Rare Colonel Parker interview transcript

August 31, 1981 People Magazine Article

1968 photograph of crowd clapping as Elvis, not in this shot, was singing an "Elvis altered" version of Happy Birthday during a break in rehearsals of what would be the 1968 Singer TV Special entitled "Elvis".

Col. Parker Made Elvis Golden; Now a Memphis Court Wonders If He Fleeced Him Too

Everyone called the relationship as close as that of father and son. Indeed, the legend grew from the start that Col. Tom Parker, a colorful ex-carny, had as much a paternal as a financial interest in the truck-driving lode of inchoate talent named Elvis Aaron Presley. Parker masterminded him into the King, the biggest solo act in show business, and if sometimes the Colonel seemed to be slicker than a hound dog's tooth, well, he'd made Elvis a millionaire, hadn't he?

True, but if the King is now resting in peace, those who survive him surely aren't. Almost four years to the day since Presley died, his fortunes are now being debated in a bitter probate court fight that pits Parker against Presley's sole heir, his daughter, Lisa Marie, 13. The allegations filed by Lisa's court-appointed guardian include charges that Parker, 72, enriched himself by mismanaging Presley's career and cutting the singer out of millions of dollars by negotiating unfavorable agreements.

After a court hearing in Memphis—ironically held the weekend thousands of mourners gathered there to commemorate the Aug. 16 anniversary of Presley's death—Judge Joseph W. Evans wrote in a heated opinion that "the compensation received by Colonel Parker is excessive and shocks the conscience of the court." Evans then ordered the Presley estate to cease all dealings with Parker, institute litigation against him to recover a yet to be determined sum, and continue investigating an array of seemingly disadvantageous contracts negotiated by Parker, chief among them Presley's pact with RCA Records.

However the case is eventually settled, the episode has renewed disturbing questions about Parker's past and his involvement with Presley—both the man and his estate. Although the Colonel (the honorary title was bestowed by a Tennessee Governor) maintains he is the son of a West Virginia "carnival family," the court records reveal he was in fact born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in Breda, Holland and came to America in 1929, at age 20. His foreign birth supports speculation that the reason Presley never accepted multimillion-dollar overseas gigs was Parker's inability to secure a U.S. passport. He spent his youth working for the Great Parker Pony Circus before segueing into C & W management. Parker had already handled Eddie Arnold and Hank Snow when, in the mid-'50s, he first heard a young singer from Tupelo, Miss, belting out rockabilly tunes around the South. By November 1955, Parker, then 46, signed the 20-year-old Presley to an exclusive management contract.

Parker's entrepreneurial wizardry during the early years is not in dispute. He clearly orchestrated Presley's transformation from an ungroomed rock pioneer into a slick Vegas showroom entertainer who made 33 mostly B movies over the years. For his part, Presley, at least in public, gave Parker full credit for every step of his success.

Recently, however, Presley revisionists have begun to downgrade Elvis' real closeness to the Colonel. Larry Geller, a longtime member of Elvis' Memphis Mafia, observes: "Elvis respected the Colonel for his ability to manipulate lawyers, companies and situations, but he felt very uncomfortable around him." And rock historian Albert Goldman, who will this fall publish an exhaustive 600-page biography titled Elvis, says, "In the 21 years they knew each other, Elvis and the Colonel never had dinner together once." Friends also recall that Parker came to Elvis' funeral dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and baseball cap and studiously avoided looking at the casket.

The quality of the personal relationship the two men shared may never be fully understood, but now the Colonel's business dealings have come under scrutiny as well. In May 1980, Memphis entertainment lawyer Blanchard E. Tual, 36, was appointed by the probate court to represent Lisa Marie after the executors of Elvis' will sought clarification of their dealings with Parker. Once Tual began his probe, the Colonel's role became increasingly suspect. For instance, during the first 11 years he managed Presley, Parker took a high but not unprecedented 25 percent of the singer's earnings. Tual points out that the Colonel neglected to register Elvis with a musical licensing firm, thereby forfeiting his client's share of songwriters' royalties. Yet in agreements signed on Jan. 2, 1967, Parker doubled his cut from Presley's earnings. Elvis signed away a flat half of his grosses, a cut Tual says was "exorbitant, excessive, and unreasonable...and raises the question of whether Parker has been guilty of self-dealing."

