The Colonel (65 page)

CHAPTER 11: “ELVIS MAKES PITCHAS”

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“look at this fellow”:
Harriet Ames quoted by Joseph Hazen to Peter Whitmer, raw interview transcript, February 18, 1994.

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“We chatted”:
Joseph Hazen to Peter Whitmer, raw interview transcript, February 18, 1994.

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“There was something about his eyes”:
HWC/MPAS.

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“I knew instinctively”:
Wallis with Higham,
Starmaker.

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“nothing would stop me”:
Wallis with Higham,
Starmaker.

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“we were agog”:
Chick Crumpacker in letter to author, February 16, 1998.

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“It was the talk of the place”:
Crumpacker to author, 1998.

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“meteoric rise is unquestionably a freak situation”:
Joe Hazen to Hal Wallis, June 11, 1956, HWC/MPAS.

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“but his dramatic abilities and talents”:
Joe Hazen in letter to Colonel Tom Parker, quoted in Guernsey’s,
Official
Auction Catalogue.

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“My ambition has always been”:
Elvis Presley to Hal Wallis, HWC/MPAS.

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“The idea of tailoring”:
Hal Wallis in the documentary
Elvis: The Echo Will Never Die,
1986.

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“No check is good”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted in
Time,
May 16, 1960.

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“full shadow of a real blue beard”:
“You could see the full shadow of a real blue beard, one that she would have to shave
twice a day.” Bob McCluskey in e-mail to author, 1999.

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Parker, who had demanded early:
Abe Lastfogel in letter to Hal Wallis, May 3, 1956, HWC/MPAS. “Dear Hal: Am quoting an excerpt of a
memorandum from Ann Rosenthal re ELVIS PRESLEY: ‘In talking to Joe Hazen you might also tell him that if he or Hal Wallis have anything to discuss with respect to Presley they should not
contact him direct but channel all of these matters through Colonel Parker or through us. The Colonel is most sensitive about this.’ ”

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“Parker has a peeve about neglect”:
Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis, October 2, 1956, HWC/MPAS.

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“I wouldn’t be a hundred feet”:
Joe Hazen to Peter Whitmer, raw interview transcript, February 18, 1994.

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“very confidentially—and as man to man”:
Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis, October 26, 1956, HWC/MPAS.

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“crap”:
Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis, September 6, 1957, HWC/MPAS.

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“methods that have been very helpful”:
Colonel Tom Parker in letter to Buddy Adler, September 25, 1956, TCFC/USC.

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“I was in his office when the call came”:
Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997.

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“maybe he needs a new manager”:
Colonel Tom Parker to Buddy Adler, quoted in John Semien, “Graceland Magazine Honors
Parker,”
Memphis Commercial Appeal,
June 23, 1994.

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“Better take this, Tom”:
Abe Lastfogel quoted in Linn, “Pitchman Extraordinary.”

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“Go back to ’em”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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“in getting the most”:
Leonard Hirshan to author, 1998.

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“If anybody laughs”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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“a familiar face will help keep this fellow settled down”:
David Weisbart in memo to Harry Brand, August 22, 1956, DWC/USC.

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“He’s been so cooperative with us”:
David Weisbart in memo to Buddy Adler, September 24, 1956, DWC/USC.

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“because I was developing too much of a relationship with Elvis”:
Leonard Hirshan to author, 1999.

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“You can’t trust people in this town”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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“possessed him”:
Joseph Hazen to Peter Whitmer, raw interview transcript, February 18, 1994.

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“I want to be the kind of actor”:
Elvis Presley in the documentary
Elvis in Hollywood,
1993.

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“I’d sooner cut my throat”:
Elvis Presley quoted in Lloyd Shearer,
Parade,
September 30, 1956.

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“it’s pretty easy”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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Presley, who as a small child:
“Seems we was always in debt. Can’t hardly remember when we wasn’t. We used to sit on the
doorstep talkin’ about our debts. After a while Elvis’d look up, he was just a little fella, an’ he’d say, ‘Don’t worry none. One of these days things will
change.’ Well, Elvis changed ’em.” Gladys Presley quoted in Lloyd Shearer,
Parade,
September 30, 1956.

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“For the first twelve years”:
Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997.

