From "Me and a guy named Elvis" by Jerry Schilling pages 244-245

But when the talk turned to a discussion of Elvis's movies, he was not only forthcoming, he was shocking honest about the disappointment and frustration he'd felt in Hollywood. When asked how deeply he cared about the quality of his films, he answered, " I cared so much until I became physically ill. I would became violently ill...At a certain stage I had no say-so in it. I didn't have final approval of the script, wihich means I couldn't say, 'This is not good for me'... I don't think anyone was consciously trying to harm me, it was just Hollywood's image of me was wrong, and I knew it, and I couldn't say anything about it. I couldn't do anything about it."

"The picture get very similar. if something was successful. They'd try to re-create it the next time around. So I'd read the first four or five pages of it. And I knew that it was just a different name with twelve new songs. The song were mediocre in most cases. That's what might have made it seem like indefference. But I was never indifferent. I was so concerned until that's all I talked about. It worried me sick."

He was more interested in speaking to an troubling truth of his movie career. right from the start, he'd been made false promises.

"I don't know what to do. I just felt I was obligated a lot of times to things that I didn't fully believe in. And it was very difficult... I had through they'd give me a chance to show some kind of acting ability or do a very interesting story", he said. "But it did not change. It did not change. And so I became very discouraged. They couldn't have paid me no amount of money in the world to made me feel any self satisfaction inside."

Abridge seemd a little taken aback at the idea of Elvis feeling so conflicted about his work. "But you still did them- you must have forced yourself..."

"I had to, I had to" said Elvis

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Salary Elvis movies

Love me tender ( 1956) $100,000
Loving you (1956) $100,000
Jailhouse rock (1957) $250,000
King Creole (1958) $250,000 + 50% of profits
G.I. Blues (1960) $175,000 + % of gross
Blue Hawaii (1961) $175.000
Follow tha dream (1962) $1,000,000
Kid Galahad (1962) $ 1,000,000
It happened at the world's fair (1963) $500,000 + 50% of profits
Fun in Acapulco (1964) $500,000 + 50% of profits
Viva Las Vegas (1964) $500,000 + 50% of profits
Girl Happy ( 1965) $500,000 + 50% of profits
Tickle me (1965) $ 750,000
Paradise hawaiian style ( 1966) $225,000 = 50% of profits
Charro (1969) $850,000 + 50 % of profits
Elvis: That's the way it is (1970) $500,000 + 60% of profits

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Top grossing movies at the box office

1) Viva Las Vegas (May 1964 MGM)
No 11 $36,479,931

2) Jailhouse rock (October 1957, MGM)
No 12 $30,432,028

3) Blue Hawaii (November 1961, Paramount)
No 13 $34,505,134

4) G.I.Blues (August 1960, Paramount)
No 15 $ 31,888,839

5) Loving you (July 1957, Paramount)
No 15 $ 28,871,412

6) Girls!Girls!Girls (November 1962, Paramount)
No 19 $26,137,748

7) Love me tender ( November 1956, Twentieth Century Fox)
No 20 $ 33,940,541

8) Girl Happy ( 1965, Paramount)
No 25 $ 21,578,624

9) Kissin' cousins ( 1964, MGM)
No 25 $ 19,826,050

10) Roustabout ( 1964, Paramount)
No 28 $ 21,242,196

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And remember the Col. Parker took at least half of every penny he earned..and
more since he had the company that did the handling of publicity and etc where
in he kept more than half of that, including all the money taken in from photo sales, and advertising brochures etc.... he was the ' company' that raked in the money - to his accounts... Elvis would get just a flat cut, usually a lot less than
he should have received. Elvis just didn't have anyone who could or would look
into how the Col. handled things... not until he got married and then his wife
and her attorneys began to 'find things out and she tried to talk to Elvis...he
was surprised to find out how much money he actually had earned and how
much his potential was worth... he hardly had a clue it seemed to me...he just
accepted it because there was always enough to go around and do the job...
and he could always go get more if he needed to...he just didn't think about it.
not soon enough.
thanks for the post of that information - very interesting, after the fact it is
so clear what what was going on 'behind the scenes'....
wjh

I was Hoping you seen this Wanda before I said something about this that Liliane posted, I heard a interview on YouTube where these reporters were asking Elvis why he didn't have More Control over the Movies he did. But I wasn't able to save it, anyway Elvis told the Reporters that the Contracts to the Movies that Elvis did were Signed 4 years in Advance, and that Elvis couldn't do anything about it. So it sounds like to me that Parker went Behind Elvis' Back and Once Again Took Control over Elvis' Career, with out Elvis' Approval. But want I don't understand couldn't Elvis had Once he found out what the Colonial did couldn't Elvis if he had Gotten a Lawyer, like Pris. Did and had that Contract that Parker did Tore Up?

