
They'd sell the show to the local promoter or the
big nationwide promote. In those latter years, Elvis was having
a lot of problems with various usually prescription met but
he was in some real trouble. There was no Betty
Ford Center at that time. Even though we lived here
in Palm Springs, Coachella Valley where Betty Ford was, it
(32:10):
wasn't here yet, and people didn't understand a celebrity would
never do that. It appeared that when Elvis would get
away from Graceland and get out of his bedroom, he
would clean up, and when he went on the road,
he was so busy that he would straighten out. And
so the Colonel and everyone around thought, and Elvis wanted
to work. He'd suspending money. Every time he'd get to Memphis.
(32:34):
He'd start buying Cadillacs, and they all thought if he
got out on the road, From time to time he'd
get on the road and that would straighten him out,
and then other times it wouldn't. So that was the
only answer colonel had was just to keep him busy
so that he wouldn't have that problem, but it obviously
(32:56):
didn't work. The colonel loved Elvis like.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
His son, and.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Elvis would avoid the colonel because I believed that Elvis
didn't want the colonel to see him in bad shape,
and I think that's what caused most of their beefs.
When they get a bus. It was Elvis smiths some
shows and Elvis did some shows that weren't worthy of
Elvis Presley, and the colonel would Colonel was all business
(33:28):
and that's what would cause the issues, and Elvis was
going to do what Elvis was going to do. People
think that people had control over him. The colonel had
control or vernon. Everybody around him would know that.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
That wasn't true.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Elvis told people from time to time that if they
didn't get him drugs, he'd buy a drug store, and
he wasn't kidding and he could do it. Surprised that
he didn't. So the colonel just didn't live inside.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Of Elvis's personal life. Like that.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
He just didn't people think he did. But Colonel lived
in Palm Springs, California, and Elvis lived in Memphis, Tennessee
most of the time. And the problems in the last years.
The Colonel was a consummate showman and he was a
serious businessman, and when Elvis would miss a show or
(34:23):
do a show that was really shouldn't have happened, they'd
have trouble and that's what caused it. And they still
loved each other.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
But.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Colonel was determined to get him straightened out.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
It was hard.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
People think you could control Elvis Presley, and that's just
a joke. He knew he was the king. He was
Elvis Presley, and no one was going to tell him
what to do. He was a good guy too. He
was a great guy, actually, but he was He knew
who he was.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
I didn't know what he knew all of it, but
he knew that he could do whatever he wanted to.
Nobody told Elvis press they want to do because you
were a very strong person and we had a great relationship.
But I took care of mine. He'd taking her of
his honey, didn't let anybody tell him what to do.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
The day Elvis died.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I was at Ricky and Nelson's house in Hollywood, and
rick Nelson's maid came into the music room and said,
mister McDonald, Elvis Presley died, and Ricky and I didn't
believe her. Then the phone rang immediately and it was
the colonel. So the colonel wanted me to go to
(35:36):
Palm Springs immediately. He told me Elvis died. So Ricky
and I went together to Palm Springs and we pulled
up to Elvis's house first, and there's a few hundred
people in the street and they've pushed the gate open,
and they pushed the door open, and they're taking everything
out of the house that they could care. So I
(35:57):
run up into the house and chased the people out.
We're calling trying to get the cops there, and it's
really funny. I'm chasing these people out the gate, and
Ricky Nelson's holding the gate so they can't come back in,
and they're all looking for autographs and rick won't do
it because Elvis just died. So Rick's holding the gate
and every time bring the group down and throw them out.
This went on forever, and then the police showed up,
(36:20):
and then we went down to the Colonel's house down
the street. There was an incredible number of press trucks
and press people out in front of the house, so
you know, it took several days for them to pull away.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
From the house.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
But we had to look out for Marie, Colonel Colonel Parker's.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Wife, Marie. Bad day, very bad day.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
You know, as I now get older, I there's nobody
from All Star Shows was the name of Colonel Parker's
company in Madison, Tennessee, And unfortunately everybody from All Star
Shows has passed away. I'm the last guy left from
(37:03):
All Star Shows and I'm no kid. So you hear
often about the Memphis Mafia guys constantly, so I kind
of think it's my obligation let him know that the
Colonel Ridley didn't wear the black hat.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
He wore a white hat.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
It's unexplainable. They say, anybody else could have done it.