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“a very rough way”:
David Weisbart in memo to Harry Brand, August 22, 1956, DWC/USC.

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“a beginner who had”:
Mildred Dunnock to Jerry Hopkins, JHC/UM.

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“He has magnetism”:
Trude Forsher to author, 1997.

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“Spread the news”:
TCFC/USC.

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“as to how much money”:
Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis, October 26, 1957, HWC/MPAS.

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“divided among them according to their own desires”:
Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis, January 17, 1957,
HWC/MPAS.

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“could not or would not keep any of it personally”:
Abe Lastfogel, quoted in Joe Hazen in interoffice memo to Hal Wallis,
December 3, 1956, HWC/MPAS.

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“your paying Elvis Presley and Colonel Parker the additional $50,000”:
Abe Lastfogel in letter to Joe Hazen and Hal Wallis,
February 7, 1957, HWC/MPAS.

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“for the cooperation of Colonel Tom Parker”:
Contract quoted in Guernsey’s
Official Auction Catalogue.

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“You want to tell me”:
Colonel Tom Parker to Oscar Davis, quoted in
Rosita,
1960.

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“the only Jewish fella in Madison”:
Colonel Tom Parker to Ralph Emery, raw interview transcript, April 7, 1993.

CHAPTER 12: DIRECTIONAL SNOWING

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“a lot of people hated him”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994.

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“a nasty little boy”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994.

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“orchid-pretty”:
Kanter,
So Far, So Funny.

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“There were some things”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994.

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“I thought the colorful Colonel”:
Kanter,
So Far, So Funny.

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“Trude, if you come with me now”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Trude Forsher to author, 1997.

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“Speak German for me, Trude”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Trude Forsher to author, 1997.

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“this bombastic, driving, one-man minstrel show”:
A. C. Lyles to author, 1997.

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“My induction was given to me over dinner”:
Charlie Boyd to author, 1997.

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“how much, not who, where, when, or why”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994.

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“I would never know”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994.

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“was happier fleecing the world”:
Kanter,
So Far, So Funny.

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“pink face turned magenta”:
Kanter,
So Far, So Funny.

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“Now I see why you have the police there”:
Hal Kanter to Barbara Hall, MPAS/OHP, July 5, 1994, and Kanter,
So Far, So
Funny.

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“eight doors removed from the donniker”:
Colonel Parker in letter to Hal Wallis and Joseph Hazen, May 5, 1959, HWC/MPAS.

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“I consider it my patriotic duty”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted in Jerry Hopkins, unpublished magazine article, JHC/UM.

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“I love to pay taxes”:
Colonel Tom Parker to Boots Randolph, quoted in Peter Cronin, Scott Isler, and Mark Rowland, “An
Oral Biography: Elvis Presley,”
Musician,
October 1992.

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“just scared him to death”:
Bitsy Mott to Dirk Vellenga, raw interview transcript, 1983.

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“What he told me”:
Anne Fulchino to author, 1998.

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“He was an angel”:
Sam Esgro to author, 1998.

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“my people listen to me”:
Gabe Tucker to author, 1997.

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“I’ll know about it”:
Linn, “Pitchman Extraordinary.”

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“I know the inside of the Colonel”:
Trude Forsher to author, 1997.

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“just scares me”:
Guralnick and Jorgensen,
Elvis Day by Day.

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“I am the most miserable”:
Elvis Presley quoted by James Hamill to author, 1977.

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“After the break”:
Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997.

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“Oh my God, Cole Porter”:
Jean Aberbach quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1997.

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“pushed a chair in front of the door”:
Mike Stoller to Jerry Hopkins, JHC/UM.

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“I called [the Colonel] and said”:
Jerry Leiber to Jerry Hopkins, JHC/UM.

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“a necessary evil”:
Gordon Stoker to author, 1998.

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“The Colonel had a grip”:
D. J. Fontana quoted in Cronin, Isler, and Rowland, “An Oral Biography.”

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“He just wants to use your name”:
The Jordanaires to Chris Clark, WTVF-TV, Nashville, May 2000.

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One day, the Colonel found:
The Mike Stoller anecdote comes from his quotes in Cronin, Isler, and Rowland, “An Oral
Biography.”

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“was trapped by his dependency”:
Jerry Leiber quoted in Cronin, Isler, and Rowland, “An Oral Biography.”