Soon thereafter Parker contracted Presley to play Vegas' International Hotel for what Tual calls "a surprisingly low figure...$100,000 to $130,000 a week: a price that was soon surpassed by acts of far less commercial value." Tual quotes Alex Shoofey, who was manager of the hotel at that time, as boasting that the arrangement was "the best deal ever made in this town." Parker, according to Shoofey, had developed a liking for casino action and "was one of the best customers we had. He was good for a million dollars a year." Observes Tual acidly: "The impropriety of a manager losing such sums in the same hotel with which he has to negotiate on behalf of his client goes without saying.... [He] sold Elvis short."

Even more damning, in Tual's judgment, is a baroque series of contractual maneuvers all dated March 1, 1973. By then Elvis' health had begun to fail, and he was in the throes of his divorce from Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. One contract sold to RCA all the King's master tapes for $5 million, split 50-50 between Parker and Elvis. "Elvis was only 37 years old," says Tual, "and it was illogical for him to consider selling an almost certain lifetime annuity from his catalogue of over 700 chart songs. The tax implications alone should have prohibited such an agreement..." In fact, of his $2.5 million from RCA, Presley kept only $1.25 million after taxes.

There was also a new seven-year contract with RCA that Tual criticizes on two counts: "Elvis' royalty rate was only one-half of what other major artists of the day, such as the Rolling Stones, Elton John or the Beatles, were receiving. Another glaring deficiency...was that it contained no audit clause." He adds: "RCA has denied the estate's request to audit the period from March 1, 1973 to Jan. 31, 1978 due to nonobjection of accountings by Colonel Parker." Tual contends that if an audit is ever conducted for that period, Presley's estate will reap a windfall in unpaid royalties.

Finally, there were three separate letter agreements on the same March 1 date in which RCA committed itself to pay Parker, for his merchandising and promotional expertise, a total of $1.75 million, plus 10 percent of the net profits from any Presley tours, over seven years. Presley okayed each of the letters, but received not a penny. "Even though Elvis acknowledged the letter agreements," observes Tual, "they constitute a clear conflict of interest and a breach of Colonel Parker's fiduciary trust...Colonel Parker could not possibly deal with RCA at arm's length on Elvis' behalf when he was receiving that much money from RCA."

Tual concludes that both RCA and Parker acted in collusion against Presley's best interests. "These actions against the most popular American folk hero of this century," he says, "are outrageous and call out for a full accounting from those responsible."

RCA denies any wrongdoing, and Parker told PEOPLE, "Elvis knew that I provided services for others. He was satisfied with our arrangement, and it worked." Parker also issued a broadside condemning "the unjust allegations that not only attack my name and reputation, but also are unfair and insulting to the memory of Elvis and his father, Vernon [who died in 1979]. I highly respected Elvis Presley, and I have made every effort to honor his name and preserve his memory with dignity." Not unexpectedly, the Colonel hints darkly at pursuing "legal actions" against his foes.

Retorts Tual, who has been asked by the court to continue his investigations: "Elvis Presley has been dead for four years now. I am not crusading for anybody. I'm looking out for the interests of his little girl—I think she's entitled to the benefits of her father's efforts and artistic talents." (Lisa lives in Beverly Hills with Priscilla, 36.) The lawyer is doubly concerned because the IRS recently hit the Presley estate with a back tax assessment that, if upheld, would take away $14.6 million of the estimated $25 million estate.

In Memphis, the now familiar hucksters of Presleyana are still hawking their shabby wares outside Graceland. Fans like Jody Compton still keep their evening vigils at the gates. "Nighttime," she says, "is the most beautiful time to be there for the lights, the magic—for being able to visualize Elvis doing the things he did at night. He's not really gone, you know."

Not as long as LPs and tapes continue to be sold. But the never-ending revelations of the frightful price Presley paid for his fame give sad lie to the last of his more than 90 gold singles. Released in 1977, just months before his death, it was titled My Way. The truth was, even to his own detriment, he did it the Colonel's way.

www.ElvisCollector.info updates November 1, 2015

Here are some of the rare, unique,  and cool content updates to our Elvis Presley website of www.ElvisCollector.info.

Including but not limited to are the following content updates:

Rare 1952 employment contract application

Rare 1965 picture of Elvis and Priscilla

Rare photograph of Elvis' Army first aid kit

Rare photograph of Elvis in 1957

Rare photograph of Elvis in 1956

Rare photograph of Elvis in 1970

Two great links added

An original article posted with the permission of Jeff Schrembs to the Elvis blog page

Rare photographs of Elvis related items to the rare and unique page

Additionally you will find; moving gifs, rare videos, rare audio, the largest collection of Elvis and Priscilla photographs in the world (as far as we know), and other exceptional content.

