From:   "Colin Kilgour" 
Date:  Thu Jun 26, 2003  3:55 am
Subject:  Subject: Born To Be With You : 'Colonel' Tom Parker
 
COLONEL TOM PARKER (by Colin Kilgour)

Born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk 26 June, 1909 Breda, Holland
Died Tues. 21 January 1997 of complications from a stroke, aged 87. Place:
Valley Hospital Medical Center, located in the heart of Las Vegas

Parker was cremated and interred at Palm Cemetery on Eastern Avenue in Las
Vegas.

Have also seen b. 1910 and died 20 January

"In matters of commerce, the fault of the Dutch is giving too little and
asking too much" (Old colonial wisdom)

As a preamble to the story, a selection of quotes and comments concerning
the old Fraudster who has been universally vilified among Presleyites and is
a subject guaranteed to raise the hackles of devotees everywhere

Parker viewed Elvis Presley not as a talent but as a commodity.

"He took Elvis Presley from an unknown Memphis country boy to the world's
number one entertainer."

Presley and Parker were inseparable through the twenty years that they were
client and manager. They were a team, the heartthrob and the pudgy, older
man who directed the young man's destiny, building him into the biggest
singing star of the twentieth century

Elvis 'n' the Colonel. They went together in the mind of the public like
Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, Roy Rogers and Trigger

Elvis, whose devotion to Parker was complete, affectionately called him
"Admiral" and with Elvis he got the chance to create a star from the ground
up.

In a lot of pictures the Colonel's face was folded into a lazy, amused grin,
as though he was enjoying some private joke known only to him

Parker cultivated an outrageous, larger-than-life image while fiercely
guarding his private life. In fact, at 300-plus pounds, he was almost larger
than life.

Its hard to dislike a man who remained faithful to his wife for over 55
years, never took dope and drank ever so slightly.

"He was a man of his word," said country singer Eddy Arnold, who was one of
Parker's first clients in the mid-1940s. "When I talked to him, I knew where
I stood."

Parker paid off his own gambling debts by turning the world's biggest
superstar into a beast of burden

There remains bitter division about Parker. Was he Sam Katzman's 'biggest
con artist in the world' or merely an unsophisticated fairground barker
sucked into a vortex of circumstances he was unwilling to resist?

He'd created what some referred to as the biggest freak in show business, a
status Elvis passed on at death to Michael Jackson, where it seems securely
lodged.

You would be very hard-pressed to find 1 fan in 50 with many a good word to
be said for Colonel Tom
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Parker first met Elvis in 1955 while the young singer was still being
managed by Memphis DJ Bob Neal and was just beginning to make a name in the
south for some recordings on the Sun label. He slowly gained Elvis'
confidence and usurped Neal's position, eventually negotiating RCA's
purchase of Presley's contract from Sun for $35,000--a figure unheard of at
the time. He also arranged Elvis' early appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
and other TV shows in the mid-1950s that introduced the singer to a national
audience because he had the savvy to realise that television was the key to
the whole deal

Some say Parker made more money off of Elvis than Elvis made himself. In an
industry where the standard manager's fee was 10 percent, Parker made 25
percent of Presley's total income during the early stages of Elvis' career
and a whopping 50 percent after 1973. In addition, he controlled the
merchandising rights to all Elvis products and engineered the corporate
structure effectively so that Elvis came away with about 20% to Parker's 80%

He was a friend of country star and twice Louisiana Governor Jimmy "Pappy"
Davis (writer of the evergreen "You Are My Sunshine") who bestowed the
honorary rank of Colonel upon him in 1948 in exchange for services rendered
during Davis's campaign.

There is even a theory that Parker was born in Russia to Jewish parents and
acquired his Dutch identity during his teen years while living with the van
Kuijk family.

Most accounts give his parents as Adam and Maria van Kuijk for whom Tom was
their fifth of nine children. His given name was later shortened to the
diminutive 'Dries'

He was fascinated by the circus and loved horses and animals generally. The
family dispersed and Tom went to work on the docks in Rotterdam, coming to
be employed eventually by the Holland-America line

He commenced his wanderings and made a few freighter crossings to the USA,
most likely jumping ship landing in Mobile, Alabama in order to stay in the
States. He found his way to Atlanta, as mentioned, probably illegally, in
1929. Here he implemented his plan to enlist in the army (coinciding with a
drive to find volunteers to serve on bases in Hawaii, too far from 'home'
back then to be a popular posting). He was initially stationed in Florida,
cementing his metamorphosis into a Southerner, accent an' all.