Perhaps so, but I was happy to be the one
that was with him. He did his part, I did mine,
and we were lucky, great talent and we had a
great show and a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
Greg McDonald. He's the author of Elvis and the Colonel
and Insiders look at the most legendary partnership in show
business and he's co author on that book was Marshall Terrell.
And what a story we heard Elvis was going to do?
(38:01):
What Elvis was going to do? The real story of
Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley here on our American
Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Up next, we have.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
An insider's look at the most legendary partnership in show
business history. I'm talking about the relationship between Colonel Tom
Parker and Elvis Presley. If you've see in the movie
or read about this at all, Colonel Tom Parker is
always the bad guy. Here to tell the true story
is an insider who knew both men.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
My name is Greg McDonald. I was a longtime friend
and associate and employee of Colonel Tom Parker, and after
Elvis passed away, I was coming home to Palm Springs,
where the colonel and I live, and i'd been out
on the road with Ricky Nelson for a tour well
(01:05):
after Elvistide. People would come into the dress Ricky's dressing
room and really give us a hard time about the
colonel because they knew that we were close to him,
and it caused many many fights and a lot of trouble.
So I got home and I'd say to the colonel, Colonel,
you've got to write a book, man, You've got to
(01:26):
get this out as the truth, because this story is
becoming a folklore. And we really got to stop it
because we are actually getting in shout outs and almost
this fights on the road, all of us, not just
Rick and I but all the other guys. And Colonel
wouldn't do it. And I was backstage at Leon Russell
shows in Nashville and Minnie Pearl, who was a dear
(01:50):
friend of the colonel's, and she came and said, you've
got to.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Write a book.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
You'll have to do it because he'll never do it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
It just not his way.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
For the time I Als died till today I've turned
on well booked for big money?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Was my story? Any warm out print?
Speaker 5 (02:11):
He said, no, we want the dirt. All I know
is I sleep very good at night, and Als and
ioware friends.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
The Colonel was born in Brada, Holland, and from a.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Very very very poor.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Working family, living in an apartment, and his apartment was
over a horse stall and the horses were to pull
the big boats along the canals in Holland. And the
Colonel used to say from time to time he didn't
like his father.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
They didn't get along at all. He said he was
a bad, bad man.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Told me several times he was a bad guy, and
I never really knew exactly why.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
It was years before I was born.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But he loved his mother and he supported his mother
till the end of fur line. Right before the Depression,
things were very tough, and he got out of town.
He really went to work on a boat. He wasn't
coming to America. It wasn't his plan. It just happened
that the boat turned out to be running illegal liquor
(03:24):
on the boat. The captain did so when they pulled
up near America, the coastguard brought him into mobile and
they arrested the captain when they got him inside the limits,
and they put the colonel and the rest of the
crew out on a pier, and they didn't speak English.
(03:45):
And that's how the Colonel got to America. The Colonel
got his name. He was up in Virginia's and he
met a family called the Parkers, and they had a
pony circus. So that's where the Colonel started in the
colnival world with the Parker pony Service. It was a
family of nice people that fed him and took him
(04:09):
in and after a while they adopted him. The Colonel
was actually adopted by the Parkers and he changed his
name to Tom Parker. He took the name Tom from
his uncle in Holland, who was a famous circus.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Town in Holland.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
His name was Tom and he loved him, so he
named himself Tom and Parker from the Parker Pony Service. Well,
colonel went out and joined the army because it was
that time. He didn't have much choice. He joined the
army twice and he was twice honorably discharged. I have
his honorable dischargeys. So he didn't become a colonel until
(04:51):
he became a music promoter, and two different governors and
two states made him.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
An honorary colonel.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Jimmy Davis, the singing governor of You Are My Sunshine,
wrote that song and sang it. He made the colonel
the colonel in the state militia. So we're working at
MGM Studios and all of us work over this partition.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
The colonel had one whole half of this small studio
that gave him elvis as an office, and then we
worked on the other side. There was a series of
desks for me and Tom Discin and Eddie Bonja and
Jim O'Brien, all of the colonel's guys. So one day
Eddie Bonja picks up the phone. Who's Tom Diskin's nephew,
(05:42):
And somebody was very angry on the phone that Elvis
had showed up for a recording session. So they were
just raising hell with us on the phone. The colonel
could hear the problem. So the Colonel told Eddie and
I to tell those guys is that we forgot to
tell Elvis about the session. We're sorry, We'll get him
(06:05):
there immediately.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
We hang up. So one of.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The only times that I ever popped up and said anything,
I said, Colonel, we told Joe Esposito yesterday what time
this session was. Why do we have to take the blame.