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“Elvis, Trude’s here”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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“It’s better to be feared than liked”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author,
1998.

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Don’t Push Me Too Far,
or
Trouble Is My Name: Colonel Parker letter to Pandro Berman, March 23, 1957, quoted in Guernsey’s
Official Auction Catalogue.

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“deathly afraid to be alone”:
Mardy Baum to author, 1997.

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“Don’t you know”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Byron Raphael to author, 1998.

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“Like he was going to call roll”:
Gordon Stoker to author, 1998.

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“If we would go out for a meal”:
Byron Raphael to author, 1998. Parker’s obsessive-compulsive traits, including excessive
neatness, fear of germs, preoccupation with feces, and repeated washing, were likely the result of abnormally low serotonin levels in the brain. Studies show that low serotonin activity also
increases aggressive behavior. Violent criminal offenders—particularly those who act impulsively in predatory attacks such as the one on Anna van den Enden—are often found to suffer
from this condition. As children, in keeping with the antics of the young Dries van Kuijk, who also bit his teacher on the ankle, these subjects are usually disruptive in school; as young
adults, they can show particularly aggressive and/or violent behavior while intoxicated. Parker is on record for having reported impaired impulse control while drinking in his own young adult
life, and gave it as his reason for avoiding alcohol. The level of serotonin in the brain is also affected by the consumption of carbohydrates—typical of the starchy food Parker
loved.

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“They paid the sheriff”:
Frank Bogert to author, 2001.

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“I kept hearing stories”:
Eddy Arnold quoted in Streissguth,
Eddy Arnold.

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“The times when I was there”:
Gabe Tucker to author, 1997.

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The Sahara was built:
Denton and Morris,
The Money and the Power.

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“Bitsy, I trust you more than anyone else”:
Bitsy Mott to Dirk Vellenga, raw interview transcript, 1983.

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“mental telepathy and perpetual perception motors”:
Colonel Tom Parker in letter to Hal Wallis, June 19, 1963, HWC/MPAS.

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“There’s no war going on”:
George Klein in the documentary
Elvis in Hollywood,
1993.

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“What’s going to happen to me?”:
Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997.

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“Is it in the [Production] Code?”:
Hal Wallis in memo to Paul Nathan, January 7, 1958, HWC/MPAS.

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“That crooked son of a bitch”:
Anonymous source, 1998.

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“a ton of balloons”:
Lenny Hirshan to author, 1998.

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“For the first time, I know what a director is”:
Elvis Presley quoted by Jan Shepherd in the documentary
Elvis in
Hollywood,
1993.

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“Just like in his music”:
Michael Curtiz quoted in Guernsey’s
Official Auction
Catalogue.

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“Colonel Parker,” a reporter scribbled: Life,
February 10, 1995.

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“Good-bye, you long, black son of a bitch”:
Elvis Presley quoted in
Life,
February 10, 1995.

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“My father knew all the doctors in town”:
Janice Fadal quoted in Michael Hall, “Viva Fort Hood,”
Texas
Monthly,
December 2000.

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“that elevator opened”:
Lamar Fike to author, 1995.

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“When the funeral director”:
Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997.

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“I suppose I was never”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted in Hutchins and Thompson,
Elvis & Lennon.

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“shit . . . they were awful people”:
“The Colonel said to me at one time, ‘The problem with
Elvis was his family was shit. They were awful people.’ ” Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Todd Slaughter to author, 2002.

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“Don’t you call me a square!”:
Colonel Tom Parker quoted by Chick Crumpacker in letter to author, 1998.

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“I want to apologize, I was wrong”:
Conversation recounted by Anne Fulchino to author, 1998.

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“I miss my singing career very much”:
Elvas Presley quoted in Peter Guralnick,
Last Train to Memphis
.

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“That may be big in Nashville”:
Anne Fulchino to author, 1998.

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“pushed his stubby little fist in Elvis’s back”:
Al Wertheimer to author, 1998.

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“I barely saw him”:
Colonel Tom Parker to Larry Hutchinson, chief investigator to the district attorney general, Memphis,
1980.

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“When we got ready to leave”:
Dale Robertson to author, 1999.

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going to dinner at the Luau:
Byron Raphael to author, 1997.