The lineage of Elvis Presley

Elvis's great-great-great-grandmother, Morning White Dove (1800-1835), was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. She married William Mansell, a settler in western Tennessee, in 1818. William's father, Richard Mansell, had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mansell is a French name--its literal translation is the man from Le Mans.

The Mansell's migrated from Norman France to Scotland, and then later to Ireland. In the 18th century the family came to the American Colonies. The appellation "white" in Morning Dove's name refers to her status as a friendly Indian. Early American settlers called peaceable Indians "white," while "red" was the designation for warring Indians or those who sided with the British in the Revolutionary War. It was common for male settlers in the West to marry "white" Indians as there was a scarcity of females on the American frontier.

Like many young men in the American Southwest, William Mansell fought with Andrew Jackson in the Indian Wars of the early nineteenth century. He fought with Old Hickory in Alabama, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and later in Florida too. Returning to Tennessee from the Indian Wars, William Mansell married Morning White Dove. Elaine Dundy says of the marriage, he (William Mansell) gained "age-old Indian knowledge of the American terrain; of forests and parries; of crops and game; of protection against the climate; of medicine lore, healing plants as well as something in which the Indians were expert--the setting of broken bones." Moreover, added to Elvis's lineage were Morning White Dove's ruddy Indian complexion and fine line of cheek.

Like many other settlers, the newlyweds migrated to Alabama from Tennessee to claim lands garnered in the Indian Wars. The Mansell's settled in Marion County in northeast Alabama near the Mississippi border. The Scots-Irish, like William Mansell, were the predominant settlers of Alabama. One-tenth of the population in colonial America was Scots-Irish at the time of the American Revolution.

And a very interesting group they were. The Anglican Reverend Woodmason had this to say about the Scots-Irish women of William Mansell's day. "They wore nothing but thin shifts and a thin petticoat underneath. They are sensual and promiscuous. They draw their shift as tight as possible to the body, and pin it close, to show the roundness of their breasts, and slender waists (for they are generally fined shaped) and draw their petticoat close to their hips to show the fineness of their limbs--so that they might as well be in puri naturalibus."

The Scots-Irish in America were a passionate community living close to the earth. They disdained the niceties of their British neighbors. Of this Reverend Woodmason had to say," they delight in their present low, lazy, sluttish, heathenish, hellish life, and seem not desirous of changing it. These people despise knowledge, and instead of honoring a learned person...they despise and ill-treat them..."

There were other views on the passionate lifestyle of the Scots-Irish, however. James Hall of Philadelphia described a young, Scots-Irish frontiersman in this way. "He strode among us with the step of Achilles...I thought I could see in that man, one of the progenitors of an unconquerable race; his face presented the traces of a spirit quick to resent--he had the will to dare, and the power to execute, there was something in his look which bespoke a disdain of control, and an absence of constraint in all his movements indicating an habitual independence of thought and action."

Think of Elvis in these words: the will to dare and the power to execute, a disdain of control in all his movements indicating a habitual independence of thought and action. This is the Scots-Irish heritage from which Elvis Presley issued. In his genes he carried an independence of blood, the will to dare and the power to execute. Many influences formed Elvis Presley besides the genealogical, yet this description has a haunting accuracy. Morning White Dove and William Mansell prospered in Alabama.

Their land was fertile and they built a substantial house near the town of Hamilton. They had three offspring, the eldest of who was John Mansell, born in 1828, and Elvis's great-great grandfather. Elaine Dundy has this to say of John Mansell. He was "half Scots-Irish, half Indian, (but) seems to have grown up wholly "wild Injun." Although by the time he was twenty-two he had married Elizabeth "Betsy" Gilmore and they would have some nine or ten children together, "settling down" can hardly be the phrase for what he was devoting his life to. John was one of those sexually overactive men who seem intent on populating the universe with children. Both his legitimate and illegitimate descendants still abound in northwest Alabama and in
northeast Mississippi."

John Mansell squandered the legacy of the family farm. In 1880 he abdicated to Oxford, Mississippi, changing his name to Colonel Lee Mansell. His sons left Hamilton to seek their fortunes in the town of Saltillo, Mississippi, near Tupelo, the birth place of Elvis Presley. The third of John Mansell's sons, White Mansell, became the patriarch of the family with John Mansell's removal to Oxford. White Mansell was Elvis's great-grandfather. White Mansell married Martha Tackett, a neighbor in Saltillo.

Of note is the religion, Jewish, of Martha's mother, Nancy Tackett. It was unusual to find a Jewish settler in Mississippi during this time. All accounts point to White Mansell as a hard-working, upright, provider for a clan increasingly besieged by economic factors beyond their control. The Civil War fractured the Southern economy and soul. Cotton, the backbone of the South, was subject to financial depressions such as the Panic of 1890. Additionally, the deep South suffered numerous outbreaks of yellow fever during the mid-nineteenth century. Add to this the extraordinary number of fatalities suffered in not only the Civil War but also the Mexican War, and the devastation of Southern culture in the nineteenth century was complete. Like many other Southern families, the Mansells were stretched to the breaking point. They sold their lands and became sharecroppers. The prosperity of the South, along with the fortunes of the family, had plummet.

However the life of a sharecropper was not unremittingly grim. They had music and dancing and the comfort of religion. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers, were often invited to the owner's house on Saturday nights for square dancing and parties. Sundays there were picnics on the ground after church. Although there was little hope of escaping poverty, it was a life of community with some gayety. Enter now Doll Mansell, Gladys Presley's mother and Elvis's grandmother, of whom Elaine Dundy had this to say. "And the gayest of all the girls at these gatherings, the acknowledged beauty, was the slim, exquisite, tubercular, porcelainfeatured, spoiled third daughter of White Mansell...Doll." She was a delicate beauty and the apple of her father's eye. She did not marry until twenty-seven, and then to her first cousin, Robert Smith.