He came under the command of one Capt. Thomas R Parker, whose name it is
said, he purloined. He also claimed to have been born in Huntington, West
Virginia. Another account re his name had it that Parker took his title
from his old carnival act, the Great Parker Pony Circus, owned he said by an
uncle (see later re Elaine Dundy's take on the surname)

Marie's The Name:
A knee injury saw him discharged after two years and he ended up in Tampa,
Florida signing on with carnival folk. After several years 'in the life',
spending most of the time as an animal handler, he met his wife, then Mrs.
Marie Ross (nee Mott), twice married and 4 years his senior (this was in
1935, the year of Elvis' birth). Marie's brother was one-time major league
ballplayer Bitsy Mott

Parker charmingly referred to his wife as 'Miz Rie', presumably a concoction
of the last 3 letters of her Christian name to arrive at a moniker which was
a derivation of 'misery'

He quit the carnival in the early forties and became well known as the Tampa
Humane Society's resourceful 'Chief Dogcatcher'. While playing Parker in
the 1993 made-for-TV movie Elvis & the Colonel, actor Beau Bridges said that
Parker was "one of the first people to come up with the concept of a pet
cemetery," as a fundraiser for the animal shelter he ran in Tampa

Parker soon left the Humane Society to become animal handler on the set of
the Spencer Tracy/Van Johnson film A Guy Named Joe, which was made in Tampa

In 1944 Parker traveled to Nashville and convinced the "Opry" management
that he was the right type to work for the Opry's traveling tent show,
graduating to assistant concert promoter

When war came, he organised parties for the army and gravitated into the
world of show business doing promotions for oldies film star Tom Mix,
crooner Gene Austin & country legend Roy Acuff

Extremely potent fund-raisers, he discovered, were shows headlined by a
popular C&W artist-and so it was that Parker came to commit himself
full-time to the genre by moving to Nashville where his concert promo work
and his gradually expanded activities brought him to the attention of Eddy
Arnold with whom he hooked up in 1944, becoming Arnold's personal manager.
Parker focused on promoting the artist exclusively. This led to an eventual
move to Nashville, in fact Tom virtually moved in with Eddy and his wife,
Sally.

Once, when this vocalist was indisposed, an unruffled Parker allegedly
offered a substitute attraction in two unhappy 'dancing chickens' who
high-stepped around a cage to ease feet scorched by an electric hot plate
hidden under their straw. The chickens "danced" to the music.

Later, Eddy said to him "Why don't you get yourself a hobby? - play golf, go
boating or something?". The response according to Arnold, was "He looked me
straight in the eye and said, "You're my hobby"

Curiously, he had long since cut his ties from his mother and the rest of
his family. Through the rest of the decades Parker continued and
perpetuated his self-imposed estrangement from his family and his homeland

When a brother visited him in the States, he was struck by Dries' elaborate
web of fanciful inventions and the sheer audacity in his various dealings.
His progression into and up the ladder of artist management highlighted
certain special qualities suiting him for that profession

He was extremely astute; nobody ever beat him on a deal. He realised
everyone had their weakness and he was a particularly strong willed man. He
'd lay down the law and you did things his way or not at all. His attention
to detail was meticulous .... nothing was left to chance

Whilst he was ruthless, undoubtedly possessed of a very mean streak and a
supreme opportunist, by contrast it appears he was absolutely honest in his
business affairs. More than anything - he 'loved the game' and felt that
everyone he dealt with was a little bit of a fool

His day was made when he put one over on the other poor sap ... prompting
the oft-repeated boast "Boy did I do a snow job on that guy!" Parker even
created a Snowman's League where the membership under his stewardship took
perverse pleasure in fleecing many a poor sap and glorying in the retelling

He certainly launched Arnold to new heights. Into the movies, into the
William Morris Agency, onto Milton Berle's top-rated TV show and even into
Vegas

In 1953 however, Eddy fired him .. apparently over a misunderstanding
[likely re financial dealings], although the two were by now wearing on each
other. Some 12 months on, Parker was back in the big time, working closely
with, then managing/entering into a booking agency partnership in Nashville
with Hank Snow

So, Colonel took on Hank Snow-and it was in a support spot on a Snow tour of
the deep south that 19-year-old Presley was first noticed by his future
svengali. Via connections nurtured during proceedings concerning Arnold and
Snow, Parker persuaded RCA to contract his new find. Some months later in
March 1956, the boy committed himself formally to Parker for life-and
beyond. From that month, he said 'Elvis has required every minute of my
time, and I think he would have suffered had I signed anyone else'.