Elvis wouldn't have wanted to go the lawyer route, it would have taken a lot of money, time and then wouldn't have been worth it to him... as soon as his contracts were up, he had had enough and was looking forward to being out of it all and able to do things he wanted to do- even to changing his manager etc...
but by then his health was a real worry and handicap and time rain out. The
Col. was cunning, like a fox in a hen house raid, in and out quietly and secretly,
and for a long while, Elvis believed he was on his side, and that he was getting him money and fame, what more could he hope for/after all, without the Col. he always said he wouldn't have managed to get as far as he did with his career.
Elvis was loyal, sometimes to a fault.
wjh

I read your post Wanda and Rose-Lyn and I like it very much.

I had made some research that I desire to add to this topic.
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From "Me and a guy named Elvis" by Jerry Schilling page 262

Without hesitating Elvis shot back "That"s just what I was thinking, You're fired".
There was stunned silence, in the room as the Colonel stormed to the door, pausing only to shout out a final point. "If you're going to fire me, you're going to have to pay me what you owe me".

He'd been at work drawing up to-the penny accounting of everything he felt Elvis owed him and owe him as contracts that the Colonel has negocitiated were paid off. The Colonel had sheets and sheets if figures worked out, all of which tallied up what Elvis was required to pay him if he wanted to walk away from their partnership.

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Also read Elvis Face to Face
What's he got on you _ pages 221-222-223

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From the book "Elvis and the Colonel" by Dirk Velllenga pages 228-229

On august 14, 1981, the Probate Court in Memphis adopted most of Blanchard Tual's recommendations. Judge Evans ordered the estate to stop making payments to Parker and to file a complaint against him to recover an unspected amount of money.

The Colonel now under serious attack , decided that a bit of good publicity wouldn't hurt, for the first time since Elvls had died, the Colonel broke his silence. He pleaded innocence to the Commercial Appeal.

"Elvis and Vernon were pleased with my services and desired to continue them over the years. Detailled explanations were regulary made of the transactions pertaining to Elvis and the compagnie with which we dealt"

Speaking over the phone from his home in Palm Spring to the Press-Scmitar, he critized Elvis for the first time. When Elvis was alive, Parker always avoided making negative remarks about him because, as he told his friends, the public takes sides against the manager if he has a dispute with his artists now he called Elvis a "Moody and headstrong client".

He said he always repected Presley, but the problem was that "he had little self-motivation".

"Sometimes it was such a heartache to keep him going. We had to have a way of keeping Elvis going."

In his opinion Elvis definitely was not the victim of his manager's manipulations. "Elvis wanted to always made the final decision. And that's the way it was. He had a mind of his own."

Parker said that the agrement with RCA were a lot more deneficial to Elvis than Blanchard tual reported. "This man goes into a rattle about show business. The whole picture isn't here. I feel the has been unjust and unfair to me and the memory of Elvis and his father."

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When I read what the Colonel say about his only client , four years after his death 1981. The Colonel didn't care about Elvis Presley the entertainer. He cared more about the monies than Elvis Presley.

The estate saw something was wrong with the Colonel. And they had a very good lawyer to found mistakes and suit him for good. Knowing the lawyer want see the all his papers and everything. The Colonel found a way to tell the truth about his client and tell the Memphis newspapers about it. He want to win like in the Las Vegas Casino. But it's time the Elvis Presley Estate win all the way, because the bad managment of Elvis career, no good movie role, no International tour, no Karate movie.

I think if the Colonel had made a bad remark about Elvis. The fans would made his life miserable , because the fans care very much about him.