Bob Smith was the son of White Mansell's sister, Ann. Ann Mansell was a striking woman of dignity and stature, a commanding presence until her death at eighty-six. Bob Smith and Doll Mansell, Elvis Presley's maternal grandparents, were first cousins. This was a genetic intensification, a doubling, of the family lineage. The marrying of first cousins, with its intensities and possibility for dysfunction, was common in insulated communities of the agrarian South. Like Doll, Bob Smith was very handsome, his Indian blood evidenced in a noble brow, good bone structure, even features and dark, deep-set eyes. His black hair was dark as coal.

Doll would be bedridden from tuberculosis throughout the marriage. Like his uncle and father-in-law, White Mansell, Bob Smith labored long and hard as a sharecropper, and occasional moonshiner, to support his invalid wife and eight children. The noose of poverty tightened on the family, and on Elvis's mother, Gladys.

Elaine Dundy: "Genetically speaking, what produced Elvis is quite a mixture. At the beginning, to French Norman blood was added Scots-Irish blood. And when you then add to these the Indian strain supplying the mystery and the Jewish strain supplying spectacular showmanship, and you overlay all this with his circumstances, social conditioning, and religious upbringing--specifically his Southern poor white, First Assembly of God upbringing--you have the enigma that was Elvis."

Less is known of Elvis's paternal heritage through his father, Vernon. The first Pressley in America was an Anglo-Irishman, David Pressley, who settled with his son, Andrew Pressley, Senior, at New Bern, North Carolina in 1740. Not until the third generation is there significant historical record of the Pressleys, beginning with Andrew Pressley, Junior.

Andrew fought in the last major battle of the Revolutionary War in the South, the Battle of Eutah Springs, South Carolina, 1781. The history of the Presleys picks up again with Dunnan Pressley, Junior, in the middle of the 19th century. Dunnan married Martha Jane Wesson at Fulton,
Mississippi, the seat of Itawamba County, in 1861. Like many others, Dunnan was probably drawn to the region by cheap land offered to veterans of the Mexican War. In those days richly timbered acreage went for twenty-five cents an acre. Dunnan and Jane had two daughters, Rosalinda and Rosella, Elvis's great-grandmother.

The Civil War broke out and Dunnan joined the Confederate Army--twice! On each enlistment he collected a three hundred dollar bounty for his horse, and each time he quickly deserted his regimen. Having twice deserted honor and duty with the Confederacy, Dunnan next abandoned his wife and two daughters. Mrs. Robie Stacy, his granddaughter, had this to about it. "My mother told me that when she and her sister were just little babies, their grandparents had taken them to church one Sunday and when they came back, their father, Dunnan, was gone. He went back to his other wife and child." Apparently bigamy can be added to Dunnan's character defects.

Dunnan Presley's daughter, Rosella, internalized the abandonment and re-enacted it throughout her life. Beginning at age nineteen and continuing over 28 years, Rosella bore nine illegitimate children, never once identifying her lovers or making any claim on them. The children never knew of their fathers as Rosella stubbornly, and resourcefully, supported them through sharecropping. Mrs. Doshia Steele, one of Rosella's daughters, said this of her plight. "I can't remember anyone ever talking about who our father was...It was a big mystery when we were children. My mother just didn't talk about it."

Elvis's paternal line continued through Rosella's son, Jessie Dee Presley (1896-1973), Elvis's grandfather. As would be expected, J.D. Presley re-enacted his father abandonment by making weak bonds with his own children. His brother, Calhoun Presley, had this to say about J.D. "For most of his life Jessie drifted from one job to another all over Mississippi, Kentucky, and Missouri. He was a sharecropper in the summer and a lumberjack in the winter.

Jessie worked hard and played hard. He was an honest man, but he enjoyed drinking whiskey and was often involved in drunken bar brawls. As a result, Jessie spent many a night sobering up in jail. He was a slim, handsome man about six feet tall with black hair. I reckon Elvis inherited his looks from Jessie. He was also a dapper dresser. Clothes were one the most important things in his life. We used to call him "the lawyer" because he dressed so smart. He loved fine clothes. His favorite suit was a tailor-made brown one with pearl buttons.

He saved up for months until he had enough money to buy it--twenty-four dollars. He paraded around town like a peacock, with his head in the air and a cane in his hand. Owning expensive clothes was his only ambition in life. He hated poverty and he didn't want people to know he was poor. He felt that if he wore a tailor-made suit, people would look up to him." In 1913 J.D. married Minnie Mae Hood, "Grandma Dodger," who was to live with Elvis throughout his adult life. In 1916 their first child was born, Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley's father.

It was toward Vernon that much of Jessie's abandoning was directed. Vernon was scared of J.D., any transgression of his father's rules could provoke a beating. This, combined with Jessie's drunken and philandering ways, caused permanent harm to their relationship. In many respects it was as if Vernon had no father as Jessie repeated his own father abandonment on his children. This theme of father abandonment reverberates throughout Elvis's paternal lineage. It is a strong clue to the abandonment that Elvis felt, and perpetrated, in his own life.

Elvis Expert Jeff Schrembs: Wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 (from Jeff Schr...

Elvis Expert Jeff Schrembs: Wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 (from Jeff Schr...: We wanted to take this opportunity to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone on Google Blogger and around the world. Take care and may God b...

Wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 (from Jeff Schrembs & www.ElvisCollector.info)

We wanted to take this opportunity to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone on Google Blogger and around the world.

Take care and may God bless you.

Jeff Schrembs
www.ElvisCollector.info
www.ElvisCollectorWorldwide.freeforums.org

What is not widely known about Elvis Presley?

The simple answer is... "not much" unless you follow my blogs, and those listed below, as you will always find fascinating content (i.e. stories, photos, etc.) about Elvis Presley.

Please help us to, on all social media platforms, spread the good news!

