Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager [Hardcover]

James L. Dickerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2001

Based on unprecedented research and interviews, this authoritative biography of Colonel Tom Parker (1909-1997) includes new revelations and insights into rock music's most renowned and notorious manager.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elvis's manager gets a good skewering in this uneven biography by Dickerson (That's Alright, Elvis, with Scotty Moore), a veteran Nashville writer. The strength of the book lies in its early pages, when Dickerson traces Parker's sketchy background in the circus and his rise as a country music manager. The circus business gave him the ideas, Dickerson persuasively argues, that he later effectively used as a music promoter. But throughout the book, Dickerson's judgment is questionable. He argues that both Parker and Elvis were Jewish, but provides weak evidence on both accounts. And after the Dutch-born Parker designated a colonel by a Kentucky governor takes over Elvis's career in the mid-1950s, Dickerson exhibits little of the sympathy biographers usually feel for their subjects. Instead, he blames Parker for Elvis's ruin: "Rather than risk losing his interest in Elvis's contract to his creditors, Parker allowed Elvis to risk losing his career." Even if the colonel did push Elvis into some disastrous film roles to cover some of his own gambling debts, Parker deserves some credit for Presley's rise to demigod status, as Dickerson's own account shows ("Parker's decision to accept RCA's offer was the best thing that could have happened for Elvis' career.... ") There's little doubt that Parker was a shady character plagued by gambling problems, who tried to take advantage of Elvis. But readers hoping for a balanced account of the relationship will be disappointed. 35 pages b&w photos not seen by PW. (May)Forecast: Elvis remains such a national obsession that any book promising a little-explored angle has some commercial potential. But this one won't register on most fans' radars, for true Elvis followers prefer not to have their king upstaged, especially by the man many think betrayed him.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Arguably the most notorious manager in show business history, Col. Tom Parker (1909-97) virtually controlled every aspect of Elvis Presley's career. Dickerson (Goin' Back to Memphis) is tough but fair with his slippery subject. Although he conducted solid research and dozens of interviews, he is unable to prove several key theories that would have distinguished his book from Dirk Vellenga's Elvis and the Colonel (LJ 10/1/88). For example, Dickerson takes Vellenga's groundbreaking discovery that Parker was an illegal alien born in Holland a step further by speculating that he was actually born a Russian Jew. Dickerson himself admits that "there is no documentation to substantiate either claim." More of a stretch are Dickerson's suggestions that Elvis's father intentionally misspelled his son's middle name "Aaron" instead of "Aron" on his gravestone in recognition of Elvis's Jewish heritage and that there may have been mob connections, related to Parker's dealings, in the deaths of Elvis and his father. Otherwise, this is a well-presented biography of Parker, now reviled by many Elvis fans, who through gall and cunning created the ultimate celebrity icon. Recommended where Elvis titles are in demand; another recent Parker biography is Sean O'Neal's My Boy Elvis: The Colonel Tom Parker Story (DIANE Pub., 2001. reprint). Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press; 1st Cooper Square Press Ed edition (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815410883
• ISBN-13: 978-0815410881
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( P ) > Presley, Elvis

More About the Author

A native of Mississippi, James L. Dickerson is the author of twenty-six books, and over 2,000 magazine and newspaper articles; he has worked as a magazine editor and publisher, newspaper editor, reporter, columnist, book critic, and social worker.
Dickerson's book, The Mojo Triangle, was the winner of a 2006 IPPY award (Independent Publisher Book Awards) in the non-fiction category. Two other books, Goin' Back to Memphis and That's Alright, Elvis, were finalists for the Gleason Award. Reprint rights to Dickerson's books have been sold to publishers in Australia and China, where two of his books have been translated into Chinese.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Don't Be Cruel to a Heart That's True", July 5, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager (Hardcover)

Review Summary: James L. Dickerson adds colorful background and interesting speculations about Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's long-time manager. The bulk of the book, however, contains relatively little that is new about Elvis or Parker. The story line is convoluted, bringing in detail in many places that is disconnected from the material before or after it. Elvis fans will enjoy reading about books about Elvis rather than Colonel Parker. Parker himself is hardly s noble or novel figure, so for most this book will lack appeal.

Review: The key theme of this book is that Tom Parker was a manipulative con man who took advantage of those who trusted him, and was deathly afraid of being exposed. Like a lot of show business managers, he feathered the nest more for himself than for those he represented. His gambling addiction and fear of being deported led him to be an easy mark for those who knew how to put on the pressure.

