Presley tried to fire Colonel Parker multiple times – the last time in front of Elvis' entourage at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1973. According to friend Arlene Cogan, "Elvis mentioned on more than one occasion … that his mother didn't really trust Colonel Parker and didn't like him. Elvis would dread it when Colonel Parker would come to Memphis – absolutely dread it. The Colonel would just take over the house. He would bring in some of his men and they would man the telephones."
Supposedly not even Vernon Presley could see his son when the Colonel was holding court. A former Parker-managed artist called him "the most egotistical, obnoxious human being I've ever had dealings with." Still, Parker associate Gordon Stoker called him both "a cold-hearted, hard-nosed businessman" but one who "never made a deal he didn't stick to, even if he lost money or whatever."
However, it is felt that Parker diluted Presley's artistic and commercial currency by chaining him to a schedule of releasing multiple albums, resulting in discs filled with previously rejected material and second-rate songs in which Parker had a stake in the publishing rights. (On the other hand, Parker cleverly got NBC-TV to turn over the session tapes from a Presley special to RCA for free.)
Not even the inconvenient fact of Elvis' 1977 death could stop Colonel Parker. When asked what he was going to do, he replied, "Why, I'll just go right on managing him!" Since he controlled the rights to Elvis-branded merchandise and other non-musical sources of revenue, this was no idle promise. A year later, he was overseeing the Always Elvis fan convention at the International, now the Las Vegas Hilton. (It was at this convention that the Elvis statue in the lobby -- now outside -- was unveiled.) Although he cut in the Presley estate for a percentage of a merchandising deal with Factors Etc., Parker made sure to keep 50 percent of the revenue for himself.
"Parker's fighting words were fairly short-lived because during the following years he found it increasingly harder to apply the exclusive control that he once exercised, particularly after his own competence as guardian of the Elvis legacy was called into question," writes scholar David S. Wall. Parker is even alleged to have said, "Elvis isn't dead, just his body is gone" (a remark that would seem to equate Elvis with Jesus Christ) and "It don’t mean a damn thing. It's just like when he was in the Army."
According to Wall, Parker "was subsequently found to have made a string of fairly poor business decisions and also acted largely in his own self-interest. Following the death of Vernon Presley in 1979, the Presley estate was left in a state of disarray and on the verge of bankruptcy." A Shelby County probate court intervened on behalf of Lisa Marie Presley, represented by attorney Blanchard Tual, and took business affairs out of Colonel Parker's hands. The controversial royalty sale to RCA was deemed "unethical."
Tual's conclusion of his investigation of the Colonel's business dealings was, "These actions against the most popular American folk hero of this century are outrageous and call out for a full accounting from those responsible." The IRS was also knocking at the door, demanding back taxes to the tune of $15 million. Parker and the Presley estate settled out of court, in 1983, and Parker (as always) managed to make money off it, pocketing $2 million from RCA to walk away.
Ironically, the post-Parker Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) – whose lawsuit effectively drove Parker off the scene -- would come to be "widely regarded as one of the most effective organisations of its genre" (Wall), sometimes referred to the 'Darth Vader of the merchandising-licensing business.' As for Parker, he died of a stroke in Las Vegas, in 1997 (and had his funeral held at the Las Vegas Hilton), not having had any significant involvement with Presley-related affairs in a decade. One of the last public appearances he made was at the Hilton to promote the issuance of the Elvis Presley commemorative postage stamp. At the time, he said, "I've turned down more books for big money because my story they will not print. They said, 'No, we want the dirt.' I said, 'I'm not a dirt farmer.'"
At the time of Parker's death, his estate was worth but $1 million. It was speculated that he had gambled the rest away and rumor has it that was in hock to the Hilton for $30 million in markers at the end. To his credit, he made Elvis Presley a very rich and famous musician – but one can only wonder at how much more Presley might have prospered and flourished as an artist had he not been in the confining and self-serving clutches of Colonel Parker. In his own defense, the Colonel said, "You can promote all you want to, but if the people don't want to buy a ticket, it doesn't help. So I did my part, Elvis did his show and we were lucky." Just lucky? We think the Colonel was being too modest.
Rock critic Dave Marsh termed Colonel Parker "the most overrated person in the history of show business … what he had actually done was sell genius short for 23 years." For his part, Parker said somewhat weakly, "I don't think I exploited Elvis as much as he's being exploited today." Who do you believe?