But, lets get specific about a few "lessor known things" concerning Elvis Presley so I will give you (5) five (for now):

1)   Elvis Presley was broadcast, on air via radio, many times as a child/teenager. The first major broadcast occured when Elvis was entered, by his teacher, into the "Alabama-Mississippi Fair Talent Show". Elvis sang "Old Shep" a song that; he had learned, and loved, since he was a child and that he was comfortable singing. This talent show was a live broadcast and Elvis, by the way, came in "5th or 6th place" depending on your source. Elvis wore glasses and had blonde hair and a rare photograph exists of him (thank you to the persons responsible for this rare gem) standing on stage - head slightly down - with the winner holding the trophy.

2.  Elvis, as a child, had numerous health issues with, include but are not limited to, the following ailments: asthma, cronic sleep apena, severe sleep walking,  and as a teen he had acne.

3. Elvis had a previous "marriage" prior to Priscila. Elvis, as a teenager, had a steady girlfriend and (thankfully again) there are rare photographs of them taken together while he lived in Tupelo (where he was born). Elvis cared for her so much that he took his parents marriage certificate and wrote his name, and her name, over his parents name (again there is a photograph of this document with Elvis' handwriting) and told her, as they were packing to leave to move to Memphis Tennessee, that he loved her and they were "married" and/or "would be married".

4.  The first car he bought his Mother/Parents was not a pink cadillac but a Plymouth. His Mother had no drivers license, and couldn't drive, and when he bought the pink caddy for her he used it to tour until it burned up in a fire after performing a live concert in the South.

5.   Elvis was always thankful, to his fans - family - and to God, for his success. He always questioned "why me" or "why did God choose me" or "what is my purpose in life" or "after I'm gone will anyone remember me"? These self doubts, and/or questions about life, reaffirm that Elvis was human, that Elvis sought a "higher purpose", and that Elvis was a man who loved and wanted (and succeeded) to help others and he used his fame, and wealth, to do just that. Even after these 35+ years we are "learning" new things about Elvis as well as letting new generations know about Elvis onstage and off.

For this, and other Elvis info, please check out this site and; www.ElvisCollector.info, www.ElvisCollectorWorldwide.freeforums.org (free blog), www.Elvis.com (the official Elvis Presley website), the books and online posts by Elvis "Memphis Mafia" (i.e. Marty Lacker, Billy Smith, Red West, Sonny West, Jerry Schilling, and Joe Esposito), Lisa Marie, Priscilla Presley, and to the great Elvis historian and author Alanna Nash whose works are essential to knowing about Elvis and whose books are available on www.Amazon.com.

Take care and may God bless you.

Jeff Schrembs 

News about Elvis Presley November 19 2013

Here is the direct link: http://nypost.com/2013/11/19/authentic-brands-clinches-deal-for-elvis-rights/

Elvis Presley Forum beta testing update November 2013

We are pleased to see progress on our Elvis Presley Fan Forum of www.ElvisCollectorWorldwide.freeforums.org and no we didn't aim for the longest website name known to man as we wanted the name to say what we...are. Plus it can be bookmarked, or favored, so please take advantage of this technology and give your fingers a rest.

We have changed the display of our forum and will continue to upgrade new content.

Our launch date of late 2014 remains our goal.

Take care and may God bless you.

Jeff Schrembs
www.ElvisCollector.info

Rare Elvis Presley interview from 1964

1964 (June 10) interview of Elvis Presley

 

THE BEATLES - `They don't bother me ... I wish them luck'

HIS CAREER - `I haven't been hiding. There's no attempt to keep me out of the public eye'

GIRLS - `I'll admit something. I'm as red-blooded as the next guy'

 

According to Ann-Margret you were or are engaged to her. This is not true either?

Elvis: 'The papers quoted her as saying it, but later she told me how it happened. They asked if it were true she was in love with me. Well, she was in love with me and she didn't want to lie about it. So she told them. And that's how it happened.'

 

 

You could mistake it for any small American town the morning after the night the circus arrived. Carnival booths, shooting galleries and popcorn stands face each other across a dusty road littered with empty paper bags. It looks seedy enough to be the real thing until you gaze down the road where bored property men are adding another house to the film set's mock town.

 

 

But there is no mistaking the young man slumped in a canvas chair, halfway down the road, staring aimlessly ahead.

 

 He is wearing blue jeans, blue shirt, short blue jacket and black boots.

 His face is made up in a light even tan and his hair has been dyed jet black.

 The make-up people have done a good job on him, though they have done nothing about the rosebud mouth, strangely small and almost feminine.

 Pop idols have come and gone over the past eight years but that mouth still has a hypnotic magic for millions of girls around the world.

 

So has the name Elvis Presley.

 

 

He sits there bored, resigned to the film-making waiting game, while pretty starlets swivel by.

 They are just about to shoot Roustabout, Presley's 16th film, for producer Hal Wallis who discovered him for the screen.

 

 

At that time, Hollywood dismissed Presley as a fluke. But the fluke minted enough money - a reputed £5,000,000 - to make them eat their words with their cocktail olives.

 

"Never", producer Hal Wallis (right) insisted, "Not for one moment, have I thought of Elvis as a freak. I am reminded of this when I am asked why it is I have not gone after the Beatles the way I went after Elvis.

 

"My answer is that I have no use for them. I doubt that they can last more than a couple of pictures.

 I don't want to be unkind and call them a flash-in-the-pan, but they are no match for Elvis, the unknown Elvis of 1956.

 

Not that I haven't had a good look at them. I have. And I found them wanting. They have no sound, no rhythm. I wouldn't touch them. It's as simple as that."

 

 

After talking to the star-maker, I moved over to the star. What did he think of the Beatles who deposed him from the Top Ten and the jukeboxes? There were many questions to put to him. Why for instance, had he never visited Britain, where a personal appearance might win back fans from the new boys?

 

We talked...