A 'Time' Magazine article on The Colonel, refers to him 'profitably managing
the careers of Austin, Arnold and Snow before he found the boy with the coin
in the groin'

It is likely that Parker first saw Elvis Presley perform in January of 1955
and after the show he took steps to forge a link with Bob Neal

Following his initial 'management' by Scotty Moore, the role of Elvis'
manager passed to Bob Neal. On 15 March 1955 Elvis signed an amended
one-year agreement with Neal, giving Bob 15% commission with a renewal
option for March 1956 where if thought necessary, the terms could be revised
again

Parker had come onto the Presley scene because Neal, looking to broaden
Presley's exposure and appeal, wanted him included on the Parker organised
Hank Snow southwestern tour (Snow and Colonel's Jamboree Attractions)

It was following Presley's performances (and the audience reactions thereto)
on the 'Snow tour' in Jacksonville, FLA and Richmond, VA on 13 and 16 May
1955, that Parker began to take special notice of the young entertainer,
realising that here was a potentially big earner, even though that may be
'short term' only (and of course it proved to be far from that!)

As time progressed, Neal came to realise he didn't have the connections that
Parker had. The Colonel had friends in high places. The Colonel had been to
Hollywood. The boy needed to branch out from the regional to the national
stage and it was all just too far a stretch for the affable Neal. He had
lightning in a bottle and the supreme alchemist was waiting in the wings to
assume total control

On May 26 Parker wrote a long letter to Neal outlining all he (the Col.) has
done/can do for Elvis .... By mid-August Col. Attends a meeting in Memphis
with Elvis, Vernon & Bob Neal. A new contract is signed naming Parker
'Special Adviser' with control of virtually every aspect of the operation.
It is in effect, a 3-year representation deal

22 July 1955 Parker and Snow put up $10,000 cash to buy Elvis' release from
Sun Records. This appears to be a separate transaction from RCA, four
months later paying $35,000 for Presley's recording contract from Sam
Phillips

Two days on (24 July) Elvis becomes exclusively represented by the Colonel /
Hank Snow Attractions, though he continues to be managed by Bob Neal

In that 'special' (sinister?) way of his, Parker chipped away at Neal,
sniping, being critical and generally initiating altercations and unpleasant
episodes which would have worn down just about any man

Reading between the lines, Bob Neal was a particularly nice guy, certainly
one lacking the desire or wherewithal to fight the Colonel's fire with fire.
On Sept 17 1955, as the constant bickering continued, Neal pulled out of
their joint contract although it ran to March of the following year

As the year moved to a close, Hank Snow was still nominally Parker's
partner. In early March 1956 however, Colonel dissolved his professional
ties with Snow amid some acrimony. Clearly this surprised the country star
who expected to reap great financial rewards from his involvement in Elvis'
career

It continued to be a subject of controversy and recrimination for 40 more
years but for whatever reason Snow never found any satisfactory legal
recourse. It isn't difficult for the imagination to run riot and to conjure
up similarities between the methods of Parker, J Edgar Hoover and The
Godfather

Turning to Red West as quoted in Elaine Dundy's book, where (p 352/3) she
concludes her book by saying "'Elvis: What Happened' [1977] by the aforesaid
West/Hebler/West caused a furore not only in its timing (released 12 days
before Elvis' death) but also in its content"

"Though 'E: WH' is highly critical of Elvis' every thought and action (and
CK recognises that it was written no doubt with wrath and spleen at the
recent dismissals of the three from Graceland) it is just the reverse
whenever the Colonel makes his entrance

Indeed every time he does it is a signal heralding undiluted raves about the
magic worked by the all-knowing Colonel. The ex-Dog-catcher emerges with
his reputation immaculate. "Tom Parker was and is amazing. With Elvis and
him it was like a joint and socket who had been looking for each other".

