The Colonel and the King, page 59
I am not aware of the reason for your outburst in this matter, but I am sure you know why you did it, and it has not made things easy to patch up.
If this letter in some way should annoy you, or you perhaps feel I am sticking my nose in something that is not my business, you should know I am only being honest with you, and fulfilling my responsibility as a friend and manager, to keep you informed of the reaction, which is well known—but most of the friends around you are reluctant to pass it on, as they are employees and I am not.
It has nothing to do with us personally, as I am in no way aware of what it is all about. You will have to judge for yourself the responsibility, but I have a feeling that this person [the waiter, Mario] must have given you a pretty good snow job to get you to do this on stage, or if he did not ask you to do it, at least he created a protective feeling from you that he was not able to get somewhere else. It is unfair of this man to take his personal troubles to you, and to take advantage of your prestige as a star and make you a message carrier during your performance. I am sure you will have the feeling that you have been used in this matter.
Sincerely,
The Colonel
Elvis did not find the time to see him that day or the next, and Colonel had gone to bed at midnight, when Elvis called Colonel’s aide-de-camp George Parkhill to let him know that if Colonel didn’t come up right away, Elvis was coming down to Colonel’s room to confront him. Colonel left the room in a cold rage, Loanne recalled. When he returned he announced that he needed to dictate his letter of resignation right away. They worked on it until seven thirty that morning, when Loanne told him she simply couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. But she was back in the office at ten thirty, when Colonel completed the following letter to Vernon. To which a short time later he appended this sorrowful letter to Elvis. ◼
“I have tendered my resignation effective immediately”
Dear Vernon: September 5, 1973
As per the understanding between Elvis Presley and yourself, at our meeting at 1 a.m. Wednesday, September 5, 1973, in the Imperial Suite of the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. It is understood by you and myself that I have tendered my resignation effective immediately, with the understanding for a complete flat settlement on the balance of all contracts in existence, with no exceptions, as per contracts signed by Elvis Presley, on dates thereof listed in each contract to be effective on all his extensions and renewals. [After this, all the contract commitments were listed, including two that were under negotiation at the time.] All services pertaining to the execution of the contracts by Colonel Parker and All Star Shows will be continued on the basis of servicing those contracts only—not as a personal manager. No advertising promotion or outside services, other than as per contract, will be furnished. As listed, there are two proposals: (1) For a complete flat financial settlement within 30 days of receipt of this memorandum with no participation of any percentages or payments due on all existing contracts in the future… $5,000,000. (2) One-half of financial settlement within 30 days from receipt of this memorandum, plus 25% on all overages, personal appearances, television, RCA Record Tours commitments, for the duration of all existing contracts, with no exceptions, in lieu of the flat $5,000,000 settlement as stated above. It is understood that at no time will Colonel Parker, or his staff, be required to be in attendance on any tours or hotel engagements unless mutually agreed.
If settlement #1 is concluded, this will dissolve any and all personal management relationships of any nature for the future. If Elvis Presley so desires, Colonel Parker/All Star Shows, will extend their advice and information, whatever needed, for one week in the event whoever takes over the new management wishes to take advantage of this offer, at no charge, to make this turnover of management as convenient as possible to the artist. The separation of this association, as far as Colonel Parker/All Star Shows is concerned, pertaining to management, is on a friendly basis, as accepted by Elvis Presley with his statement that he wishes to make a fair settlement, made on these premises on the date listed above at the hour of 1 a.m., Wednesday, September 5, and attended by Mr. Joe Esposito, employee of Elvis Presley; Mr. George L. Parkhill, vice president, RCA Records, RCA Record Tours; Mr. Vernon Presley, father of Elvis Presley; Elvis Presley and Colonel Parker. Colonel Parker/All Star Shows, and his staff, will no longer be an exclusive service to Elvis Presley.
Sincerely,
The Colonel
“I have no ill feelings—but I am also not a puppet on a string”
Dear Elvis: September 5, 1973
When I prepared the papers last night I failed to enclose this note I had planned to put in. Also enclosed is a copy of the papers signed by me, to be retained by you.
Please return to me one signed copy of the papers, and indicate which proposal you want to accept—Settlement #1 or Settlement #2. I am sorry you failed to understand that the letter had nothing to do with my response to your questioning this morning. You have always respected my privacy and rest, the same as I have yours. Last night I told Joe Esposito that I would be going to bed. I had waited up until about 9:30 for word whether you were up. This, of course, is okay with me as it is your privilege to sleep as long as you wish. I told Joe I would put in a letter what I was going to talk to you about, so that you could take it up with me this evening, as I would be here until Thursday morning.