 I said: You haven't appeared in a live show at all in the past few years. Why are you hiding from the world?

 

 

Presley replied: "I haven't been hiding, there is no deliberate attempt to keep me out of the public eye.

I know people have said the Colonel (Colonel Tom Parker, the mastermind behind Presley's career) has some sort of strategy about my exposure to the public. It isn't that at all.

 

But we do have a program which calls for three pictures in a year and that is a lot of pictures. It doesn't leave one with much time in between.

 

 Q: You rest up? Even if you realize that your insistence on staying out of the public eye may cost you some of your popularity? 　

 　

Elvis: I wouldn't say that. But the Colonel says I cannot go to one country without offending people in another country, and I guess he is right. Somebody will always be unhappy.

 

 But it's different with movies. They go everywhere. Yet, don't think I wouldn't love to go to England, for instance, and make a couple of appearances there.

 

 I've been thinking of that for some time, and I'm as close to going as I was a couple of years ago.

 

 

Q: You make it all sound so difficult, but is it really? I’m sure the people in Germany, for instance, wouldn’t mind if this year you visit England only.

 

 Elvis: This is not the way the Colonel sees it. And I trust the Colonel.

 

Q: In the meantime, the Beatles have taken over. People have said that, in a sense, you, or the absence of you, are responsible for their emergence and their fabulous success.

 

 Elvis: As for the Beatles, all I can say is so much more power to them. They’ve appeared on three Ed Sullivan shows in this country and I watched the all.

 

Q: What did you think of them?

 

Elvis: You can’t ask me to tell you what I really feel about them. I don’t think I should. I don’t think it would be fair to fellow entertainers.

Remember, I am a lucky guy myself. I’ve never forgotten that. It’s too vivid in my memory. I’ll say that the Beatles have got what it takes, and in great abundance that they have been given a heck of a vote of confidence. I’m sorry, but I have to be diplomatic.

 

 

Q: You don’t sound envious, but as you watch the teenage audiences scream, it must have brought back memories… Wasn’t it more or less the same to you?

 

 Elvis: More or less. But let me add, I sure wish them luck.

 

Q: A lot of what you say implies that money is of no importance to you?

 

Elvis: I’m not implying anything. I am most grateful for my good fortune. But I am a man of simple tastes. I don’t need the money for myself. For a while, I was like a kid with a new toy, but it was never my goal and never will be.

 

 Money can never buy everything your heart desires. It won't buy love, or health or true happiness. And even sometimes when you give it away, you don't get the thanks you're entitled to.

 

 

Presley, the ex-truck driver from Mississippi, is now the master of a mansion outside Memphis, Tennessee, which he calls home, and a villa outside Hollywood he regards as his working quarters.

 Once a film is finished, he drives 2,000 miles back to Memphis with the private army he calls "my guys" (cousin Billy Smith, aide Joe Esposito, transport boss Allan Fortas, pals Jim Kingsley and Richard Davis)

 

 Elvis is at the wheel every inch of the way, "These are the happiest days of my life," he said.

 

This seemed an apt moment to ask about the other side of his life which has been kept so secret.

 I said I hoped he would be as outspoken as he had earlier, Presley said he didn't as a rule discuss his private life.

 

 I told him; "I see you as a red-blooded young man with normal instincts. I refuse to accept the theory that you spend your time with your guys or timidly taking girls out on dates that end with a shy kiss on the doorstep."

 

Presley replied, "I'll admit something to you. But without going into details. Let me say that I've led quite a fast life, really, and that I'm as red-blooded as the next guy.

 

 The difference between me and the other guy is that I hate to publicize it. I've been in love, but it's not true that I am secretly married or that I am secretly engaged, I have no permanent attachments and you can take my word for it."

 

 

 

There have been many rumors that Presley was engaged to Priscilla Beaulieu, the pretty 19-year-old daughter of an American Air Force captain he met while in the Army in Germany.

 Last year, Priscilla took up an offer from Presley's father to live with the family at Memphis because her father was still in Germany. Presley's public promptly assumed she was engaged to Elvis.

 

Elvis: I know what people are saying. I knew that people would say it even before Priscilla came to stay with us. I had to make a decision and I made it. All I can say is that Priscilla is a great girl and I like her very much.

 You never know what the future holds. All I can say is to repeat that I am not secretly married or secretly engaged.

 

 

 

Q: According to Ann-Margret (his co-star in Viva Las Vegas) you were or are engaged to her. This is not true either?

 

Elvis: The papers quoted her as saying it, but later she told me how it happened. They asked if it were true she was in love with me. Well, she was in love with me and she didn't want to lie about it. So she told them. And that's how it happened.

 

 Q: And she told you all this?

 

Elvis: Yes. Because she felt she owed me an explanation. She is an honest girl, a good girl and she told the truth. I have great respect for her.　

 

 

Q: Would that mean that all is over between you two?

 

Elvis: I haven't seen her in a while, but that is because she has been working in a movie. But that's all. I like her very much. I guess I have now told you more about my private life than I've told anybody. You can't expect more than that.

 The main point I want to make is that I am not ready for marriage. I mean it sincerely and I feel very strongly about it.

 Of course, people don't believe this is so and think I am playing games, but it is a deep conviction with me.

 There are a great many, things want to do and I have to do them all first, and it may take a long time.

 

 Meanwhile, I intend to stay the way I am and lead the life the way I lead it now.

 

 I like my present ways and there is no reason in the world to change anything.

 

 

 

I believe I have matured since I first came to Hollywood. You see it reflected in my pictures. The dialogue is more mature because I am ready for it.

 

You asked me how far is the Colonel "the boss"?

 I have left it to the Colonel to guide my career and I trust him because he knows his business like nobody else. But I draw my own conclusions and make my own decisions.

　

Which includes anything from picking the songs for my new film, to cutting a new record, to falling in love....

　

Q: It still leaves the Colonel with a heavy load of responsibilities doesn't it!