Truly the Colonel could not have been provided with better character
references if he had written them himself! Dundy then astutely asks why the
all-knowing Parker didn't stop the book in whatever way he deemed best? - be
that pay-off or whatever

Maybe he was more interested in having his own reputation enhanced than
being concerned about the opposite effect on 'his Boy's'

More interesting things from Dundy
'While nothing could be more American than travelling carnivals, nothing
could be less American than their personnel which was, by tradition and
fact, cosmopolitan. Most of the people were foreign-born or if not, would
be likely to transform their dubious backgrounds into whatever they
sublimely chose them to be.

An individual involved in a group organisation whose group effort is to fool
the public, will invariably extend this habit to fooling his colleagues and
even in the end, to fooling himself. Hence it is likely that Parker acted
his role so vigorously he often took even himself in

(CK's theory is that where anyone, in whatever walk of life, is 'allowed' to
get away with and thereafter augment, their behaviour or charade, then the
activity assumes a 'normality' with no moral sense attached. In brief, if
no one slaps them down and says "This stops!", then you're stuck with that
behaviour 'til Kingdom Come)

In Partridge's 'Dictionary of the Underworld' the word 'parker' is defined
as 'to talk; parly-aree: the language of circusmen, showmen, itinerant
and/or low actors. It often merges with the language of tramps. This opens
up the conjecture that the name Parker was not one he selected but one he
had bestowed upon him, as in Nosey Parker

In the fascinating world of the 'carnies', the lifestyle and philosophy of
that underworld perhaps fostered the desperate wickedness that Parker used
later to push his way into the lives of entertainment personalities,
mobsters, politicians and even the FBI. Parker saw America as a big game of
chance and he played it to its fullest

The Colonel, it seems, was like so many post-war show business figures,
fighting his way across a new and cruel economic landscape, forging tools
for his own survival at the expense of everyone he met, particularly the man
whom history would label The King of Rock and Roll

Elvis was underage and couldn't even work for Parker until his parents had
signed him away. The young singer went from one domineering personality (his
mother) to another. Parker would keep Elvis on a tight rein for the rest of
the singer's troubled life. His deal with Elvis was infamous for enriching
the manager and the contracts he made Elvis sign lost him and his estate,
hundreds of millions of dollars. Parker's name became synonymous with
financial avarice and many contend he deserved the reputation.

It is said that the reason Elvis never toured overseas is that Parker-an
illegal Dutch immigrant- had no passport and couldn't risk going through
customs.
Some accounts have portrayed Presley and Parker as having had a stormy
relationship and suggested that Parker managed the star's life with an iron
fist.

One quote had Parker as ``The devil who traded the singer's rock 'n' roll
soul for
the demon Hollywood dollar.''

As an aside, on 3 April 1960 Elvis recorded 'Are You Lonesome Tonight' (an
old Al Jolson hit). This is at the Colonel's urging because it is his wife's
favourite song. It is likely the only time in his career that Elvis will
record a song at the explicit suggestion of his manager

Elvis and Parker came to Las Vegas in 1968. Long-time friend and former Las
Vegas Hilton Publicity Director Bruce Banke said of Parker "He was a
generous and caring human being. The entertainer appeared at billionaire
hotelier Kirk Kerkorian's International Hotel in 1969, which was later sold
to Hilton.

When not doling out entertainment advice, Parker could be seen at local
casinos playing slot machines. He loved to play slot machines, he would
say, 'I'm going down to get my exercise"

A Jason Hawkins says Colonel confided in him, near the end of his life. To
add to the existing stories, the Colonel told Jason he was born in Austria
and went to Holland to avoid arrest in Austria. There, he obtained false
papers as a Dutch citizen. He moved to the United States to further conceal
his real past and citizenship.

The reason why Elvis never toured outside the U.S. is the same reason the
Manager ensured he always overpaid his taxes - because Parker wanted to
avoid government background checks.

Maybe he fired E's original band because Parker the old carny, wanted to
keep Elvis isolated from anyone who might convince his prize attraction that
he could get a better deal with another manager

Meanwhile, the biggest questions, the ones we await a biographer to address,
remain unanswered. Why was Elvis never aware of just how much money Parker
was taking out of his pocket? Why, when Elvis was constantly surrounded by
people because he hated to be alone, was no one ever able to make the case
for tax shelters to him? Why did Elvis accept the Colonel's continual
quashing of his acting and musical ambitions?

Why in all the vastness of the Presley money-making machine did so much
power remain in the hands of one man with so obviously little regard for
Elvis? What was the mysterious power the Colonel had over him? There has to
be more to this -- it's just too hard to accept the idea that, with all the
money, fame, power, and attendant tragedy, in the end the Elvis myth hinges
entirely on the fact that the King of Rock and Roll was either a spineless
neurotic or a 'grade A' doofus.

