Meeting Colonel Parker

Elvis Presley’s final television appearance, Elvis in Concert, which aired after his death in 1977, remains one of the most controversial events in the King’s career.  Filmed at two concerts less than two months before Presley died, Elvis in Concert preserves Elvis’ poor physical condition at the time and those closest to him objected to it being aired.  They, and many Elvis fans, consider it humiliating and an unflattering coda to an otherwise brilliant performing career.  It has not been seen on television since 1978 and has never been released on home video, although collectors have owned unauthorized copies of the special and the two concerts for many years.  The debate continues as to whether the special should be officially released after so many years, or relegated to the bootleg netherworld and, perhaps, best forgotten.

It is interesting to revisit the origins of the special, which was largely the work of Elvis’ legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker.  He and Elvis had often turned to television as a way to boost Elvis’ career whenever his stock seemed to be falling and it had often done wonders for him.  The King never seemed more in need of such help than in the closing months of his life and the Colonel again reached out to television, this time more in desperation than genius. 

In the following excerpt from my book, Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, producer Gary Smith describes his first production meeting with the Colonel and recalls a very odd, somewhat comical incident that took place. 

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“There were even press rumors that Colonel Parker was trying to sell Presley’s contract. Whether serious or not, Parker realized his star was reaching the end of the line and kept him working to pay the bills before the curtain came down for good. That mindset is perhaps the only rational explanation for Parker’s decision to put Elvis back on television, despite his embarrassing appearance and reduced abilities. The Colonel tried to explain his seemingly bizarre decision by claiming that Elvis needed a challenge to put some fire in his belly. After all, only two years earlier he had cajoled Presley back onto the road by including a charity concert for Mississippi tornado victims, which seemed to have inspired the King. But, there seems little doubt that Parker saw some serious financial gain in one more TV special and felt he better grab it while he could.

“Parker had the William Morris Agency arrange the deal with CBS, rather than NBC, which had cooled on Elvis despite the success of the 1968 Elvis Comeback Special and the 1973 Aloha satellite extravaganza. CBS, however, happily offered $750,000 for the special, which Elvis and Parker would divide equally, marking the first time the Colonel invoked the 50-50 terms of their new management agreement. The two would share ownership of the show after one repeat airing, and Parker would earn another $10,000 from CBS for his promotional efforts.

William Morris tapped the highly-regarded Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion, of Smith-Hemion Productions, for the job. Hemion held the record for most Emmy Award nominations, and the pair would ultimately win 24 Emmys. They had worked with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Bing Crosby, Bette Midler, Neil Diamond, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, Sammy Davis Jr., Perry Como, Ann-Margret, and Paul McCartney. The Presley special was an odd assignment for them. ‘Elvis was not that enthusiastic about doing it,’ Smith recalls. ‘The only way that the Colonel could get him to agree to do it, would be if he could just continue doing his concerts; if the special could be totally about capturing his concert and he wouldn’t even have to be involved. For all intents and purposes, he wouldn’t even know there was a special being done.’ The project would be a documentary, not at all like Elvis’ two previous specials, nor the kind of music special typical at the time, and would be built around Elvis and his fans. ‘I was told that this is not with guest stars, and the only way to do it is to do a special that shows him on tour in action.’

Elvis was not to be disturbed or asked to do anything beyond the concerts he was performing. ‘We had one huge production meeting in the Colonel’s office where I had to tell him what we were doing,’ Smith recalls. ‘He opened the meeting by saying, “Remember, nobody is to involve Elvis Presley in this thing. You guys are just showing up and covering the show. He knows you’re doing it, but I don’t want anybody calling him and bothering him.” I was sitting next to Colonel, and I put my hand out, because I’m a very “touchy” person, and I put my hand on his arm, and I started to say, “I assure you, sir . . . ,” and he said, “Get your hands off me, boy. I don’t like to be touched.” He didn’t yell at me, he just said it. I pulled my hand back and said “I’m sorry” half jokingly because everyone was embarrassed for me for a second. He was a huge man; big hands, big arms, and I was really trying to be friendly, and he says “Get your hands off me.” I’ll never forget it. I just continued and said “I assure you that I have heard everything you’ve said about how we have to operate.’” Smith then laid out his documentary approach to shooting an Elvis concert, and he was sure the Colonel liked it. ‘He got flattered. My opinion is that he loved what I had to say because he realized that what I was doing for the first ten minutes of the show was about him, not about the fans. It’s about Colonel Parker. It’s about how he created the aura of Elvis Presley in concert.’”

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