 

Elvis: You bet it does...

 

Presley smiled as he said that. Across the Paramount studios, in an office, cluttered with Presley posters and records, the legend behind the legend is talking on the telephone to a film magnate.

 

Colonel (a title he claims was conferred on him by several State governors) Tom Parker's voice is as sweet as honey.

 "If you don't want us." purrs the Colonel. "You wouldn't call us. You know what's good for the public and so do we, so we are in full agreement, aren't we?"

 

 "Nobody has yet lost any money on a Presley picture and you're much too good a man to be the first . . . Now 1965 and 1966 are filled but if you want a word of advice, take spot No.1 in 1967 for 750,000 dollars (nearly £270,000) and I tell you, sir, you will never regret it."

 

 Nothing can bother Elvis Presley while Colonel is taking care of things in the background. Tough-talking producers, hard-dealing impresarios, the Colonel looks after that side of the business.

 Girls, Presley can handle.  

 

And as for the new pop liners who are challenging him. . Well, Presley has 51 Gold Discs to show he was king for eight years and could well be again.

 

"The Beatles?" asks Presley "Do they bother me?" Of course not. They are entertainers like myself and I guess they are as dedicated as the rest of us. In the long run, this is all that matters."

 

 Mr. Elvis Presley is of course, entitled to his own opinions.

 

2013 by Jeff Schrembs ALL RIGHTS RESERVED　

 

Some facts about Colonel Parker and his relationship with Elvis Presley

NOTE - this article has an unknown author

 

Elvis thought he owed it all to Colonel Tom Parker. Others aren't so sure.

Andreas 'Dries' Cornelis Van Kuijk was born on 26 June 1909 in Breda, Holland. He was the fifth of nine children. His father, Adam, was a liveryman who met his mother, Maria, while he was in the army. When Andreas was 16 years old, his father died, and he moved to Rotterdam. He worked as a bargeman but was entranced by the ocean-going ships in the port. It wasn't too long before he was on board a ship to New Jersey. It was thought he stowed himself away.

He was then enlisted with the US Army - they didn’t really care about papers back then - and was stationed in Hawaii. When he finally wrote home, it was in English and it was signed ' Thomas Parker'. The name was given to him by the Captain who interviewed him at the time of his enlistment.

Years later Elvis's friend Lamar Fike asked parker ' how come you never told us you were a Dutchman?' Parker looked at him and said ' Son, you never asked me'.

Parker spent several years with a touring carnival called The Johnny J. James Exposition. His special act was dancing chickens, which he achieved by hiding a hot plate under the straw of the cage! After marrying Marie Mott in 1935, Parker left the carnival to work for the Tampa Humane Society (I bet he never told them about the dancing chickens!) he then moved to Nashville and became the manager to country singer Eddie Arnold.

Parker was given an honorary commission, from an old friend called Jimmy Davis. He became Louisiana Governor and then Parker was known as the Colonel from that day onwards. Funnily enough, in March 1961, Governor Buford Ellington of Tennessee made Elvis an honorary Colonel. Elvis didn’t deem it necessary to use his title.

In 1953, Eddie Arnold fired Parker for unknown reasons. Parker then hooked up with Hank Snow and created Jamboree Attractions, which became the biggest booking agencies in the South. Yet that partnership broke up bitterly when Parker, without Snow, signed a new young talent. His name was Elvis Presley.

Parker first met Elvis in February 1955, in a Memphis Coffee Shop. Parker’s first words to Elvis were ' you got a manager, son?’ He signed Elvis onto the Jamboree Attractions and was ready to pounce on him. Elvis was still under-age in 1955, so Parker knew the contract had to be signed by his parents. Vernon was a push over but Gladys didn’t trust Parker. So to get her into his good books, backstage at one of her son's shows, she met a close friend of Parker's who told her ' Parker is a good Christian gentleman'.

Then Elvis's parents signed the contract on 15 August 1955.

Soon Parker set up a deal with RCA Records Company and Hill and Range, his own music publishers. Steve Scholes, RCA's Director of Country music, put his neck on the line by offering $23,000. Hill and Range offered a further $15,000. So with $40,000 offer in place, Parker paid Sam Phillips an agreed $35, 00 and give Elvis $5,000. Elvis signed with RCA on November 21 1955. The next day he sent a telegram to Parker in which he promised to stick with him through thick and thin, and he also loved him like a father.

On January 8, 1956, Elvis turned 21 years old and was given a new contract - To sign as an adult. It ratified all previous contracts and gave the Colonel 25% of all Elvis's earnings. Once Parker became his full time manager, he never wanted anyone else. He told the press ' I'll live and breathe Elvis 24 hours a day'.

Parker showed his nerve when he demanded $100,000 for Elvis to star in Love Me Tender. When the Producer said even Jack Lemmon didn't get that kind of money. Parker looked into his eyes and said ' Maybe Lemmon needs a new manager!’

Parker was also scared once Elvis hit Hollywood, he would see what Parker was really going. So Parker started to isolate Elvis from the outside world. That's how the Memphis Mafia started. One day songwriter Mike Stroller knocked on Elvis's hotel room door, Elvis greeted him nervously and said the Colonel wouldn’t like me doing one to one meetings.

When Elvis joined the Army, Parker told him ' Son, I consider it my patriotic duty to keep you in the 90% tax bracket'.

Parker's view was ' if you want to see Elvis Presley, you buy a ticket!’ Elvis was not allowed to give private shows, in the army or anywhere else. Also Elvis never did encores, he always left them begging for more.

During the filming of Blue Hawaii, Parker ran shouting and yelling into the middle of a scene, pointing at Elvis's watch and demanded ' if you want the watch in, you'll have to pay another 10 grand!’ No wonder Elvis began to hate making films. In public, Hal Wallis admired Parker, as a super salesman - Yet in private, he said ' I'd rather try and close a deal with the devil'. Parker really couldn’t care less about Presley's acting talent. He wanted a simple film, with cute girls and an album worth of songs. Also Parker wanted a lot of money for these films, after all he was making a fortune.

