Presley's 1961-68 hiatus from live performance was another part of Parker's master plan, as he kept his client busy churning out records and, on average, three movies a year, avoiding costly concert tours. (More profits for Parker.) Although one producer said he'd rather negotiate a contract with Satan than with Parker, the latter outsmarted himself in one respect: He signed Elvis to long-term studio contracts, rather than using the box office success of one movie to enable him to leverage a better deal for the next one, pitting one studio against another.
When the rise of the Beatles threatened Elvis' preeminence, Parker steered his charge toward low-budget quickies instead of spectacles like Viva Las Vegas. Late in life, Parker absolved himself from any role in these choices, saying he had no involvement with Presley's film career and putting the blame on agencies like William Morris. He also claimed not to be involved with Presley's choice of songs, adding "I very seldom was in the studio," only pressing "Are You Lonesome Tonight" upon him. (Presley biographer Peter Guralnick confirms this last part. Elvis was never more lovable than when he "corpsed" during a live performance of the number.)
Yes, Parker helped himself to half – "a modified shared enterprise" -- of Presley's earnings, starting in 1967. ("I know four or five stars that have a deal like that," he would later say.) Why Elvis agreed to this is the matter of some speculation, with one theory being that he felt insecure and reliant upon Colonel Parker as a father figure and source of guidance. "I don't think I'd ever have been very big if it wasn't for him," The King confessed. Elsewhere, he defended the usurious fee by saying "I could have signed with East Coast Entertainment, where they take 70 percent."
Nowadays, we would say that the Presley/Parker relationship had taken on codependent/abusive overtones, even if the Colonel made Elvis a very rich man for the absolute minimum of effort, even sending Elvis' car – rather than Elvis himself – on tour to promote one of Presley's many forgettable movies. Guralnick acknowledges that Parker initially made a "terrible" deal (frequently renegotiated) with producer Hal Wallis but used the movies as a speedier, more cost-efficient way of presenting Elvis to a wide public. Guralnick also claims that Parker was protecting Elvis from exploitation by the studios, which is debatable when considering the almost indiscernible quality of such flicks as Blue Hawaii.
If raking in half of Presley's earnings wasn't lucrative enough, Parker imposed "technical advisor" fees on the movies in which Elvis appeared. On those occasions when Presley was motivated to complain about doing so much dreck, Parker could hold the loss of his lavish lifestyle over his head. "Elvis' performance schedule of four weeks with two shows per night no doubt sapped his motivation and desire to perform," says Lamar Fike of Elvis' Vegas years. "Four weeks is a marathon and the repetition of cramming 60 shows into that period can be really monotonous and body-sapping." Adds Marty Lacker, "The Colonel knew about Elvis playing with drugs in the Sixties and more so in the Seventies, and he should have done something about it when he could."
When Elvis finally began his legendary residency at the International, in Vegas, he and the Colonel agreed to split all revenues (including merchandising, not insignificantly) in such a way that, with Parker overseeing the non-musical revenues, he was making more than his ostensible client. In an echo of Elvis' movie career, the ever-hustling Parker attached himself to the International as a "consultant." He would continue in that role as late as 1987 and maintain a suite in the hotel, an arrangement that some have suggested was a quid pro quo to keep him gambling – and losing – there.
As exploitative as Parker was, he nixed concert dates that would have seen fans charged $100 a ticket. He wasn't going to make them pay that much to hear their idol. He also said that Elvis avoided Europe because he didn't want to play outdoor venues. Presley's only non-U.S. performances took place in Canada, which – at the time – required no passport to enter, enabling the Colonel to move back and forth without his checkered past coming back to haunt him.
His business judgment could be fallible, too. Presley lost out on songwriting revenue because Parker feared to sign him up with megapublishers ASCAP and/or BMI. Presley was also frequently the victim of poor investment advice, chaining him to the treadmill of touring to make the money back. "Both Elvis and the Colonel paid 90 percent [income] tax quite happily and saw it as their patriotic duty," Guralnick notes.
A Parker deal that went south, at least for Presley's heirs, was the selloff of his back catalog to RCA for $5.4 million. RCA thought it was paying a stiff price at the time but the agreement would prove to have been cheap at twice the price. When Elvis died, his estate lost out on the royalties for everything recorded prior to 1973. Parker also, seemingly inexplicably, refused offers that Presley received to perform abroad for as much as $10 million, as well as scuttling Presley's participation in the Barbra Streisand remake of A Star is Born with prohibitive financial demands. (Parker claimed that Presley wanted to avoid doing the movie and begged Parker to set exorbitant terms, but Presley seriously flirted with dumping Parker in favor of promoter Tom Hulett, who had handled some of his late-career tours.)
But Elvis kept drifting back to Parker and must bear some of the blame for Parker's continued leeching off the Presley name. Guralnik, one of the Colonel's few defenders, likened them to a married couple "who started out with great love, loyalty, respect" but eventually "should have walked away." On the rare occasion when Parker tried to protect Presley by cutting back on his concert tours, Presley's father Vernon forbade it. (Like father, like manager?)
Tomorrow: Elvis dies, but the Colonel doesn't miss a beat.