So the colonel walks out to our part of the
office and.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Looks at me.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
He says, mister McDonald, how many records did you sell
last year? And I said, well, none, sir, And he said,
the artist always wears the white hat. Our job is
to wear the black hat and take the blame.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Don't ever forget it.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
He must have said that to me ten times. The
artist always wears the white hat, no matter what. So
the rest of his career and after Elvis passed, the
colonel kept his word on that baby Elvis had done
some things that weren't the right thing to do.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
The Colonel would never ever give him the ever told.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
The day the colonel died, he never stood up and
said what he maybe could have said. And that's why
the artist wears the white hat.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Greg McDonald tell the story
of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, and it's quite
a different story from the mythology. When we come back
more of this remarkable partnership and the real story of
Colonel Tom Parker here on Our American Stories. Leeh Abibe
here the host of our American Stories. Every day on
(07:37):
this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country,
stories from our big cities and small towns. But we
truly can't do the show without you. Our stories are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love what you hear, go to Ouramerican Stories
dot com and click the donate button. Go to Ouramerican
Stories dot com and give. And we returned to our
(08:10):
American Stories and with Greg McDonald, an insider who has
written a remarkable book called Elvis and the Colonel, and
insiders look at the most legendary partnership in show business.
And he's co author on that book was Marshall Terrell.
Let's pick up where Greg last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You've got to remember that in those days there hadn't
been a hundred books written about Elvis with a lot
of bad things in the books. They all wanted to
say something bad about Colonel Parker because it must be
the colonel's fault. Whatever the issue was, it couldn't be Elvis.
Even through those years where they started to straighten the
(08:50):
story out a little bit, which it has over the years.
They straightened out the story about the colonel being the
bad guy. They straightened it out a little until the
Boz Lherman movie.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
I always knew I was destined for greatness. As an orphan,
I ran away to the carnival, where I learned the
art of the snow job. I'm emptying a rub's wallet
while leaving. There was nothing but a smile on their face,
but the kind of an act that would get you
the most money the most snow had great costumes and
(09:25):
a unique trick that gave the audience feelings they weren't.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Sure they should enjoy, but they do.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
And I knew if I could find such an act,
I could create the greatest show on.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Earth.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He used to say, what are we going to do?
We're with Elvis Presley for twenty two years, and we
promoted him every day of those twenty two years. He
was our f end and he was our employer. We're
going to go out and beat him up now that
he's dead and he's not here to protect himself. He
said that a lot. He says he's not here to
protect himself. Why should I stand up and say something
(10:13):
that might reflect bad on Elvis, that he was our
friend and he wouldn't do it.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
You could promote all you want to, but if the
people don't want to buy a ticket, that doesn't help.
So I did my part. Alvis did his show, and
we were lucky.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
If the Colonel told you he was going to do something,
you could absolutely count on it. He just needed to
shake your hand. He was a rare guy, and people
had the opposite feeling about him, and they're so dead wrong.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
They don't get it.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Everybody knew when people say hard things about the Colonel,
they take their defending Elvis. But the truth is, if
you were up in Elvis's house here in Palm Springs,
and Elvis might have been mad and cursing the colonel,
but if you did, you'd get thrown out of the house.
