Customer Reviews

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

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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!

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"

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.

Colonel Tom Parker was Elvis Presley's manager for virtually Elvis' entire career. Parker began his career working for carnivals and when he became a successful music manager, first for country singer Eddy Arnold and later for Elvis, Parker maintained his image as a carnival man. In negotiations he played the role of the unpolished but sharp dealing operator who took his adversary by surprise and got a great deal for his client and himself. Parker seemed to enjoy and possibly profit from his mysterious and unsavory reputation.

That mysterious and unsavory reputation draws suspicion to Colonel Parker when Elvis Presley's career is considered. Alot of bad and weird things happened to Elvis as his career went on. He made terrible movies, indifferent records and suffered weight and drug problems. Why did this happen? Colonel Parker is a convenient scape goat, but how much was Colonel Parker really to blame for Elvis' misery?

The answer may never be known. There are many rumors about Colonel Parker. He was an illegal alien so Elvis never toured Europe. (That makes no sense to me. Colonel Parker wouldn't have to leave the country for Elvis to tour Europe. After all, Elvis was stationed in Germany while Parker managed him.) Another rumor is that Elvis was a great and exciting singer until Colonel Parker corrupted him into a cheesy money making parody of himself. The 1968 "Comeback TV Special" was rumored to be one of the few times that Elvis defied the Colonel and showed the public the "real" Elvis. But if Elvis was unhappy with the Colonel, why didn't he fire him? If Elvis didn't like the direction is career was taking why didn't he try to change it? There are many unanswered questions.

Unfortunately this book doesn't provide many answers. Instead it just adds more unsubstantiated rumors. For example, it has been rumored that Parker was born in Breda, Holland and was originally named Andreas van Kujik. The author believes that Parker was born to jewish parents in Russia and only lived with the van Kujik family when he was in his teens. It's frustrating that the author offers no facts in support of this theory.

Another rumor is that Parker was involved with organized crime. Probate court records after Elvis' death show that Parker was losing one million dollars a year gambling in Las Vegas by the early 1960's. Certainly a man with heavy gambling debts would be vulnerable to collection pressures. It's plausible that Colonel Parker was unduly influenced in his managment decisions by his need to raise cash, but that doesn't mean that Parker is neccessarily guilty. The author suggests that Parker was involved with organized crime, but does not offer any proof to convict him. The author even speculates that Parker was close to surrendering his managent contract on Elvis to satisfy gambling debts. No facts are offered to support these rumors. All that is known for sure is that Colonel Parker was a heavy gambler.

This is just a poorly crafted book. Dickerson's writiing is competent enough, but his research work is shoddy. People write books about Elvis Presley all the time. His old girl friends, his family members, his friends, his band members, have all written books about Elvis. With so many books about Elvis out there, why waste time reading this one?

I like to learn about Elvis from the inside out. This is unquestionably one of the best and most interesting books I have ever read about Elvis' career. It is a fascinating and enlightening insight into Colonel Parker and thus into Elvis and his career also. Dickerson's approach takes you down a road I don't believe has been explored before. He has done remarkable research into (i) what influenced and shaped The Colonel and enabled him to emerge as a revolutionary and unique manager and (ii) into the underlying cultural and political forces of the time that greatly influenced the course of this particular piece of history. If you are serious about learning about Elvis and The Colonel, Dickerson's writing makes you think; it opens doors and suddenly so much becomes clear. The first half of the book is, perhaps, kinder to The Colonel than the second half; but, above all, if you want new and interesting information and great insight into these two gentlemen (Elvis and The Colonel), this book is brilliant. This book is well worth your time and money.

This book is a compolation of every story we've ever heard. The fans have a tendency to blame everyone for Elvis' downfalls and the Colonel is villified for letting Elvis be a drug addict as if he or anyone had any say. The nature of their relationship was established right off. Elvis had the million dollars worth of talent and the Colonel had the ability to cash it in. Elvis went from making $18 a night on the Louisiana Hayride to making $100,000.00 for TV appearances in less than a year. He got Elvis a big money movie contract with an unheard of backend royalty. Elvis had the talent to pull it off; Parker couldn't have done it with Hank Snow. But Elvis was just as talented when he met Parker and was scraping along in the lower strata of middle class. In this book once again the chatracters are stick figures; they're one dimensional in their interaction and the story is worn.