Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [262]
He first approached Larry, whom he saw as his main target. “Mr. Geller,” he bellowed, hammering his words home with his cane, “get those books out of here right now! Do you understand me? Right now!”
Then he turned to the others. He was purple with rage, his voice thundering.
“Goddamn you guys! Why do you let him get this way? He’s going to mess up everything! They’ll tear up the contract! I want one of you with Elvis twenty-four hours a day, sitting by his bed in his room. If he has to go to the bathroom, one of you walk with him. Do not let him walk on his own.”
He turned on his heel and thudded back in to his client. “Here’s the way it is,” he told him. “From now on, you’re going to listen to everything I say. I’m going to set down these guidelines, and you’d better follow them. Otherwise, I’m going to leave you, and that will ruin your career, and you’ll lose Graceland, and you’ll lose your fans. And because I’m going to do all this extra work for you, I’m taking 50 percent of your contract.”
It was Parker’s most outrageous attachment of Elvis’s earnings. Officially, his commission had been 25 percent, although the Colonel had long been taking 50 percent of many of Elvis’s business deals, and usually more from side agreements, double-dipping, and perks under the table.
Now he prepared a new agreement and backdated it to January 1, 1967. In setting down terms for what he called a joint venture, Parker would continue to collect 25 percent of Elvis’s standard movie salaries and record company advances. However, his company, All Star Shows, would now receive 50 percent of profits or royalties beyond basic payments from both the film and record contracts, including “special,” or side deals. The commission would be deducted before any division of royalties and profits.
Three days later, when Elvis was feeling better, the Colonel called a meeting at Rocca Place. Priscilla and Vernon had flown out from Memphis, and sat in the living room with Elvis and the guys, already knowing what was about to happen.
Elvis spoke first. “Fellas,” he said. “The Colonel has some things to say. And he’s speaking for both of us. What he’s going to tell you is coming straight from me.”
Parker struggled to his feet and then delivered his power play: Number one, from now on, Joe was to be the lone foreman. Number two, there would be no more discussions about religion. “Some of you,” the Colonel mocked, looking around the room, “think maybe Elvis is Jesus Christ who should wear robes and walk down the street helping people. But that’s not who he is.” The guys should not allow Larry to be alone with Elvis, he directed. And number three, due to larger-than-normal expenses, everyone’s salary would be cut back. Furthermore, several people had better start looking for jobs.
Everyone looked at Elvis in disbelief. Most of the guys made only $200 a week. How could they keep their apartments on less than that? But Elvis offered no answers, simply staring at the floor. No one had ever seen him so passive and defeated, and they wondered why he let Parker get away with it.
In the end, no one was actually fired. But every relationship Elvis had was strained—with the Colonel, with his father, with Priscilla, with the guys. Jerry Schilling, who got married that same week, would soon leave to take an apprenticeship as a film editor. And the following month, on April 30, Larry would also leave voluntarily. “It was like taking my arm off, it was so painful.” But he did it rather than cause Elvis more strife with Colonel Parker.
Early in May, Priscilla persuaded Elvis to gather the religious books that the Colonel had banned and dump them in an abandoned well at Graceland. Then he poured gasoline over them and lit a match.
However, five years later, Elvis would intimate to Larry that he had tricked her. They built a bonfire, yes, but “I threw in maybe two or three books . . . there is no way I would have burned all of those. That’s what the Nazis did.” Larry found out it was true: “He didn’t burn the books, because I saw them. All the books