(11:09):
It's fine for him to do it, but he didn't
let other people say anything about the colonel that was
his colonel, even if he was mad at you. You know,
in these recent movies, you know, they have the colonel
being a carney when he meets Elvis, And of course
he had been out of the carnival business for years
(11:29):
and years and years before he ever met Elvis Presley,
and he was already a superstar manager, one of the
few that existed, and he had already managed big stars
and had many hit records and movies before he ever
met I always kind of look at it if you
look at the Sun Records when I really like Sam
(11:53):
Phillips was a friend of.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Him, and I liked the Sun Records.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
But the reality of it is Elvis got star arded
in the rockabilly world down there at Sun in Memphis,
made some great records.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But if you.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Really analyze the colonel's input to Elvis' career in those
early days, was he got Elvis off.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Of Sun Records. He used to say, and.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
He got Elvis off the Louisiana Hayride. People say, well,
why do you say that? He said, well, look at
the next album. The Colonel bought the contract off of
Sam Phillips's son, and then he got reimbursed by RCA.
Then Colonel took Elvis Presley to New York and what
did he find in New York. Elvis had been singing
(12:41):
Blue Moon of Kentucky by Bill Monroe and singing all
of those really cool rockabilly songs. But they were just
regional and they were probably never going to be more
than regional hits, even.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Though they were great.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
They were great, and Scotty and Bill were great, and
all of that stuff is legend, Dariel. But the truth
is the Colonel took Elvis to New York City and
introduced him to the rail building. Look at those recordings
and the quality and the level worldwide of hits those were.
(13:15):
It's what made Elvison. Of course the Colonel took him.
Of course, they had Sullivan and the Dorsey Brothers and
to those TV shows. None of those country people had
any way to get on those shows.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
No way.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Eddie Arnold had got on those shows because he was
with the Colonel, Elvis going on as a sort of
a rockabilly country kid that was unheard of, and it
made him a huge star. It made him a worldwide star.
What the Colonel really brought was the music business to Elvis.
Elvis had an incredible talent, incredible talent, but that music
(13:55):
had to come from somebody, and it came from Colonel.
One of the first things he did formed a publishing
company with the Beanstocks, Freddy Beanstock and Julian Auberbach. Those
are the biggest publishers in the world people in Nashville.
I doubt that Elvis knew what the word publishing meant
when he first started. I'm not sure in day one
(14:17):
did he know what a publisher was.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So the Colonel started his publishing company, put the biggest
publishers in New York City in the company, and they
went from there. The reason that number of hits it were,
they weren't rockabilly hits. Elvis brought his rockabilly style to them.
(14:42):
But you just look at the songs from Jailhouse Rock,
you know, just one right after another. The great writers
at that time were introduced to Elvis, and Elvis met
the publishing world. They're meeting Elvison coffee shops with hit
songs in New York City. Immediately, the Colonel signs Elvis
(15:05):
Presley of the William Morris Agency.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Well, William Morris was the.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Biggest agent in the world, one of the biggest today
and the owner of the company. Abe last Vogel was
Elvis's agent from the day he signed until Elvis passed
a Blastvogel, the biggest agent in the world, was Elvis's agent.
No one ever talks about Abe Last Vogue to talk
(15:29):
about Colonel Parker, but he also had the biggest agent history.
They had Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and
Morris office had everybody. Elvis was the biggest. They made
Elvis the biggest in that stable. Abe Lastvogel brought Elvis
to Hollywood and introduced him to Howl Wallace and to
(15:51):
all the big producers.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
So Elvis was.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
In the top run from day one, from day one
in the music business in New York and in the
film business than Hollywood. Couldn't get any bigger. So the
Colonel brought a lot to the party. Because Abe last
Vogel and William Morris handled Eddie Arnold. The colonel had
already been to Hollywood and made movies with William Morris
(16:15):
before he met Elvis, so he was already in the game.
And what people don't know is he brought Elvis to
that He brought that talent, that incredible talent. You brought
it to all the right places and it meant a lot.