Parker had no faith that rock n roll would last, so he turned Elvis into a
movie star

Many contend that far from being a genius, Parker was stupid about
everything involving Elvis' future, from the shortsighted decision to tie
him to a contract hacking out movies for Hal Wallis, at the very moment that
every other star with Elvis' stature was being unshackled from the old
studio system. Nothing could more perfectly have expressed the degree to
which Tom Parker never, for one minute, grasped what Elvis and his music
meant to people. To stand that close to the center of such a phenomenon as
Elvis Presley and to miss altogether his most important, long lasting
qualities - requires an ineptitude that is breathtaking

Scotty Moore refuses to blame Elvis for what happened, instead he blames the
notoriously cheap Parker

To Parker, movies were a way by which he could make more money than from
Elvis's music. Parker decided that future movies would have more singing and
less talking. After Elvis's service in the US Army, all he did was make
blander and blander movies and Parker raked in the money. By 1966, Parker's
trips to Vegas had increased, as has his losses at the table. Gambling
became a full-blown addiction with him and the only way to get more money
was to fleece Elvis.

Parker turned down quality movies with substance like 'The Rainmaker' for
Elvis and chose the likes of 'Harem Scarum' and 'Kissing Cousins' instead.
As stated Parker creamed off EP's earnings (scamming Presley for decades) -
however, he quietly went away with his tail tucked between his legs and
relinquished any and all of his "rights" to Presley, when Priscilla Presley
threatened to prosecute Parker for fraud and take criminal action (after
Elvis's death)

While facilitating Presley's captivation of a global 'youth market', the
Colonel's instinct for the commercial and economic machinations of the
record industry obliged RCA to accede to his every desire, such as the
pressing of one million copies of every Elvis release, regardless of
positioning research. Moreover, to the team fell an average of eight per
cent of approved merchandise associated with Presley-and, when the time came
for the King to act in films, producer Hal Wallis grew to "rather try and
close a deal with the Devil" than Parker.

Parker was everything we in Rock and Roll can't stand - another generation
away older opportunist who only wanted the money and to draw a correlation
with his old Carny life, exploit the talent and drive the artist (Elvis)
without mercy until the 'animal' died

Tommy Sands was a long-time protégé of Parker's in Shreveport. His part in
the movie 'Sing Boy Sing' (the story of the rise and fall of a rock 'n' roll
star) - originally written for Elvis, was obtained for him only through he
intercession of The Colonel

March 1973. Colonel Parker sells RCA the singer's royalty rights on Elvis'
entire recording catalog up to that point. 700 some songs for five million
dollars. A good deal for the Colonel but bad for Elvis and his heirs, who
could have enjoyed a lifetime income off those songs

After Elvis' death he got sued by the Presley Estate for mismanagement and
even fraud. As time went on, the relationship got better again and
eventually Colonel got honored once more by the Presley Estate.

After Presley's death in 1977, there were rumours that Parker would be
devoting himself professionally to Rick Nelson but only Elvis' posthumous
career interrupted a virtual retirement in Palm Springs. He also spent a
lot of time playing roulette and craps in Las Vegas casinos (the city where
he lived from the 1980s onward)

Parker relinquished his business interests to Presley's estate and to RCA
Records. He remained a consultant to the Hilton, where he maintained a suite
of rooms from 1969 through 1984, before moving into nearby Country Club
Towers as a permanent resident

He moved to Las Vegas in the 1980s to enjoy craps and roulette and continue
his long working relationship with the Hilton. Parker was part of the
ceremonies in Las Vegas in 1993 when the Elvis postage stamp was issued.
Gov. Bob Miller declared June 25, 1994, as Col. Tom Parker Day in Nevada.

Parker told Variety in 1994 that he had had lots of offers to write books
about Presley but had
turned them all down. ``You know what they want -- dirt,'' Parker said.
``I'm not a dirt farmer.''