When a TV executive came to Parker offering $50,000 for a single prime time appearance by Elvis, Parker responded ' That'll be be just fine for me, but how much will you give Elvis?'

The extent of Parker's role in Elvis's wedding is disputed, some say he told Elvis to get married for publicity purposes, but it was a rushed affair with a brief guests list, which caused a huge ructions among Elvis's entourage. Parker also refused to let the happy couple have the honeymoon in Europe they wanted, he said it would upset the fans around the world. Why Elvis didn't insist on the wedding he and Priscilla really wanted is enduring mystery.

Parker was a competent hypnotist. He liked to get staff members to act like chickens and once had the Memphis Mafia barking like dogs. However, theories that Parker kept Elvis hypnotized for 20 years should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Elvis stood up to the Colonel on a handful of occasions. One was the 1968 TV Special, which Parker wanted a dull Christmassy show, thank god Elvis did it his way. It give him one of his finest, rawest performances. Then the second time happened when Parker didn’t want Elvis to record a particular song due to recording right. That song was ' Suspicious Minds'.

In 1969, Elvis went back on the road and played the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Alex Shoofy, the hotel's general manager, came to see Parker in the hotel dining room and offered a 5 year contract in which Elvis would play the hotel in February and August each year and earn $125,000 a week. Parker scribbled some terms on a red tablecloth, but he ignored inflation and tied Elvis long term. Alex Shoofy signed his agreement on the tablecloth and promptly told the press it ' was the best deal ever made in this town'. Not, perhaps, for Elvis.

Parker had a long term gambling habit and it got a lot worse in Vegas. He moved into the hotel in a fancy suite and lost million a year on the tables!

In the 70's, Elvis's income came from touring. In February 1972, he signed away one third of his tour profit to Parker.

In 1973, after a heated row, Elvis fired Parker, but he wouldn’t leave - without his million he was still waiting for. Elvis threw a fit and went on a huge drug fuelled week that culminated in a teenage girl almost overdose. Who does Elvis call to sort out the mess and keep the press away?? Parker.

Parker turned down endless offers for Elvis to tour the world. The reason was Parker was an illegal immigrant without a passport.

In 1973, RCA bought the masters - and royalty rights - of all Elvis's previous recordings for $5.4million. Jack Soden of EPE describes the deal as being right up there with the Indians selling Manhattan for 24 dollars. Seven years later, a lawyer for the Presley Estate Blacnchard Tual, concluded that Colonel Parker and RCA were probably guilty of collusion, conspiracy, fraud and misrepresentation.

In 1974, Parker set up Boxcar Enterprises to handle the merchandising business. Parker was on 40% on the income while Elvis only got 15%!

When Joe Esposito phoned Parker to tell him Elvis had died, Parkers first words were ' Oh dear god! Then after a long pause ' nothing has changed! This won’t change anything!' Within a day of Elvis's death, Parker got Vernon Presley (the executor to Elvis's will) to agree to keep al l the deals made with Elvis as they were. He also signed a deal with the merchandising company, Factors Inc. that meant Parker would take 78% of the proceeds of the forthcoming souvenir boom! At Elvis's funeral, Parker wore a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap. At the cemetery he wondered away from the graveside and say by himself on a police motorbike. After Vernon's death in 1979, the courts got involved and after a long battle, a deal was struck whereby Parker was cut from all connections with the Presley Estate for a hefty sum.

Colonel Tom Parker (aka Andreas 'Dries' Cornelis Van Kuijk) died in January 1997.

Interesting article about Colonel Parker

Elvis thought he owed it all to Colonel Tom Parker. Others aren't so sure.

Andreas 'Dries' Cornelis Van Kuijk was born on 26 June 1909 in Breda, Holland. He was the fifth of nine children. His father, Adam, was a liveryman who met his mother, Maria, while he was in the army. When Andreas was 16 years old, his father died, and he moved to Rotterdam. He worked as a bargeman but was entranced by the ocean-going ships in the port. It wasn't too long before he was on board a ship to New Jersey. It was thought he stowed himself away.

He was then enlisted with the US Army - they didn’t really care about papers back then - and was stationed in Hawaii. When he finally wrote home, it was in English and it was signed ' Thomas Parker'. The name was given to him by the Captain who interviewed him at the time of his enlistment.

Years later Elvis's friend Lamar Fike asked parker ' how come you never told us you were a Dutchman?' Parker looked at him and said ' Son, you never asked me'.

Parker spent several years with a touring carnival called The Johnny J. James Exposition. His special act was dancing chickens, which he achieved by hiding a hot plate under the straw of the cage! After marrying Marie Mott in 1935, Parker left the carnival to work for the Tampa Humane Society (I bet he never told them about the dancing chickens!) he then moved to Nashville and became the manager to country singer Eddie Arnold.

Parker was given an honorary commission, from an old friend called Jimmy Davis. He became Louisiana Governor and then Parker was known as the Colonel from that day onwards. Funnily enough, in March 1961, Governor Buford Ellington of Tennessee made Elvis an honorary Colonel. Elvis didn’t deem it necessary to use his title.

In 1953, Eddie Arnold fired Parker for unknown reasons. Parker then hooked up with Hank Snow and created Jamboree Attractions, which became the biggest booking agencies in the South. Yet that partnership broke up bitterly when Parker, without Snow, signed a new young talent. His name was Elvis Presley.

Parker first met Elvis in February 1955, in a Memphis Coffee Shop. Parker’s first words to Elvis were ' you got a manager, son?’ He signed Elvis onto the Jamboree Attractions and was ready to pounce on him. Elvis was still under-age in 1955, so Parker knew the contract had to be signed by his parents. Vernon was a push over but Gladys didn’t trust Parker. So to get her into his good books, backstage at one of her son's shows, she met a close friend of Parker's who told her ' Parker is a good Christian gentleman'.