If you're not in that business, you don't understand how
important it is to get in the door at William
(16:35):
Morris Agency and also be represented by the owner. That's
what the colonel brought. He brought a partnership. The biggest
mistake the colonel ever made was calling himself a manager
of Elvis, because he ended up putting up the original
money and he ended up doing more jobs than a
(16:57):
manager does.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
And you're listening to one heck of a story if
you've ever watched the movie with Tom Hanks. Movies can
get it so wrong, and great actors can get it
so wrong. The idea that Colonel Tom Parker had no experience,
that he'd just fallen off a turnip truck and gone
on to manage the greatest star in the world. Where
we're learning a very different story. My goodness, the experience
(17:20):
Colonel Tom Parker had the knowlogy brought to the table.
How he set up Elvis with the greatest writers in America.
How he got him out of his record contract and
brought him to RCA, How he pulled him out of
Nashville and doing regional music to New York City and
doing music of the world and of the time, introducing
him to the greatest writers, and the writers being introduced
(17:41):
to Elvis the.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Ed Sullivan show, Hollywood. You can go on and on.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Colonel Tom Parker's story continues here on our American Stories,
(18:08):
and we continue with our American Stories and author Greg
McDonald telling the story of Elvis and the Colonel. Let's
pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
He really shouldn't have called himself a manager because he
was the publicist. He was the promoter many many, many shows.
The Colonel promoted himself when they needed work. They were
partners at the end of his life, but in the
beginning they should have had a production company as partners.
And one of the issues of that is Elvis wouldn't
(18:40):
let the Colonel manage anybody else, and the Colonel and
Elvis had a deal that the Colonel wouldn't manage anyone else,
and Elvis wouldn't work for anyone else, so they weren't just.
I mean, managers don't necessarily do that. A lot of
managers will have ten artists. Elvis wouldn't have it. So
they were really partners. But the colonel gets called a
(19:01):
manager that charged too much commission. Just not true because
the colonel's partnership deal is the infamous fifty to fifty
deal that was on the net proceeds, that wasn't on
the gross like most managers work on fifteen percent of
the gross. Colonel never had a deal for fifty percent,
(19:23):
but he never got it. He never got He's been
blamed for that deal for the last forty five years.
It never happened. He got to twenty five percent, and
in the last two he couldn't. There wasn't any money left.
The Elvis spent all the money. It was not the
colonel gambling, had nothing to do. Elvis's money was separate
(19:45):
from colonel's gambling. So they should have been partners, but
didn't happen, so colonel gets.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
To be the bad guy.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I talked to Baron Hilton once about the Colonel's gambling
because there's so much said about it. He says, two
kinds of gamblers. He says, there's guys that will gamble
until they have to go over to the casino office
and pledge their car. And then there's guys like the Colonel,
who walk away when they're.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Done, only because they're done.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
It's not like he ever ran out of munch and
he died a very wealthy man. People don't get it.
He wasn't a broke gambler, not at all. Also, Elvis
and Vernon Pressley needed money generally so bad. There would
have been no way to do anything funny with Elvis's
money because the checking account was probably overdrawn, and they
(20:43):
knew what the money that was coming in was going
to be and when they were going to get it,
and when it's going to get deposited. The whole thing
is silly when they talk about the Colonel doing anything
with Elvis's money. Colonel didn't handle Elvis's money at all.
Vernon Presley did, and then later accounting firm there in
Memphis they handled all of his month. Colonel wouldn't handle it.
(21:08):
Barbara streisand came to the Las Vegas Hilton pitched Elvis
to be her co star in A Star Is Born,
which Chris Christofferson ultimately did, and Elvis got excited about
it for the evening, and it turned into a big
beef because finally the colonel said, you know, she's going
(21:31):
to be your boss and her boyfriend is going to
be the director, and you may not get top billing.
