This voice is at Paul Wilder talking with Colonel Tom Parker, manager for Elvis Presley. The first question that I'm going to ask Colonel Parker is, Elvis Presley says he's not looking forward to a TV show of his own as yet. The magazine wanted to know if not, why not? I want to ask Colonel Parker if he has any plans for TV shows of his own for Elvis Presley. Thank you, Mr. Wilder. I think one of the main reasons that I don't book Mr. Presley on television more often is that to my way of thinking, many of the artists today are overexposed on television. We found that when Mr. Presley is on television every two months, our mail increases a great deal rather than when we were on the Dorsey show repeatedly for six consecutive appearances within two months. Many people wrote us asking us, why don't you put Elvis on about every two or three weeks? How about Tennessee Ernie? He's on every day. That's a different type of artist. How about Eddie Arnold, who's a singer? Well, I don't say it applies to all artists, but in Mr. Presley's case, we find the reaction is much greater when he's not on every week. My way of thinking may be wrong on this, however, I'll have plenty of time to find out next year. If it doesn't work this way, we'll try something new. As you know, Mr. Wilder, you followed us around the state for the last three or four days, and it definitely has not hurt our box office, and we haven't been on television for the last four weeks. Elvis Presley says that he doesn't know where he got his style. Have you any idea where he got it? No, I have no idea, but I know it's a good one. NBC made the comment that he was just a flash in the pan after he signed with Ed Sullivan. What is your reaction to that statement? Well, first I would like to know whoever at NBC made that statement, because for the last four or five weeks, NBC has been after me trying to make a deal for Elvis Presley. Did they name any figure? No, they didn't name a figure, but if Elvis was a flash in the pan, they certainly weren't talking about a short-term program with me. We are very close with NBC, we think it's a great network, and I don't think that... I would have to hear it myself from an NBC executive, because it just doesn't jive that one would say he's a flash in the pan, and some other representative would say we sure like to have Elvis in the family. Elvis doesn't have any reason for why he is such a tremendously popular figure on both record sales and personal appearances. Can you give your reaction to why he has made the talk? Well, many of our friends have said that we like to see Elvis, we like to see his performance on the stage, we feel that he puts everything he has into a performance on the stage and also on records. What about his *** appeal, so-called, by the wriggling of his hips that has caused so many columnists to get upset? Well, you know, if you watch a lot of artists, dancers, interpretation dancers on television or stage shows, I think if any one of those were in the limelight and as popular as Elvis Presley, someone would write about them. In the meantime, I have tried to figure out many angles. First of all, for many months we were touring the country, and Elvis had never appeared on television, and the only way people would know about Elvis was by his records. And I have tried repeatedly to play his records and figure out some way where I could see him wiggle while listening to his records, which is impossible. Would you say that he is to the teenagers what Marilyn Monroe is to the men? Well, Mr. Wiley, you'd have to explain to me first what Marilyn Monroe is to the men. Now, I think Marilyn Monroe, but she's also a great box office attraction, and I haven't read too many stories about her like we do about Elvis. Maybe she should be on television, she'll get the publicity that we're getting on Elvis Presley. Go ahead, Tom, you started telling me something about the columnists and how they've treated Presley. Well, Mr. Wiley, I found most newspaper men that followed us around the tour, and they have a job to do, and most of them, when they write a story about Presley, I believe some of them actually have never seen Elvis perform. If they had seen him, I think they would sprinkle it with some of his talents that they've seen, because no one can deny that this artist, whether they like it or not, has a tremendous amount of energy and talent, or the people that's seen him for the first time would not return to see him for the second time. In most cases where we have played more than two or three times, our business picks up on the fourth time bigger than the first, fifth time. Some of the cities we've played *** engagements are just as big as they ever were before. So somehow he has an appeal, not only to the teenagers, but quite a few grown-ups. Do you think the criticism has helped arouse defense for him, so it's helped promote him publicly? In other words, has every knock been also a boost? Well, I don't know about the boosting or knocking, but I know that the name Elvis Presley is becoming a household word one way or the other. Since you're his manager, you're probably in the best position to speak about his financial affairs. Is he saving his money, or is he spending it, or how is he handling it? Elvis makes a good deal of money, and when he gets paid, he takes it home to his father, his mother. Their financial setup actually is no concern of mine more than I know at their very level-headed people. I do not manage his financial affairs, however, and I know that he's banking his money and doing the best he knows how, and he gets some pretty good advice at home from friends in the banking business and whatever you may call insurance. And so far, he is living no more than any artist of his caliber on the road. He doesn't draw excessive money from us. He doesn't ask for great advances. As far as I know, there's been many statements made about him buying