Thanks for posting girl, it is interesting that the Col. thought so 'highly of his
only commodity" which he made vasts of amount of money off of for all those years, he could when under stress of being sued, 'finally' tell the world what
a difficult, headstrong and self-motivated' person he was...huh? Elvis wanted
so much to do something different, every time he tried to talk to the Colonel
he was told he couldn't break the contract...with the studios. Elvis and his
father didn't understand the contract stuff that much, especially Vernon who
did what he could and then took Elvis' word for things when he said okay...The
Col. enjoyed a free hand, he wound Elvis around his finger and kept him drawn up tight. Elvis couldn't wait to get out of those contracts for those "fims' and he
was eager to do something different, get back on stage where he belonged, and
he always wanted to do a good film but the Col and his cronies would not do
anything about that, they wanted the cheap route, and crank out a so called
'movie' in l6 days...less if it had been possible... Elvis took his freedom serious
when finally he finished that film commitment the Col and signed him into- told him it was a good deal, he'd make a lot of money. Right- the Col did make
alot of money, on side deals related to the film. And then the concerts as
well... anyway, the Col. lost the case...all his paper and lists and crap didn't
hold up when looked at by legit examiners...he got his due..in court.

interesting stuff you find girl, thanks for all your work and effort in putting
the things straight forward and easy to read. Sorry I get a bit carried away....
love,
wjh

Just to say that that I love to research in my small Elvis books collection. Sometime I found the best to inform and to tell the truth. It's a pleasure and I like it very much and to had something for to ELC forums.

For me, I will always TAKING CARE OF ELVIS

I'm So Happy You have Joined Wanda and Me in Protecting Elvis at All Cost, another thing I had read Some Where But I can't remember Now. But I read that After Parker, Married his Wife he was a American Citizen. Like so Many people from other countries do, in America. So the Excuse that Parker Feed Elvis about not being able to Tour Europe was a Bunch of Crap, about not being a Legal Citizen. So I think it was Something that Parker did in his Home Country, that was His Reason from Keeping Elvis here in the States.

Liliane - about the RCA deal you can read my post "Guardian ad litem" - in which I posted all the documents.

EPE didn' want to sue Col. Parker - it was a order of judge Joseph Evans of what Tual Blancard find out. They had to sue Parker and RCA. Parker sued RCA and EPE and RCA did the same.
But it was not a law suit but a committal proceedings. After all EPE and Col. Parker and RCA had a settlement agreement.
If I'm not wrong they paid Parker 2 million dollars and some years later they bougth again for 2 million all stuff that Parker keep holding and collected over the years from Elvis.

Yes, Elvis was tired of doing all this movies. Parker negotiated all the contracts with the studios. No, Elvis had no influence. The colonel signed with the studio producers and it was a good deal in case of the money. Elvis got one million dollars per picture and 50% of box office. But the contract did not give Elvis any script approval or say on any of the songs that were in the pictures. So his hands were completely tied as far as that went. Often Elvis expressed in interviews or to his friends, how unhappy he was to make some of the awful movies and have to do this crappy songs.
I think he was glad when his contractual obligations were finished and he could return to give live concerts.

Elvis and the Colonel
by Dirk Velllenga pages 225-226-227-228-229

Part One

On Tom Parker's seventied birthday -June 26, 1979- Vernon died and the situation became extremely complicated. While Vernon was the sole executor of the Presley estate and gave full powers to the Colonel, everything was very simple. The Colonel had it all. With Vernon dead, the matter would have to go to the Court and new executors would have to be appointed the idea of any sort of brush with the legal system scared the hell out of the Colonel. But there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

As it turned out, the first hearing was relatively painless. The court appointed Priscilla, Joe Hanks-Elvis former accountant - and the Memphis National Bamk of Commerce as "Successor co-executors".

They would hold the Estate in trust for the eventual heir, Lisa-Marie, and watch out for her best interests. It was certainly a more complexe setup that the one with Vernon, but nobody appeared to want to make any trouble. The successor co-executors wrote Parker a cordial letter. " We do want things to continue as they have as set forth in the letter of august 23,1977 from Vernon Presley as the then executor of the Estate".

In 1980, however, things started to go wrong , virtually by accident. The co-executors went to the Probate Court in Memphis for approval of the compensation agreement with Colonel Parker there was no conflct and no dispute. It was supposed to have been merely a rubber-stamp formality, a contination of a situation that had existed for years. Unfortunately for the Colonel , Judge Joseph Evans had both his doubts and his questions. He was puzzled by the Colonel's fifty-percent commission and other seeminly excessive points in the agreement, and he withheld approval pending a full investigation.