I can readily understand you advising me that you would like to see me at a respectful hour, but I could see no reason for a pressure meeting at 1 a.m., as there was nothing that would change the situation. But the main reason was that, after calling my room and I failed to see the light on the telephone, I received the following message from Mr. Parkhill: ‘If I did not come up, you were coming down!’ This I could not possibly accept as a sensible solution. You knew I was in bed. You were already dressed, and at least you could have told the boys: ‘Call the Colonel. I would like to come down to see him.’ You have always been able to communicate with me whenever you desired under normal circumstances.
With all the other incidents involved, this is the best solution for all concerned. I have no ill feelings—but I am also not a puppet on a string.
I wish you lots of luck, and I surely will respect the privacy of the confidential nature regarding which of the two settlements is made.
Sincerely,
The Colonel
Without hearing anything further from Elvis or Vernon, Colonel left Las Vegas for Palm Springs on September 6 and wrote yet another sorrowful, businesslike letter to Elvis, either hoping to wrap everything up or—I really don’t know. ◼
“I have to move on with my plans”
Elvis: September 6, 1973
Joe Esposito told me by telephone this morning that you told him you wished to take up the matter of the resignation papers with your father. Vernon was to call me but he did not. So the record is straight, I did call twice yesterday, but got no action. Since you did not communicate with me before I left, regarding any plans, I take for granted that I must handle this conclusion in my own way. Going back and forth with Joe is a pain in the neck. There is no reason why this could not have been done by sitting down and ironing out all of the problems as to the separation, in a sensible way. In the meantime, regardless of which decision that you make, I have to move on with my plans.
My plans are such that they must be done now, not tomorrow. If no conclusion is reached on the separation agreement, I will have to take immediate steps to cancel whatever is conciliable under the current agreements, and a proper settlement must be made for those canceled, if I am not going to handle them with the people concerned.
The firm contracts you will have to take care of yourself. The signing of the separation papers has nothing to do with this, because you can answer one way or another—which way is immaterial to me—but they stand as they are. If neither is answered, then we must come to an immediate conclusion of a complete separation once and for all, and settlement made as such. You, yourself, stated you wanted to make a fair settlement.
I plan to fulfill any commitments that I made in your name and finish up all the obligations with the people we have done business with, but you must work this out satisfactorily with me before I can do so. The income due for the future can only be achieved if the work is done. We are currently already behind on product for RCA on the new contract, for which you have already been paid. Mr. Parkhill and I have stretched this, so currently we have the single out, but we are definitely behind on the contractual agreement to deliver an album after the last session, which was not completed. It is of the utmost importance that someone advise my office when someone with a truck will pick up at MGM your arrangements and stage equipment which we have been looking after, and other miscellaneous items which will no longer be our responsibility. I am sure you can let Joe Esposito look after this matter of getting the items picked up in Los Angeles. Also we need an address where to have all the mail transferred, as we will not be handling this any longer—whether it should be Memphis or Los Angeles—but we must know. This is not a matter of small-time decisions. They are important and they must be made.
If I am no longer associated with you, I cannot make them for you as I have been doing in the past. I request an immediate solution to the settlement one way or another.
Regards,
The Colonel
Just to put a finishing touch on this one-way exchange: nothing was ever formally resolved.
Gradually, without anything further being said (or at least without the subject itself being directly addressed), things went back to more or less the way they had been. Colonel continued to harass RCA about all manner of issues; he made sure that Elvis fulfilled his contractual recording obligations to the company; and when he informed his artist that he had worked out a new deal with the Sahara Tahoe (where he had been forced to cancel his engagement the previous year four days short of its conclusion), Elvis sent back a telegram offering congratulations and authorizing Colonel to sign the contract on his behalf.
It was a very rough fall for Elvis. On October 9, 1973, his divorce from Priscilla was finalized. Six days later he was admitted to Memphis’ Baptist Memorial Hospital for two weeks for what turned out to be Demerol addiction. Everything seemed quiet in November but then, in mid-December, he had a productive six-day recording session at the Stax recording studio, and sometime during that period he called Colonel and said he wanted to go back to work. “I asked him if he was in shape to do this,” Colonel wrote in a recollection some twenty years later, “and he said, ‘Right now I am ready.’ So I started to put him back to work.” And, Colonel concluded, “It was great for a while.” But it need hardly be said, it was never the same. And one cannot help but wonder, what if at this point they had simply called it a day?
1975–1976
Not surprisingly, the problems between Elvis and Colonel continued.
Many of them can be traced to Elvis’ increasing disinclination to communicate with his manager directly, if at all. In place of that, Colonel was forced to go through Elvis’ guys, but that left him susceptible to whatever rumors were circulating, whatever roadblocks were set up by a group of men who did not take well to his direction and, while knowing little about his and Elvis’ business, often ascribed to him the darkest and most sinister motives.