Please visit our site as well as to share our site like via social media.

Rare footage of Elvis Presley performing Houston Astrodome in 1970 (via YouTube)

www.Elvis.com & EPE announce Priscilla Presley's new book "Shades of Elvis"

Per www.Elvis.com comes the announcement of her new book "Shades of Elvis".

http://www.shadesofelvis.net/

Elvis Presley The Karate Years via YouTube random video good audio

Elvis Presley "did you know" October 25, 2014 edition

Concerning Elvis Presley I ask, via this blog and in my southern/Kentucky accent, "did you know"?

Elvis Presley was 6 foot tall.

Elvis wore a size 11 shoe.

Elvis died his hair, starting in 1956, a "blue black" color.

When Elvis left the US Army, after serving from 1958 until 1960, he weighed 170 pounds.

When (sadly) Elvis died, on August 16, 1977, the physicians confirmed that his heart was one and one half the size larger than it should have been.

When fans would yell out, or hold up signs saying, "Elvis you are the King" he would respond "there is only one king and that is Jesus Christ.

Elvis last meal was some ice cream and a few cookies.

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

Whats up with Jeff Schrembs not posting to this blog?

I apologize to everyone who follows, reads, etc. this blog.

I have been remiss in updating this blog but the beauty of mistakes is that we can learn from them and adjust accordingly.

So here are some facts about Elvis and cars. I hope you enjoy it.

Elvis Presley had a life-long love affair with motor cars. Beginning in the '50s with Cadillac’s, including the Pink Cadillac that he eventually gave to his mother - probably the most famous car in the world - to a second hand Volkswagen and two BMW 507s in Germany. 

In the '60s there were more Cadillac’s, Ford Lincoln's and a Rolls Royce among many others. In the '70s, again Elvis purchased Cadillac’s, a Mercedes-Benz 600, even a Ford T-Bird - but his most prized cars of the 1970s were his Stutz Blackhawk's. Elvis was the first person to own a Stutz Blackhawk, and there can be no doubt his favorite car of the 1970s was his 1973 Stutz Blackhawk III.

Billy Smith: I remember when Elvis got his driver's license. My daddy was working for Precision Tool. He was making fairly good money, and he had just bought a '51 Chevrolet, with a sun visor and all. Elvis wanted to borrow it to take his driver's test, and my daddy let him have it.

When he went to take his test, we all went. Elvis was sitting in the front with Daddy and Vernon. Very seldom did he ever say anything dirty in front of them. But a guy pulled out in front of daddy, and Elvis yelled, 'Watch where you're going, you son of a bitch!' We were all shocked, you know. The car got real quiet. That year, Elvis won the Safe Driving Award at school.

Joe Esposito: Elvis had a lot of cars. The first thing that attracted him was the looks of the car. He didn't care if it was a $5,000 car or a $50,000 car or what brand it was, although he was very partial to American-made cars. He really liked Cadillac’s and Lincolns, also some Chryslers. We bought a few foreign cars like the Rolls Royce because it was very prestigious and looked great, a Mercedes limousine and a Ferrari, but mostly his cars were American-made. He was very patriotic when it came to that.

If Elvis saw a car he liked in the window, he'd stop and buy it. That was basically it. If the dealership was closed and we knew the owner, we'd call and wake him up. We'd say, 'Listen, Elvis wants to buy this car'. Naturally the guy would meet us there, because if he didn't, Elvis would say, 'Well, we'll find someplace else'.

In early March, 1955 Elvis bought his first Pink Cadillac.

It was a pink and white 1954 Cadillac and provided transportation for Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys for about three months. The car went up in smoke when a brake lining caught fire, on the road between Hope and Texarkana, Ark. on June 5, 1955. 'The first car I bought was the most beautiful car I've ever seen. It was second hand but I parked it outside my hotel the day I got it and stayed up all night just looking at it. The next day, it caught fire and burned up on the road...' Elvis Presley

Just another great candid of Elvis Presley

No words are necessary,

 

For these, and thousands more, please visit www.ElvisCollector.info and the Elvis Presley Forum www.ElvisCollectorWorldwide.freeforums.org (bookmark please for the name is too long).

 

Take care and may God bless you.

 

Jeff Schrembs

 

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.

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/

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.