four Cadillacs, but they failed to mention that two of the Cadillacs are used on tour for his band and equipment. One of them his father and mother uses, and the other one is used by Elvis. We travel... Does he have a Lincoln too now? Well, when he bought the Lincoln, he also turned in a Cadillac. So he still has the same amount of cars. Does he have any other investments outside of his own show? Not that I know of. I read that he grossed a million dollars or more a year. Is that an approximation that's anywhere near correct? Well, whoever made the statement, I'd like to meet him and show me where the money is, because we've never received that kind of money so far. Has he grossed over a half million a year? No. That's a higher figure? I don't know how you mean that. If you talk about grossing, there's a lot of people making money on Elvis Presley that we don't know about. Magazines are selling a lot of magazines on account of Elvis Presley, but we don't participate in those receipts. They point out that it's reported that Ed Sullivan first turned Elvis Presley down for his show, then Steve Allen put him on, then Sullivan came back and booked him for three shows at a reported figure of $450,000 at a price of $50,000, a correction on that price. Do you know why Ed Sullivan booked him after first reportedly having turned him down? Mr. Weiler, I don't know about Mr. Sullivan having turned down Mr. Presley. As far as I know, I was never contacted for Mr. Presley to appear on the Ed Sullivan show. I spoke to Mr. Sullivan after he had negotiated a deal with the agency in New York that represents us. Mr. Sullivan was very kind, he looked at the kinescopes, and he was one of the nicest men to talk to when we made the deal. What was reported, I don't know anything about it because the Sullivan deal was negotiated after the Steve Allen show. It's the same thing as with Mr. Burrell, who gave Mr. Presley two guest appearances. The Dorsey brothers, the Jackie Gleason show, everyone that booked Elvis has always been very kind, no problems, so I don't know anything about who turned down who, except we're working. He has been booked by a movie studio, I believe he said Paramount, for a seven-year contract. Is he going to have any training as an actor, or is he a natural already, or what do they plan for him? You know. Well, Mr. Wilder, when we made the screen test for Mr. Al Wallace at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, they tested Mr. Presley in a singing role, and also while he was there they gave him a short story or some play, whatever you may call it, and Mr. Wallace decided after seeing the test that Mr. Presley was capable of starring in a dramatic production. When and how, I don't know, but Mr. Presley had no training in acting, and I saw the test, and if I was not his manager, I could not be more excited about a new personality than I am now, being Elvis Presley's manager, for his acting ability was the greatest. Well, is that natural, or has he had any training in it? Well, if it isn't natural, then it's something else, because he had no training. Is his memory retentive? Beg your pardon? Is his memory good for long parts? Well, I don't know, we never made a long part, we only played that day, but it was successful. Can he play any other kind of role besides Elvis Presley? I think Elvis Presley could play any role, he makes his mind up to play. Tom, I noticed that wherever he goes he's followed by a swarm of girlfriends, and it is said that he is a great favorite of young ladies outside the theater as well as inside. Can you give me any factual information on that, that is not a whitewash, I mean, would you call him a girl chaser or not? Well, if he's a great favorite with the girls, I know that he couldn't chase them all, and there's too many of them anyway, but I don't know of any case where Mr. Presley chases the girls any more than any normal American boy, with the exception that instead of having to look for dates, there's a lot of fans come to the theater, and he'd be talking with them, giving autographs, and some of the reporters, when they see him with a girl, maybe they think it's his girlfriend, I don't know. He has a tremendous amount of personality, maybe we don't see it like the young ladies do, but I haven't heard any young ladies, and they're all nice kids, they admire him, they like his singing, I don't have the answer why, and I don't think I want to find out because business is good. You answered the question how many cars he had a while ago, he has four, he said, and he has a motorcycle, and then a Messerschmitt sports car, any other cars? Not today, maybe tomorrow, I don't know. How about his wardrobe, how many suits does he have in his wardrobe? Oh, I'd say Elvis probably has 25 or 30, you realize that he has to change his wardrobe, he makes a lot of pictures, he goes on the stage, he likes to dress, he likes to pick out his own clothes, he has a wonderful taste for things, and he is like a lot of boys would be that never could afford those things, now he can, so he goes after them and buys them. How about shirts, do you know how many shirts he has in his wardrobe? No, I don't know how many, but he has enough. I understand that for breakfast he eats as many as eight eggs, the other night he ordered three chickens for dinner, and is a heavy eater, after he gets through his show, can you kind of give me any figures on some spectacular meal you saw him eating? When you tell me that he ordered three chickens, you fail to remind me that there was four fellas with him eating the three chickens. How about on a regular meal though? I haven't seen anything abnormal about his eating. Not abnormal, but he expends a great deal of energy, and it would be expected that he would eat... I think Elvis eats less than anyone that I know of that puts as much into his work. Well, how much does he eat, I'm not asking... Well, I