As soon as Elvis heard all of that, then the
colonel had to wear the black hat. He told the
colonel to get rid of it, but he didn't want
to offend everybody like Barbara Streisand and so the colonel
went in there and made the price too high for Elvis,
(21:53):
made them mad, and Colonel's got blamed for that movie
ever since. When Elvis was drafted and went into the service,
RCA and Colonel Parker re recorded a lot of singles
so that they could be released intermittently while he was
in Germany. Elvis was really worried about his career going
(22:18):
the way while he was in the army, But the
truth is he had consistent hot hit singles through the
whole time. He was hot as a pistol till the
day he got out, and as soon as he got out.
He had Elvis appearing on the Frank Sinatra Special down
in Miami, and had movies coming up, and of course
his biggest single of his career was It's Now or Never,
(22:42):
and that was released just as he was brought out
of the army. That was his biggest single of his career.
So they handled it very well, being that he was
gone for two years. Colonel and Morris office and RCA,
they handled it very well. In nineteen seventy one, RCA
(23:03):
had set up in the Colonel had set up a
session in Nashville at RCA Studio B, and they wanted
a Christmas album. Well, Elvis wanted to record, but he
wanted to do other songs. He wanted to go in
and do some Bob Dylan covers and some Peter Paul
(23:23):
and Mary stuff which was hotter at that time. And Elvis,
of course, his Christmas album in nineteen fifty eight was
the biggest Christmas album ever. And a lot of people
don't realize that. Elvis recorded his version of White Christmas
and they sent the dub up to New York and
(23:45):
they played that dub for Irving Berlin who wrote that
song White Christmas. In it at that time it was
the biggest Christmas song ever and been sung by Bing Crosby,
and it was huge. Irving Berlin hates it. He tells them,
don't put it out. It's my song. You can't put
(24:05):
it out. Well, of course they could, and they did so.
Irving Berlin hires a room full of people to call
radio stations and tell them not to play the record.
It's sacrilegious. So well, obviously the album comes out.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
You know, Blue Christmas is on it, White.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Christmas is on it, huge record. At the end of
Irving Berlin's career, disc jockey asking mister Berlin, what was
the biggest royalty check and on what song was it?
During your life? What was your most profitable hit? And
he said, Elvis Presley's version of White Christmas. It's so
(24:49):
you know it was that particular album is the biggest
selling Christmas album, including Mariah Carey and all of those.
It's the biggest selling st You can't get an elevator Christmas.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Not here. Blue Christmas, the Colonel it.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Was his idea, one hundred percent. Elvis didn't want.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
To do it. He was blowing in the wind.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
He did some great songs, but they weren't what was
planned for the session, and the Colonel was almost never
went to recording sessions. So we were in Nashville and
that chet Atkins office actually at RCA, and we could
hear what Elvis. There was a speaker in the conference
room and we could hear what they were recording in
(25:34):
the studio. Well, chet Atkins was calling New York and
giving us up and he'd say, you know, Elvis is
in there singing, but he ain't doing Christmas. And they
call the Colonel and go, you got to have him record.
We got it scheduled for a release at Christmas. Colonel
would send his right hand man, Tom Diskin into the
(25:55):
studio to get Elvis, because Colonel would never walk in there.
That was there at separate turfs. So he bring Elvis
out into the parking lot where I was recently, and
you could see them friendly talking in the Colonel saying
you get to sing Christmas Elvis, and Elvis saying.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, but I want it. He wanted to do gospel songs.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And we're listening to Greg McDonald, author of Elvis and
the Colonel and Insiders look at the most legendary partnership
in show business and his co author was Marshall Terrell
and you can get it at Amazon or wherever you
buy your books. And what a story he's telling, debunking
the mythology that somehow Colonel Tom Parker not only stole
(26:38):
from Elvis, not only ruined his career in his life,
but may indeed have killed him. And that's the impression
you got when you watch that biopic about Elvis with
Tom Hanks playing Colonel Tom Parker.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But oh, what a different story we're hearing here.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I mean the idea that while he was away in
the army, Colonel Tom Parker made sure the pipeline was
filled with song after song, hits, song after hit song.
So when Elvis returned to the States, his career was
not only intact, there was more demand for Presley And
then that story about the Christmas album Be Still My Heart.
