Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[kenya]

This is from an interview of Larry Geller:



Although The Colonel definitely made some amazing business moves in the early days, it seems that by the mid-Seventies he was flogging his work-horse to death. This must have been terrible to see?



LG – (Sighing) - Oh God, some nights I don't know how he got through it. On one of Elvis' last tours we were in Louisville, Kentucky, and Elvis was physically ill and was going through so much emotionally. This one night in particular he was nauseous & feverish and he felt terrible. He couldn’t sleep and he was tossing & turning.



I was so tired myself I said, 'Hey Elvis, I have got to get some sleep and I’ll see you when you wake up'.



We were at the Hilton Hotel and the next day when I got back to Elvis' suite I walk in and surprisingly Colonel Parker is there. The first time I ever saw him come to Elvis’ room.



I say, 'Hi Colonel'.

He says, 'Where is he?'



I explain that he’s with Dr Nick and I say, 'Let me tell Elvis you’re here'.



The Col brushes past me saying, 'No. I’m going right in' and he opens the door.



It pains me to even tell you this but what I saw was Dr Nick kneeling at Elvis' bed. Elvis is comatose and groaning and Dr Nick is dunking Elvis’ head into a bucket of iced-water to revive him. It was a pathetic sight. The door closes and my first thought was, 'This is probably good since finally Col Parker is going to find out what the hell is going on. The Old Man is going to see Elvis in this terrible shape, semi-conscious, and stop this awful tour'.



A minute later the door opens, Col Parker walks up to me, and I stand up. We stand toe to toe and he looks me in the eyes.



He says, 'Now you listen to me. The only thing that is important is that that man is on stage tonight! Do you hear me? Nothing else matters'.



Then he walks out.



My heart sank. I knew the truth and I wanted to scream. Oh my god, that shallow Motherf****r.



I then heard Elvis shout, 'Lawrence are you there? Why the hell did you let that bastard in here?'



I explained that he had walked right past me and then Elvis ranted for an hour about Col Parker. He just used every word in the book and said, 'That big, fat, *** …. I’m going to get rid of his fat ass. Daddy wants to get rid of him; he’s hated him for years. I can’t stand him. He’s lost touch with show business years ago. He’s just using me and I want Tom Hullett to be my manager. After the tour in September that is it!'



He talked about who he was going to fire and how he was going to change things for the good

Poor Elvis ..... colonel...

[Blue Moon]

Kenya, thank you for posting this. I have read the entire interview before but it is really worth reading this excerpt again. It is quite revealing.

Colonel Parker's true colors show and it's disturbing to read how he treated Elvis. After all the years Elvis and Parker knew each other, it is unsettling to read that Parker could not see Elvis as more than a commodity; that he could not have any compassion in his heart for how sick Elvis was. He really did not care about Elvis' dreams and desires, unless they happened to match his own; which in the beginning they did but not later. Even the later concert shows would not have happened if Elvis hadn't listened to Steve Binder in lieu of Parker. And then Elvis was forced to overwork himself to pay off the Colonel's gambling debts.

But notice, even as we see Elvis getting angry here, and understandably so, he never became bitter. He always forgave. Though it seems he'd had enough of Parker's treatment, and per what I've read elsewhere too (from Wanda I think?), Elvis was planning on leaving Parker. It's too bad time ran out.

[Amanda Viola]

Under the perspective we have from what we know about Tom Parker, he took the position of a un-compassionate boss, instead of just exactly the contrary: a compassionate employee (facilator) working for a great boss!

[Amanda Viola]

I have posted in "His Friends -quotes" something said by Elvis' friend George Klein about T. Parker.

[73smile]

I have read things about what the relationship between Parker and "the boy" ( as Parker called Elvis) was like. Parker was known to have said, when he found out Elvis was dead, "that 'the boy' is worth more to me now that he is dead." Lots of fans refer to Parker as "The Con" because he took full advantage of Elvis' insecurities.
From all I have read about Elvis and Parker it seems to be clear that Elvis was trapped because he owed money to his manager, Parker---who then gambled the money away at casino type establishments.
Had Elvis had a real agent and a CPA, he maybe would not have needed to continue the concert route when he was so ill. He needed to be in a hospital and not working. A real agent and a CPA would have enlightened both Vernon and Elvis about the huge portion of the money he earned going to Parker and that the % taken by Parker was not in Elvis' favor..
Vernon loved Elvis and Elvis loved Vernon but Vernon, who handled the business end of Elvis' income, did not use the laws in place to keep from having to pay so very much in income taxes.
When Parker convinced Elvis to sell the Elvis songbook in 1973, it was to benefit Parker but not Elvis. Had that songbook not been sold then residuals would have probably been enough to keep Graceland going. After 1973 Elvis did not record many songs that he 'made' his song through his fantastic voice and via his arrangement of the music and no new artist would give up control of his or her songs for Elvis to record.
Poor Elvis. He deserved so much more than what he got for working so hard.