Elvis himself was more and more prey to dark imaginings of his own, exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior both in his private and professional life. His fall 1974 tour had drawn sharp criticism from reviewers and fans alike. (According to reviewers, he was “bored to death” in St. Paul, hostile and “disappointing” in Indianapolis, sick with the flu in Dayton, and “ill” enough in Wichita that many fans expressed regret that he hadn’t canceled.) Then on December 30, when he finally got Elvis on the phone and determined that the rumors which had been filtering back to him were true, Colonel was forced to postpone Elvis’ scheduled January 26 opening at the Hilton by nearly two months, after first getting Elvis to send him a telegram authorizing Colonel to “sign any papers necessary for me while I am recuperating.” A week later he sent this letter, which attempted to address some of the ongoing issues directly while at the same time reiterating his belief in his artist, if his artist would just make up his mind to turn things around, in language that he hoped could not be misunderstood. ◼
“There is no person in this business that I know of that could have shielded everything involved as we have done, or would have taken the abuse from so many sources”
Dear Elvis: January 6, 1975
I am enclosing the press release that we made up for the March 18 opening at the Las Vegas Hilton, instead of the January 26 opening, as per our understanding on the ’phone last week.
I also have advised RCA of the new album dates for recording during this engagement. I, of course, was able to fit the press release in with the opening of the new annex, which I thought would be better than giving the real reason, which I knew you felt bad about if this was to be given for the delay in opening at the Hilton. We, of course, worked very closely with the Hilton people and it was fortunate for us that Bill Cosby could change his dates due to a motion picture commitment. I am still trying to help the hotel secure another attraction in place of our January 26 opening and they are trying very hard themselves to move one of their attractions.
Now that you have the time you feel you need to get ready, I know it will all work out for the best. As soon as you know what you want to do following the March 18 in Vegas, I will try to get some of the concerts I had planned for March back on track. We also should re-open the possibility of the special we planned last year and never were able to close out.
Here it is Monday, January 6. I do not hear much from your staff, so let me know how you are. I just spoke to your dad a few minutes ago and he tells me that some of the boys, or one of them, told you that I said you had money problems. Was the party who told you so concerned that he or they asked you to cut their salaries in half? Whatever I tell these fellows—I have no reservations that they can tell you anything I talk about. My concern has always been to advise them to cut expenses as much as possible when you are not working. If this is wrong the way you look at it, let’s get it out in the open. My interest is, and always has been, for what I felt was best for you. I never stuck my nose into your personal affairs. If, after 18 years, you are easily led by phony information it is time for us to settle up and go our separate ways.
I am telling you this just like I told your dad. I have never told these fellows anything that I was ashamed for you to know. How you, or they, interpret this I can’t help. However, there is no person in this business that I know of that could have shielded everything involved as we have done, or would have taken the abuse from so many sources. I feel your dad is much closer to understanding how I feel than anyone else at the present.
Sincerely,
The Colonel
I think Colonel’s Rules of the Road speaks for itself. ◼
“Graduation in our school of showmanship can never be achieved, not even by us, as there is always something new to learn every day, every month, every year until there are no more concerts”
[ca. February 1975 (written in advance of the spring tour)]
MANUAL FOR TOUR PERSONNEL
The information contained herewith has been compiled for your personal convenience, as it is impossible to run a training school over the telephone.
We also understand that there are not many concert tours that are so particular in handling everything first class. Although we are still a long way from achieving this goal, we are at least trying to do everything right.
For your information, pertaining to buses and trucks, Mr. Pat Kelleher, director RCA Record Tours Transportation and Hotel Reservations Department, is your contact for anything pertaining to these services. Do not contact our Concession Department, but contact Mr. Kelleher.
You have our permission to do all the buck-passing you desire, but do not when you’re on the same tour, so it won’t interfere with business. We know that all of you involved must have some untapped ability to achieve all of these requirements or Mr. Hulett [Tom Hulett, tour director and Jerry Weintraub’s partner in Management III] would not have assigned you to the project.
Graduation in our school of showmanship can never be achieved, not even by us, as there is always something new to learn every day, every month, every year until there are no more concerts.
Should you require extra information in regard to your work, check with our undergraduate, Mr. Charles Stone [another Management III associate], who can tell you all about how it happened to him, and he knows as he has traveled your road before, and is still limping.
Our best wishes to all of you involved.
The Colonel, Mr. Jerry Weintraub, Mr. Tom Hulett
GUIDELINES FOR ADVANCE MEN DOING PRE-TOUR PREPARATION
In Each Market to Which you are Assigned—
1. Make contact with the individual who is in complete charge of the ticket sales and get the correct telephone numbers of (a) the building where the concert is to be held and its address (b) the name of the building manager, his private telephone number at the building (if any) and his home telephone number in the event Colonel Parker, Mr. Weintraub, or Mr. Hulett wish to call them direct. This information must be telephoned to Colonel Parker and Management Three offices at once.
2. Obtain name of box office contact who can give reports on ticket sales. If tickets are on sale outside of the building box offices, obtain the address and private telephone number, if possible.