Then Elvis's parents signed the contract on 15 August 1955.

Soon Parker set up a deal with RCA Records Company and Hill and Range, his own music publishers. Steve Scholes, RCA's Director of Country music, put his neck on the line by offering $23,000. Hill and Range offered a further $15,000. So with $40,000 offer in place, Parker paid Sam Phillips an agreed $35, 00 and give Elvis $5,000. Elvis signed with RCA on November 21 1955. The next day he sent a telegram to Parker in which he promised to stick with him through thick and thin, and he also loved him like a father.

On January 8, 1956, Elvis turned 21 years old and was given a new contract - To sign as an adult. It ratified all previous contracts and gave the Colonel 25% of all Elvis's earnings. Once Parker became his full time manager, he never wanted anyone else. He told the press ' I'll live and breathe Elvis 24 hours a day'.

Parker showed his nerve when he demanded $100,000 for Elvis to star in Love Me Tender. When the Producer said even Jack Lemmon didn't get that kind of money. Parker looked into his eyes and said ' Maybe Lemmon needs a new manager!’

Parker was also scared once Elvis hit Hollywood, he would see what Parker was really going. So Parker started to isolate Elvis from the outside world. That's how the Memphis Mafia started. One day songwriter Mike Stroller knocked on Elvis's hotel room door, Elvis greeted him nervously and said the Colonel wouldn’t like me doing one to one meetings.

When Elvis joined the Army, Parker told him ' Son, I consider it my patriotic duty to keep you in the 90% tax bracket'.

Parker's view was ' if you want to see Elvis Presley, you buy a ticket!’ Elvis was not allowed to give private shows, in the army or anywhere else. Also Elvis never did encores, he always left them begging for more.

During the filming of Blue Hawaii, Parker ran shouting and yelling into the middle of a scene, pointing at Elvis's watch and demanded ' if you want the watch in, you'll have to pay another 10 grand!’ No wonder Elvis began to hate making films. In public, Hal Wallis admired Parker, as a super salesman - Yet in private, he said ' I'd rather try and close a deal with the devil'. Parker really couldn’t care less about Presley's acting talent. He wanted a simple film, with cute girls and an album worth of songs. Also Parker wanted a lot of money for these films, after all he was making a fortune.

When a TV executive came to Parker offering $50,000 for a single prime time appearance by Elvis, Parker responded ' That'll be be just fine for me, but how much will you give Elvis?'

The extent of Parker's role in Elvis's wedding is disputed, some say he told Elvis to get married for publicity purposes, but it was a rushed affair with a brief guests list, which caused a huge ructions among Elvis's entourage. Parker also refused to let the happy couple have the honeymoon in Europe they wanted, he said it would upset the fans around the world. Why Elvis didn't insist on the wedding he and Priscilla really wanted is enduring mystery.

Parker was a competent hypnotist. He liked to get staff members to act like chickens and once had the Memphis Mafia barking like dogs. However, theories that Parker kept Elvis hypnotized for 20 years should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Elvis stood up to the Colonel on a handful of occasions. One was the 1968 TV Special, which Parker wanted a dull Christmassy show, thank god Elvis did it his way. It give him one of his finest, rawest performances. Then the second time happened when Parker didn’t want Elvis to record a particular song due to recording right. That song was ' Suspicious Minds'.

In 1969, Elvis went back on the road and played the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Alex Shoofy, the hotel's general manager, came to see Parker in the hotel dining room and offered a 5 year contract in which Elvis would play the hotel in February and August each year and earn $125,000 a week. Parker scribbled some terms on a red tablecloth, but he ignored inflation and tied Elvis long term. Alex Shoofy signed his agreement on the tablecloth and promptly told the press it ' was the best deal ever made in this town'. Not, perhaps, for Elvis.

Parker had a long term gambling habit and it got a lot worse in Vegas. He moved into the hotel in a fancy suite and lost million a year on the tables!

In the 70's, Elvis's income came from touring. In February 1972, he signed away one third of his tour profit to Parker.

In 1973, after a heated row, Elvis fired Parker, but he wouldn’t leave - without his million he was still waiting for. Elvis threw a fit and went on a huge drug fuelled week that culminated in a teenage girl almost overdose. Who does Elvis call to sort out the mess and keep the press away?? Parker.

Parker turned down endless offers for Elvis to tour the world. The reason was Parker was an illegal immigrant without a passport.

In 1973, RCA bought the masters - and royalty rights - of all Elvis's previous recordings for $5.4million. Jack Soden of EPE describes the deal as being right up there with the Indians selling Manhattan for 24 dollars. Seven years later, a lawyer for the Presley Estate Blacnchard Tual, concluded that Colonel Parker and RCA were probably guilty of collusion, conspiracy, fraud and misrepresentation.

In 1974, Parker set up Boxcar Enterprises to handle the merchandising business. Parker was on 40% on the income while Elvis only got 15%!

When Joe Esposito phoned Parker to tell him Elvis had died, Parkers first words were ' Oh dear god! Then after a long pause ' nothing has changed! This won’t change anything!' Within a day of Elvis's death, Parker got Vernon Presley (the executor to Elvis's will) to agree to keep al l the deals made with Elvis as they were. He also signed a deal with the merchandising company, Factors Inc. that meant Parker would take 78% of the proceeds of the forthcoming souvenir boom! At Elvis's funeral, Parker wore a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap. At the cemetery he wondered away from the graveside and say by himself on a police motorbike. After Vernon's death in 1979, the courts got involved and after a long battle, a deal was struck whereby Parker was cut from all connections with the Presley Estate for a hefty sum.

Colonel Tom Parker (aka Andreas 'Dries' Cornelis Van Kuijk) died in January 1997.