Like many overnight successes, Elvis Presley and his family had little understanding of the complexities of show business. Colonel (an honorary title from his friend, the governor of Louisiana) Tom Parker was way ahead of Elvis and his other acts, and earned a marvelous living in the process.

There were pros and cons to this. Clearly, he helped Elvis get a top recording contract and lots of attention early in his career. On the other hand, he probably siphoned off a vast multiple of what was normally charged for such services. After Parker got into debt to the casinos in Las Vegas, he probably short-changed Elvis even more to get the casinos off his own back. One aspect of this was a cut-rate deal for Elvis to appear in Las Vegas at the International (later the Las Vegas Hilton).

The most interesting part of the book to me is the life of Parker before he met Elvis. There is no clear agreement in the documentary record, but he probably was an illegal immigrant from Europe. Part of that time was spent in Holland and he could have been from Russia earlier. Arriving in the United States, he avoided conflicts that could have exposed him to deportation. For example, he overpaid his and Elvis's income taxes to avoid attention from the federal government. That may have been why he discouraged Elvis from touring abroad, because Parker would have had to leave to U.S. to make the tours work.

His first regular work was with a traveling midway, for which he sold candied apples and hot dogs. During those years, he learned a lot about what draws crowds and that the profits are in the concessions. Later, as a manager he would offer cut rate appearance fees in exchange for a split of the concessions, and made more money that way. The book recounts ways that he would take advantage of the customers on the midway. When there weren't enough lemons for the lemonade, he would pour in citric acid and put a slice of lemon on top to give the correct appearance. He also had "dancing" chickens which he coerced by turning on a hidden hot plate beneath the sawdust to scald their feet.

The book also casts doubt as to whether he was ever married to his longtime "wife." No marriage license records were found by the author, and draft board records suggest that he may not have been married.

The author also makes the case that Elvis could have developed as an actor, except for a lack of faith on the part of Hal Wallis and Parker. I suspect that reasonable people will differ on that point.

Where many other sources suggest that Elvis was paranoid about threats to his life, this book takes those threats more seriously by describing the many mob connections to Parker, government, and the entertainment industry.

After you have finished reading this book (if you decide to), I suggest that you think about how you can protect yourself and your family from people who are better at negotiating and presenting their own interests than you are. How would you have spotted Parker? How would you have kept him under control?

Take the time to learn how to look after your own financial interests!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the experts have to say!, March 11, 2002

By 

"jjjones70" (Georgia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager (Hardcover)

FROM THE BOOKJACKET:

"James Dickerson's research has confirmed more than I ever suspected"--Scotty Moore, Elvis's guitarist and first manager

"An indendiary, powerful investigative account . . . an explanation, finally, of the twisted, corrupt relationship between Elvis and Colonel Parker"--Joe Eszterhas, best-selling author, screenwriter and former writer for Rolling Stone magazine

"This jaw-dropping biography of Tom Parker confirms what I felt for years--that the Colonel was a far more fascinating rascal than Elvis ever became. This is a model of research assembled with crafty objectivity and humor"--Hal Kanter, director of the Elvis film "Loving You"

"Here is the whole sad and amazing story of 'the most accomplished con man since Barnum.' In swift, deft strokes Dickerson has sketched the greed, compulsion, and lies that drove every decision in the making of undoing of rock and roll's greatest talent. This is the book our study of popular culture's most glittering icon has lacked"--Lewis Nordan, author of "The Sharpshooter Blues"

"This riveting biography shines a hard light on the inscrutable Colonel . . . Dickerson has made it easy to understand that if rock and roll will never die, it owes its life to how Parker wrote the rules of the game"--Mark Ribowsky, author of "He's a Rebel"

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of time., April 29, 2002

By 

LMP - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager (Hardcover)

I don't care to write too much about this book, because it just wastes more time.

Too much effort was put into this book and it was all futile.
Not enough "real hard evidence" supports anything reported in this "tabloid" type of book.
I felt like I was reading the National Enquirer (hardback version) than a book about Elvis and his manager.

This man obviously used a lot of other people's material, from other books, and added his opinion: which doesn't amount to much.

I like Scotty Moore and what he did for Elvis, but he was always kept in the dark about Elvis' business. So his comment about how much this book was an eye-opener is expected.

This was a waste of my money, but even moreso my time.
I would rather read something more substantial.