If only more talent had more managers and partners by
(27:17):
Colonel Tom Parker. When we come back more of the
story of Elvis and the Colonel here on our American Stories.
And we continue with our American stories and with Greg McDonald,
(27:41):
author of Elvis and the Colonel and insider's look at
the most legendary partnership in show business. Who's continuing with
his story about Elvis's nineteen seventy one Christmas album recording sessions.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
We'll also be hearing how.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
A satellite broadcast a President Nixon's nineteen seventy two visit
to China gave Colonel Parker an idea that would get
one quarter of the world's population to watch an Elvis
concert live on television and the first ever broadcast via satellite.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Let's return to Greg.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
So this was going on for a week. It called
it the Marathon, and he cut some of the greatest
songs Alvis ever cut. So he'd sang three Christmas songs,
and then he went back in the studio because he
knew we were listening, and he recorded a song called
He Touched Me, which was one of his biggest records
and became one of his gospel that he got the
(28:35):
only Grammy for.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
And how great thou art.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Anyway to Colonel didn't mind the gospel stuff, but he
wasn't ready for the Bob Dylan songs.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
He wanted the Christmas songs.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
So the battle between the two super egos was going on,
and that was a real it was friendly that was
in the real friendly.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Days those two.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
But they were nose to nose over what he was
going to record, and they ended up recording thirty forty songs,
and I think they all became chart records. The Colonel
and I used to eat at a restaurant called the
Jolly Roger in Hollywood, and we were one day eating
in there with all of the RCA executives. So they're
(29:19):
telling the Colonel at lunch about this new satellite and Telstone,
and they're telling the Colonel that they'd just done that
Nixon nick and we heard the Nixon promo, but they
were talking about how many people he reached from the satellite,
(29:40):
and the Colonel was really interested. So on the way home,
I'm driving, we're going to Palm Springs. He's got a
cigar and he said, you know, if OURCA would let us,
he called it borrow that thing.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
He didn't realize that I was more involved than that.
He wanted to borrow that thing.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
He says, you know, I think Elvis would like that
he could sing his fans all around the world all
at once.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So this goes on.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
He's chewing his cigar and talking about the angles and
where we would have to for time zones where we'd
have to broadcast from.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
He was in it.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
It was his idea one hundred percent. When we got
back to Palm Springs, he went right in his office.
There were no cell phones yet, so he went right
in his office and I could hear him clay down
the hall. He's obviously got Elvis really excited about this,
which and ultimately it became Elvis's in the biggest show
at that time of any sort of music performer. You know,
(30:38):
Nixon had been a big deal, but no music artist
had ever done it, and the Colonel did that from scratch,
so that was a huge success. The Colonel, who was
a consummate concert showman, always traveled ahead on the road.
(30:59):
He had a layer jet, maybe a Layer twenty three.
He worked on security, He met with the building managers.
He was in charge of tickets. As soon as Elvis
came into that town and walked on the stage, the
Colonel would leave and go to the next town and
he would arrange hotels. He would do so many things
that a modern day manager wouldn't even talk about. Colonel
(31:22):
sort of supervised everything and Elvis knew it. He was
also wrote and placed all the advertising always bought all
the advertising. There was no real promoter. Even though Concerts
West was officially the promoter of the tour, the Colonel
was the promoter. Modern day managers from Hollywood, they would
no more go out into the middle of this country
(31:43):
a promoter show or an anything.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
They wouldn't do that.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
They'd sell the show to the local promoter or the
big nationwide promote. In those latter years, Elvis was having
a lot of problems with various usually prescription met but
he was in some real trouble. There was no Betty
Ford Center at that time. Even though we lived here
in Palm Springs, Coachella Valley where Betty Ford was, it
(32:10):
wasn't here yet, and people didn't understand a celebrity would
never do that. It appeared that when Elvis would get
away from Graceland and get out of his bedroom, he
would clean up, and when he went on the road,
he was so busy that he would straighten out. And
so the Colonel and everyone around thought, and Elvis wanted
to work. He'd suspending money. Every time he'd get to Memphis.