When Elvis Presley met the Beatles

THE BEATLES: John, Paul, George & Ringo talk about Elvis Presley
 February10, 1964 Elvis Presley sends a congratulatory telegram to the Beatles

PAUL We met Elvis Presley at the end of our stay in L.A. We'd tried for years to, but we could never get to him. He was our greatest idol, but the styles were changing in favor of us. He was a pretty powerful image to British people. You'd look at photos of him doing American concerts, and the audience would not even be jumping up and down. We used to be amazed, seeing them sitting in the front row - not even dancing. 

JOHN LENNON : When I first heard "Heartbreak Hotel," I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We'd never heard American voices singing like that. They'd always sung like Sinatra who enunciated well. Suddenly, there's this hillbilly hiccupping with echo and all this bluesy background going on. We didn't know what the hell Presley was singing about or Little Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long time to work out what was going on. To us, it just sounded like great noise.

PAUL We tried many times to meet Elvis, Colonel Tom Parker, his manager would just show up with a few souvenirs, and that would have to do us for a while. We didn't feel brushed off we felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.

GEORGE HARRISON Meeting Elvis was one of the high-lights of the tour. It was funny, because by the time we got near his house we'd forgotten where we were going. We were in a Cadillac going round and round along Mulholland, and we'd had a couple of "cups of tea" in the back of the car. It didn't really matter where we were going - it's like the comedian Lord Buckley says, "We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds, we might not find out where we is, but we'll sure find out who we is." Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a lot. That's one thing we forgot about for a few years - laughing. When we went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but when I think back to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.) We pulled up at some big gates and someone said, "Oh yeah, we're going to see Elvis," and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we weren't silly, just like a Beatles cartoon.
 

The Beatles sit down on the floor right in front of Elvis, in a semi-circle, and they look up and they are just staring at him. There's this dead silence in the room until Elvis says, 'Well, what-the-hell, if you guys aren’t going to talk to me I’m going to my bedroom'. And then everyone started to laugh and that broke the ice.

JOHN It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in his big house in L.A. - probably as big as the one we were staying in, but it still felt like "big house, big Elvis." He had lots of guys around him, all these guys that used to live near him (like we did from Liverpool, we always had thousands of Liverpool people around us, so I guess he was the same.) And he had pool tables! Maybe a lot of American houses are like that, but it seemed amazing to us. It was like a nightclub.

RINGO STARR I was pretty excited. We were lucky because it was the four of us and we had each other to be with. The house was very big. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, "Hi, Elvis." He was pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.

PAUL He showed us in.  He just looked like Elvis - we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree. He said, "Hello, lads - do you want a drink?" We sat down and watched telly, and he had the first remote any of us had ever seen. You just aimed it at the telly and - wow! That's Elvis! He was playing Charlie Rich's "Mohair Sam" all evening - he had it on a jukebox.

JOHN He had his TV going all the time, which is what I do; we always have TV on. We never watch it - it's just there with no sound on, and we listen to records. In front of the TV, he had a massive amplifier with a bass plugged into it, and he was up playing bass all the time with the picture up on the TV. So we just got in there and played with him. We all plugged in whatever was around, and we played and sang. He had a jukebox, like I do, but I think he had all his hits on it. But if I'd made as many as him, maybe I'd have all mine on.

PAUL That was the greatest. Elvis was into the bass, so there I was, "Well, let me show you a thing or two, El..." Suddenly he was a mate. It was a great conversation piece for me. I could actually talk about the bass, and we sat around and just enjoyed ourselves. He was great. Talkative. Friendly and a little bit shy. But that was his image. We expected that, we hoped for that.

JOHN At first we couldn't make him out. I asked him if he was preparing new ideas for his next film and he drawled, "Ah sure am. Ah play a country boy with a guitar who meets a few gals along the way, and ah sing a few songs." We all looked at one another. Finally Presley and Colonel Parker laughed and explained that the only time they departed from that formula - for Wild in the Country - they lost money.

PAUL She came in, and I got this picture of her as a sort of a Barbie doll - with a purple gingham dress and a gingham bow in her very beehive hair, with lots of makeup. We all said hello, and then it was, "Right, lads, hands off - she's going." She didn't stay long. I can't blame him, although I don't think any of us would have made a pass at her. That was definitely not on - Elvis's wife, you know! That was unthinkable - she didn't need to be put away quite so quickly, we thought.

GEORGE I don't remember even seeing Priscilla. I spent most of the party trying to suss out from the gang if anybody had any reefers. But they were uppers and whiskey people. They weren't really into reefer smoking in the South.

JOHN It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much, we couldn't stand not doing personal appearances, we'd get bored - we get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit. We never talked about anything else - we just played music. He wasn't bigger than us, but he was "the thing." He just wasn't articulate, that's all.

PAUL It was one of the great meetings of my life. I think he liked us. I think at that time, he may have felt a little bit threatened, but he didn't say anything. We certainly didn't feel any antagonism. I only met him that once, and then I think the success of our career started to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to coexist with him,

RINGO I saw him again. I remember one time I got really angry with him because he just wasn't making any music. He'd stopped everything and was just playing football with his guys. So I said, "Why don't you go into a studio and give us some music here? What are you doing?" I can't remember what he said - he probably just walked away and started playing football again.

JOHN Up until Elvis joined the army, I thought it was beautiful music and Elvis was for me and my generation what the Beatles were to the '60s. But after he went into the army, I think they cut "les bollocks" off. They not only shaved his hair off but I think they shaved between his legs, too. He played some good stuff after the army, but it was never quite the same, it was like something happened to him psychologically. Elvis really died the day he joined the army. That's when they killed him, and the rest was a living death.

The Beatles performed their last concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco on 29th August 1966. In this exclusive excerpt from the book The Beatles Anthology recounts what it was like to come face-to-face with their idol Elvis Presley