don't know how much he eats. How about for breakfast, have you ever seen him eat breakfast? He eats bacon and eggs, I have never seen him eat more than two eggs. You say go on, you're asking me, I'm telling you. I haven't seen him, usually he eats one egg, two eggs at the most. I've seen him eat breakfast probably a hundred times, I have never seen him eat more than two eggs. What time does he get up in the morning, when he's on tour? Oh, sometimes nine, ten, eleven o'clock, it all depends how late they get in. Sometimes they drive all night to the next town. How often does he eat, whenever he can, or... No, I think when he gets hungry, he eats. How does he keep his strength up on these long tours, does he take any vitamins or anything special? Not that I know of. You know, after all, he's only 21 years old, and he's a pretty healthy boy. Well, is it true that he's exhausted at the end of each performance? Well, I think so, just like if you rode a bicycle for 20 minutes real fast, without stopping, you'd be exhausted. And to him on the stage, it's a fast pace, but he can bounce right back for another show within 10 or 15 minutes. I notice that he never seems still, he's always pacing back and forth backstage, or up and down, is that due to tension, or what, do you know? I don't know, I think if we watch people around us, like we watch Presley, we can see a lot of things, like I may be rubbing my hands once in a while, but nobody notices it, because I'm not Presley, or not a star. I think maybe if you're out in the yard sitting on a chair, maybe you scratch your head once in a while, more often than you should, but nobody notices it. I can't see anything wrong with it. I think we've seen... I wasn't suggesting that anything was wrong with it, I was suggesting, I was just curious as to the reason for that particular... I have no answer for that, I don't know. Okay, if you can, on how you happened to meet him, or how you happened to become his manager. Well, we were playing Memphis with Eddie Arnold, the Eddie Arnold show, you know, Eddie Arnold is Eddie spelled with a Y, you know, E-D-D-Y. You've always insisted on that. I certainly did, and Mr. Davis, who I've been associated with in the promotion business for many, many years. What's Mr. Davis' first name? Oscar Davis. Oscar Davis, yeah. Who was one of the, I think originally from Boston, he's one of the greatest promoters in the industry, and he told me about this boy in Memphis, he said, Colonel, if you ever get a chance, I want you to meet this kid, I think he could go a long way with the right handling. Well, then Davis is the one who got you first to notice and impress him. No, not noticing, introducing me to him, because... You'd heard of Pressley before then? Yes, I've heard about the records he made, and listened to him, but of course I was busy with my own attractions, and I naturally can't check on every artist you hear about, because there's so many of them, so I started booking him on some of my shows, I saw the reaction... An independent act? Just as an independent act? Just as an independent act, and I saw the reaction this boy received from the people, and I knew I could help him with many things. I think Pressley was a star from the first day he ever started going into show business. I think anyone could have helped him that knows something about show business. What do you think your greatest value has been to him? I think my experience, and in a small way, handling his future with making contracts where perhaps someone would offer a certain amount of money, and I thought this artist was worth more, and I held out for my price. I've lost some deals, but I gained some others by waiting. How about the promotion of him, has he been his own best promoter, or has there been some additional help given? I think the press, radio, his public, fans, himself, his friends around him, people, his relations, I think there's no way to pinpoint how much they contributed, his records, the RCA Victor people have done a great deal for this boy, I think they've done more than anyone else to exploit his talents all over the world. RCA Victor? Yes. Did you get him that contract? Yes, I did. And the first recording company, the Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, I think we should all be grateful at least that they brought his first record out, if they hadn't, perhaps no one would have ever found Elvis Presley. The credits for this artist go mostly to his parents, they've encouraged him, his father and mother have been very patient, they've had a great deal of anxiety when he's on the road, they worry about him, and it's just people like you, everyone has a part in his career. Well, you keep talking, Colonel, I was asking about how you happen to get Presley and Parker together. Well, we were playing Eddie Arnold on a series of dates, that is, I was with Colonel Parker in Memphis, Tennessee, and setting up the Memphis, Tennessee engagement for Eddie Arnold. When was that, do you recall? That was a couple of years ago, roughly, and some folks in Memphis called my attention to a great new personality that was developing very rapidly in the Memphis area. I went out and caught him, thought he was terrific, I called him to Colonel Parker's attention on the Sunday which we played Memphis, he agreed that the possibilities were there based on my judgment, he said, and he went on from there to negotiate with him to play him on a series of personal appearances, later developed into a personal management pact that's probably been one of the most successful ever. Well, the other day you were telling me that Tom, when he quotes a figure for Presley's employment, never backs down, even if it seems high at the time, he stays on, is that right? That's absolutely true, as a matter of fact, he has that reputation in the business of never reversing a decision, if he reverses his decision, it'll be to the...