Parker did however reap millions from Elvis' death but there was one person
with the courage to challenge the Colonel: Priscilla. She learned how Parker
had taken advantage of Elvis while he was still alive and even after death
and she worked to stop it. In 1983, Parker agreed to sell an undisclosed
number of master Presley recordings to RCA for $2 million. This came as a
result of a series of lawsuits against him accusing him of taking financial
advantage of Presley. One of the suits was filed by a lawyer for Presley's
daughter, Lisa Marie

Parker was forced to reveal his origin in court papers seeking dismissal of
a lawsuit filed against him by the Presley estate in Manhattan Federal
Court. Declaring, "I am a man without a country," Parker claimed he could
not be sued under Federal laws. (Variety: 8 June 1983):

His handling of merchandising rights during the early part of Presley's
career has been compared to the business dealings of later star-makers such
as Brian Epstein. The obsession with commerce and disavowal of artistry
dominated the Colonel's thinking, however, which mainly explains the
singer's appalling film-related output during the early/mid-'60s. After
Presley's death, Parker's business empire was threatened by the star's
estate-in the form of Elvis's ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie.
Parker fought tenaciously to protect his empire before settling in June
1983.

Parker cited ill-health as a reason for not attending a New York courtroom
to defend an action to separate him from a multimillion-dollar empire.
Ultimately that attempt would succeed and the old man would be broke and
bitter

After Elvis' death, courts ruled that Mr. Parker had no legal rights or
interest to his biggest client's estate. I understand the action was
eventually settled out of court and for the remainder of the 1980s the
Colonel kept a low profile.

Thereafter, he surrendered claims to all future Elvis income but received
two million dollars from RCA and 50 per cent of all Presley's record
royalties prior to September 1982

The judges and what he perceived as the smartass New York lawyers took it
all away from him, when they took the Elvis empire, His empire, away from
his control. 'They had no right do that. He had built the empire, goddamn
it and he should have been allowed to run it until the day he died'

They'd really stuck it to him those judges and lawyers. Bit by bit, it had
all come out. They'd made him sound like a part-time buffoon and part cheap
crook

He had tried everything to delay the inevitable ......... until the other
side - Priscilla and Lisa Marie as the Elvis Presley estate - was forced by
lack of money to come to a settlement that left him if not with this empire,
at least with some of its money

With it, tumbling out came one of the ultimate truths, forcing him to reveal
to the world what he had concealed for half a century. That he wasn't born
an American but was an illegal immigrant - a Dutchman - without papers or
passport

Around the mid-eighties Parker took a fall in an elevator in the RCA
Building in LA. He was unable to get up and the automatic door hit him over
and over again, almost as though it were trying to beat him to death

The Colonel's Passing:
LAS VEGAS, NV - At age 87, Col. Tom Parker was still working as a consultant
for an upcoming Elvis Presley movie and advising the Hilton hotel chain on
entertainment when he suddenly suffered a stroke. The cigar-chomping manager
who catapulted Presley to megastardom remained active until his death. His
wife, Loanne, was at his bedside when he died.

At the memorial service for Col. Tom Parker, mourners and other friends and
relatives, joined hands at the Las Vegas Hilton where Presley performed from
1969 to 1977 and listened to a recording of the man he made King sing "How
Great Thou Art"

Movie star Ann Margret, who starred with Presley in ``Viva Las Vegas!''
issued a statement saying she was sad at Parker's death and would miss him
very much. ``He has been a part of my life since I was very young and from
that time he had always shown me kindness and support,'' she said.

Priscilla Presley said few people realised the role Parker played in
bringing Elvis to prominence. "The Colonel is somewhere working up another
great promotion," she said. "I think most of us assumed he would live
forever"

Parker is survived by his wife, Loanne (listed by Worth/Tamerius in their
Elvis A-Z as Lou Ann Miller, the only female who worked with Col. Parker in
his own organisation). She had been secretary to the Manager of the
International Hotel in Vegas. She'd go to Colonel and tell him everything
he had to know and then carry his story back to her boss and pretty soon she
knew it
all from every which way. Parker took a shine to her. His wife was so badly
stricken with Alzheimer's that she didn't know who the Col. was for the last
10 years of her life

He and Loanne became friends and they finally got married in 1989, some
three years after the first Mrs. Parker died. Thus Colonel married his long
time Assistant and following the sad demise of Marie, basked in the relative
vigour and social know-how of Loanne who had looked after Parker's and Elvis
' Las Vegas based secretarial requirements, from around 1970 until El's
death in 1977

Las Vegas Hilton President Gary Gregg said in a written statement. "For more
than 25 years, the colonel was a key figure behind much of the worldwide
entertainment success of the Las Vegas Hilton"

"There, in the Hilton Showroom, Elvis entertained 2.5 million people during
837 unforgettable live performances. Through all that time ... there was the
colonel, the strength behind the 'King. 'Parker at one time maintained
several suites at the Las Vegas Hilton. He moved to a private Las Vegas
residence in 1985

Parker cultivated an outrageous, larger-than-life image while fiercely
guarding his private life. Somewhat lacking in the social graces, surely
the most shocking example is that he wore shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and a
baseball cap to Elvis' funeral. After Elvis died, he spent most of his time
playing roulette and craps in Las Vegas casinos.