(32:34):
He'd start buying Cadillacs, and they all thought if he
got out on the road, From time to time he'd
get on the road and that would straighten him out,
and then other times it wouldn't. So that was the
only answer colonel had was just to keep him busy
so that he wouldn't have that problem, but it obviously
(32:56):
didn't work. The colonel loved Elvis like.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
His son, and.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Elvis would avoid the colonel because I believed that Elvis
didn't want the colonel to see him in bad shape,
and I think that's what caused most of their beefs.
When they get a bus. It was Elvis smiths some
shows and Elvis did some shows that weren't worthy of
Elvis Presley, and the colonel would Colonel was all business
(33:28):
and that's what would cause the issues, and Elvis was
going to do what Elvis was going to do. People
think that people had control over him. The colonel had
control or vernon. Everybody around him would know that.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
That wasn't true.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Elvis told people from time to time that if they
didn't get him drugs, he'd buy a drug store, and
he wasn't kidding and he could do it. Surprised that
he didn't. So the colonel just didn't live inside.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Of Elvis's personal life. Like that.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
He just didn't people think he did. But Colonel lived
in Palm Springs, California, and Elvis lived in Memphis, Tennessee
most of the time. And the problems in the last years.
The Colonel was a consummate showman and he was a
serious businessman, and when Elvis would miss a show or
(34:23):
do a show that was really shouldn't have happened, they'd
have trouble and that's what caused it. And they still
loved each other.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
But.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Colonel was determined to get him straightened out.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
It was hard.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
People think you could control Elvis Presley, and that's just
a joke. He knew he was the king. He was
Elvis Presley, and no one was going to tell him
what to do. He was a good guy too. He
was a great guy, actually, but he was He knew
who he was.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
I didn't know what he knew all of it, but
he knew that he could do whatever he wanted to.
Nobody told Elvis press they want to do because you
were a very strong person and we had a great relationship.
But I took care of mine. He'd taking her of
his honey, didn't let anybody tell him what to do.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
The day Elvis died.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I was at Ricky and Nelson's house in Hollywood, and
rick Nelson's maid came into the music room and said,
mister McDonald, Elvis Presley died, and Ricky and I didn't
believe her. Then the phone rang immediately and it was
the colonel. So the colonel wanted me to go to
(35:36):
Palm Springs immediately. He told me Elvis died. So Ricky
and I went together to Palm Springs and we pulled
up to Elvis's house first, and there's a few hundred
people in the street and they've pushed the gate open,
and they pushed the door open, and they're taking everything
out of the house that they could care. So I
(35:57):
run up into the house and chased the people out.
We're calling trying to get the cops there, and it's
really funny. I'm chasing these people out the gate, and
Ricky Nelson's holding the gate so they can't come back in,
and they're all looking for autographs and rick won't do
it because Elvis just died. So Rick's holding the gate
and every time bring the group down and throw them out.
This went on forever, and then the police showed up,
(36:20):
and then we went down to the Colonel's house down
the street. There was an incredible number of press trucks
and press people out in front of the house, so
you know, it took several days for them to pull away.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
From the house.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
But we had to look out for Marie, Colonel Colonel Parker's.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
Wife, Marie. Bad day, very bad day.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
You know, as I now get older, I there's nobody
from All Star Shows was the name of Colonel Parker's
company in Madison, Tennessee, And unfortunately everybody from All Star
Shows has passed away. I'm the last guy left from
(37:03):
All Star Shows and I'm no kid. So you hear
often about the Memphis Mafia guys constantly, so I kind
of think it's my obligation let him know that the
Colonel Ridley didn't wear the black hat.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
He wore a white hat.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
It's unexplainable. They say, anybody else could have done it.
Perhaps so, but I was happy to be the one
that was with him. He did his part, I did mine,
and we were lucky, great talent and we had a
great show and a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
Greg McDonald. He's the author of Elvis and the Colonel
and Insiders look at the most legendary partnership in show
business and he's co author on that book was Marshall Terrell.
And what a story we heard Elvis was going to do?
(38:01):
What Elvis was going to do? The real story of
Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley here on our American
Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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