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Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com
Priscilla Presley and Cirque du Soleil unveil Viva Elvis at Aria in CityCenter on Dec. 15, 2009.
Published Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010 | 8:35 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010 | 11:44 a.m.
One of the questions lingering after the original five-piece media preview of "Viva Elvis" at Aria was the depiction of Colonel Tom Parker as the narrator of the production and the show's lone human centerpiece.
The characterization of Parker seemed rather broad-based, similar in personality to the nameless, generic manager who opens Wayne Newton's "Once Before I Go" at Tropicana. But that role, played by Garrett Eugene Case Jr. (read this well-crafted story about Case in The Salt Lake Tribune), has been treated to significant tweaking by no less an expert on Presley's life and career than Priscilla Presley.
Word from a friend of Priscilla Presley's is that she found the original Colonel Tom character too comic to be accurate, and forged changes to better reflect his complex personality — humanize him, in other words. Parker and Presley enjoyed a close, but often complicated, relationship from the time Parker was brought aboard in 1956 to Presley's death in 1977. Priscilla Presley was involved in the re-shaping of the original version of the show, including dropping the stilted Elvis impressionist that left many who saw the show's early performances a bit confused.
Presley is scheduled to discuss and unveil details of the show at 6 p.m. Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
From everything that I have read regarding Elvis Presley and Col. Parker, it seems to me that that Parker (an illegal alien) held Elvis down, kept him from world touring because Parker was afraid of not being able to get back into the U.S. without legal papers, thus denying Elvis huge Intl. live concert earning potential. Also he signed cheesy contracts in venues which caused an exhaustive trek for Elvis to have to hump it out on the road when Elvis could have been spending quality creative time writing original music and benefiting greatly from royalty payments ASCAP etc.. He turned down a major feature film starring role for Elvis in A Star Is Born with Barbara Streisand Which Elvis wanted to do to revive his typcasting in those cheesy bubblegum movies he churned out. Lastly the issue of Parkers cut of Elvis's payments.. 50/50 ? gimme a break! Parker robbed Elvis blind, wrung him out and dumped him to the wolves. Parker was a degenerate compulsive gambler which is why he roped Elvis into the International Hotel appearances, so he would never be too far away from the craps tables to piss away Elvis's fortune back into the casino. This was not a good man, but a mere carnival huckster who came along into Elvis's life at an early and inexperienced time for him. Elvis's mom didn't trust him from the get go, but Vernon went for it. Too bad for Elvis.
Really,why would she want to portray a long-dead manager of someone whose been dead for 33 years in a good light. Trust me,It's all about the $$.
John,hate to tell you but you're off the mark about her. She's still sucking up to Parker in death and although she was married to Elvis, there's much about him she didn't understand.
The fact is and I hate to say something like this, but Parker contributed a great deal to Elvis' early death and his diminishing figure in his later years. He was good for Elvis from '55 to about '61 and then it went downhill because Parker was a Carny Hustler, who wouldn't because he couldn't,change with the times. He treated Elvis like he was a carnival side show and he had the Carny's creed of "Get The Money and Run' and to hell with the furture of the artist or what it did to him personally and mentally.
Mentally Elvis was bored in the later years and thus sunk into his pill taking even more. It has been said by those who really knew him for many years that he always needed a challenge, he needed to have something new to look forward to so he could rise to the challenge which he always did. As it has been told, Elvis was known to say that in the later years he hated playing Vegas over and over again but said as long as Parker kept having gambling losses he would be playing their forever. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Elvis didn't like Vegas, he just didn't need to be playing there so much every year or for that fact Parker should have seen that he needed a break and skipped a year or two in between gigs. Elvis should have been booked on a world tour but all who were close to him have said that nobody knew Parker was an illegal alien and wouldn't book Elvis outside the country because he would not be able to accompany him to collect the money. He was afraid he wouldn't be allowed back in the USA or be found out about his illegal status. Elvis suffered for that, it would have been a great new challenge for him.
Priscilla's the wrong one to be asking about anything creative, she's not. It's also been said that Elvis did not want her to have anything to do with his estate which is why she was not in his will.
I've been an Elvis fan for most of my life and I hate to see things about him misrepresented or lied about. I have read what has been written by the guys that were really close to him, some all the way back to High School like Red West and Marty Lacker. I've also had the pleasure of meeting some of them as well as attending a couple of Q&A events by them in Memphis and other places. I learned a lot about all those years with Elvis and them and they all come across as sincere and truthful.
Thanks for the opportunity to try to set the record straight.
vpin :
I'm glad you read my comment above, do you have anything NEW to add to the discussion?
environ,
If credit about who said what first floats your boat then it's all yours.
Fact is I didn't read your comment until after I posted mine but I would have done it anyway even if I'd have read it.
vpin :
No I was just hoping to hear some other stuff about the Elvis mess here..