He had lived on nearly 20 years after the death of his 'Boy'

Parker created Elvis, molded him, ruled him and eventually destroyed him
through greed, coarseness and neglect. The overweight King, sweating and
singing and eventually dying ingloriously in his own bathroom is not the
King to be remembered but those are the grotesque images that remain in the
memory of many. And that is achingly tragic for those who remember the
Adonis that shaped a generation and was a musical and cultural phenomenon
that continues to rock this world almost a half a century later.

Colonel Parker: Master Negotiator Or Svengali?
Much has been written about the role of Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis' career.
Many writers have taken the view that the Colonel was instrumental in Elvis'
rise to fame in the 1950s and his successful film career in the early 1960s.
Critics contend that by the mid 1960s the Colonel, with his outdated 'carny'
approach to marketing and contracts, was seriously out of step with what was
needed to conclude beneficial contracts for his client.

How effective was the Colonel on Elvis's behalf in the 1950s? Was he really
the master negotiator so often stated in writings on the Elvis story? A
stark re-assessment of the Colonel's role in Elvis's career is justified
when one reads what Frank Rose uncovered during research for his absorbing
book on the William Morris agency: 'The Agency (William Morris and the
Hidden History of Show Business)' published by Harper Business in 1995.

On the subject of Elvis's film deal with Hal Wallis:
By the following Monday, April 2, Lastfogel, Parker and Wallis agreed on a
seven-year deal that called for Elvis to make one picture a year for
Paramount and allowed him to make one picture a year for another producer as
well. The pay was modest - $15,000 for eight weeks of work for the first
picture, plus two $25,000 bonuses for a total of $65,000. For the second
picture he'd get $100,000 - $20,000 for the eight weeks, plus a $50,000
bonus and $30,000 in expenses. The pay was so modest, in fact, that Wallis's
partner in New York, Joe Hazen, was advised by the studio lawyer that they'd
have to get a waiver from the Screen Actors Guild, since the Guild required
one any time an actor was getting less than a specific minimum annual
salary.

The sources for Rose's comments were an internal memo dated 2 April 1956 on
the Hal Wallis office 'Elvis Presley General File' and details of Elvis's
seven-year film deal in the 'Hal Wallis Collection' (housed in the Margaret
Herrick Library, AMPAS). Most biographies have printed higher figures than
those uncovered by Frank Rose. Even Hal Wallis in his autobiography,
'Starmaker', states: It was one of the toughest bargaining sessions of my
career. I agreed to pay Elvis $100,000 for the first picture, $150,000 for
the second, and $200,000 for the third production. One line of argument is
that it was in Wallis's best interests to suggest the higher figures rather
than drawing attention to the fact he had actually engaged Elvis at a less
than commensurate salary. We may never know

By way of background, the William Morris Agency was one of the most powerful
show business brokers in Hollywood. It's agents made the deals that
determined the fate of stars, studios and networks. It was engaged by the
Colonel to arrange Elvis's appearances on television, in movies etc. 'The
Agency' is a fascinating book and it is revealing to find out just how much
influence Colonel Parker had with the show business giant. For example, the
only outsider invited to the agency's 85th anniversary party in 1983 was one
Colonel Tom Parker! 'The Agency' also provides a new reason why Elvis never
starred with Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born, a reason not to do with the
Colonel

The foregoing revelation, combined with the Colonel's less than beneficial
Vegas contracts for Elvis, scandalous 'fire sale' of Elvis's catalogue to
BMG in the 1970s and disproportionate merchandising contracts in his, not
Elvis's favour, suggest the Colonel may have been seriously overrated by
biographers and critics.

Final word?
Parker was asked after Presley died in 1977 if he thought the King was still
alive. He responded "If he is, would you tell him to get in touch with me
because I've got work for him"

It is clear that if Elvis had managed his money sensibly and had a less
severe percentage 'stolen' away by Parker, he would have made millions more
dollars. He could have become as wealthy as Bob Hope. That Elvis never had
a tax shelter or an investment portfolio or even a pension plan can be laid
squarely to the account of Col. Parker who dreaded the thought of some
shrewd money manager sticking his nose into the Colonel's dealings with
Elvis

So instead of making his money work for him, Elvis followed the example of
his profligate manager and flung it all away. He justified this crazy
behaviour by insisting (not entirely without justification) that any time he
chose, he could earn immense sums, simply by stepping onto a public stage

Reading:
Elvis & the Colonel, Dirk Vellenga and Mick Farren
New York: Delacorte, 1988. The author is a Dutch rock critic who focuses on
Colonel Tom Parker's mysterious European origins. Not to be confused with
another book by the same title by Elvis fan May Mann, which is of little
interest to the researcher

Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager by
James L. Dickerson (who also worked with Scotty on his recent biog.)

Elvis by Albert Goldman (with input from Lamar Fike and many another Memphis
Mafia stalwart)

And one which hopefully will give us the full skinny:
The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis
Presley - by Alanna Nash
Publication date mooted for July 15th, 2003. The book attempts to solve one
of the biggest riddles in the history of the music industry - 'Who was
Colonel Tom Parker'?

"Little is known about Elvis' mentor, manager and manipulator. Nash, an
Elvis expert (she was the first journalist to see Elvis' body after his
death) and a personal friend of Colonel Tom Parker, goes deeper into the
secrets surrounding the Colonel than any journalist before her.

With over 300 new interviews, Nash traveled to Holland, where Parker fled
after allegedly bludgeoning a young woman to death, to interview Parker's
family. Nash examines Parker's status as an illegal alien, his desertion
from the US army, his psychosis for which he was hospitalized, his decision
to put Elvis in a long string of terrible movies designed to protect his own
secret past and his lack of paper trail. He had no FBI, INS or CIA files
and no marriage license.

Nash proves that the only figure in American popular culture as fascinating
as Elvis is the man who made Elvis - Colonel Tom Parker

Nash, to the delight of Elvis lovers everywhere, answers some lingering
questions while posing a few new ones about the man who made the King and
then stole his crown"
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In 1956 Parker started on his autobiography 'The Benevolent Con Man: How
Much Does It Cost if It's Free?' and reportedly turned down one of many
would-be publisher's offer of a $100,000 advance, saying "Well I guess I
could let you have the back cover for that"

He intended to sell full-page ads between chapters for $25,000 each. He
never did finish the book ... but then again, would you believe *his* side
of any story?
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I can't quite make up my own mind on The Colonel. I acknowledge it's
'sitting on the fence' but as with many things in life, it isn't absolutely
black and white. I do believe however that as regards the Colonel's
dealings for Elvis, there is considerably more black than white but that he
wasn't all bad. Quite what the percentages are, is difficult to say

Maybe it speaks volumes that all in all, I'm sure in unison with 95% of
Presley fans, I wish it had been anyone other than Parker who acquired the
rights to guide the career of the young Sun King

Many have asked why Elvis stayed under Parker's oppressive management. One
theory was that should the singer sack Parker, then the Colonel would tell
the world about what the Presley clan perceived as the shameful incident of
Vernon's jailing for forging a cheque back in his younger days

Parker, The Flying Dutchman, was the last great embodiment of that classic
style of American show business epitomised by P.T. Barnum and his famous
motto "There's a sucker born every minute". Despite his origins he seems to
have sprung from the rich soil of American folklore

Nothing could be more American than Tom Parker, unless it were the man with
whom The Colonel is invariably identified, W.C. Fields

Despite his secretive past and accusations that he exploited Elvis and much
as we may dislike it, there is no doubting Colonel Tom Parker's contribution
to modern pop culture. If Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll, Parker was
the power behind the throne.

Thanks to Bridge Hupfer for some help re Loanne Parker, also to Phil Davies
re the same + other matters

Blending with my own writing, I acknowledge the use of material from various
articles incl. excerpts from Dundy, Guralnick's 'Last Train To Memphis',
'Careless Love' and 'Elvis - Day by Day', which he co-wrote with Jorgensen.
Extracts also used from Elvis And The Colonel by Vellenga and Farren

COLIN KILGOUR - JUNE 2003