stand thaaaat.' And then he said, 'But would you be interested in selling Elvis'
contract?' And I said, 'Well, I just might could be.' 'How much you think
you want for him?' He didn't say how much he was thinking -just how
much would I take. So I said, 'I hadn't really thought about it, Tom. But I'll
let you know.' So he said, 'Well, look, think about it, and let me know.' And I
thought about it about thirty seconds and called him back."
The price that he named was $35,000, plus $5,000 he owed Elvis in back
royalties, more than anyone had ever paid for a popular recording artist (by
comparison, Columbia had paid $25,000 for the contract of Frankie Laine,
an established star, in I95I). Thus formally empowered, the Colonel really
got down to business with RCA and Hill and Range.
To understand why Sam Phillips would want to sell Elvis' contract in
the first place one must understand a complex web of circumstances. To
begin with, despite all the success that he had enjoyed in the last year, he
was in somewhat desperate financial straits. The demands of manufacturing
a hit record (out-of-control manufacturing costs primarily, which had to
be paid up front with no guarantee that a great number of the records
would not come back as returns from distributors with thirty or sixty days
to pay) had stretched his limited resources to the breaking point. InJanuary
he had written to his brother Jud: "I have told you repeatedly that Sun liabilities
are three times the assets and I have been making every effort possible
to keep out of bankruptcy... Anyone less interested in saving face
would have given it up long ago, but I intend to pay every dollar the company
owes - including you - even while I know there is no possible way
to ever get out with a dollar."
In October he finally managed to pay Jud off. He had also completed
arrangements to open his first radio station, WHER, with a big band format
and an "all-girl" lineup that featured both his assistant, Marion
Keisker, and his wife, Becky, among the on-the-air talent. He was working
around the clock and beside himself with worry over how he was going to
keep his various enterprises afloat. Presley's royalties were already overdue,
and he didn't doubt that Tom Parker, as his position became more
entrenched, was unlikely to be as forbearing as Bob Neal about contractual
niceties. More than anything else Sam Phillips was not about to be
beholden to any man. He was not going to be known as the proprietor of a
one-artist company - he had other artists to develop, he had a number
that Carl Perkins had sung to him the other night on the telephone that
he believed was going to be a bigger hit than anything he had put out to
date, he had no hesitation about selling the damn contract. The only hesi2
2 6 c-... T H E P I E D P I P E R S
tation he had was turning the boy over t o that damn barker who called
himself Colonel, but, he reasoned, "any time you think you know what
the public is going to want, that's when you know you're looking at a
damn fool when you're looking in the mirror. I thought, Well, if! can just
get some money.... But I wanted Elvis to succeed so bad - and this is
kind of a selfish thing, but I've got to say it - because I didn't want them
to be able to say, 'Well, this was just afluke: "
On Friday, October 28, back home in Madison, Tom Parker got a telegram
from W. W. Bullock, RCA's singles division manager, that $25,000
was as high as RCA was willing to go. On Saturday he and his assistant
Tom Diskin went over to Memphis to meet with Sam Phillips and Bob
Neal at the offices of WHER, which had finally gone on the air that
morning after several days of what the newspaper called "ladylike tardiness,"
equipment delays and problems with the transmitter. Sam had
been up three days straight at this point installing the ground system and
running all the checks. By apparent coincidence Hill and Range attorney
Ben Starr arrived on this very day to work out a deal tied in with the
forthcoming Elvis Presley song folio, whereby Hill and Range was licensed
to represent the Sun publishing catalogue in Europe as well as to
actively promote domestic cover versions of Sun catalogue songs. After
listening to Hill and Range's offer, Sam left Starr in the studio and joined
the others in the Holiday Inn restaurant next door, squeezing into a
booth with Neal opposite Parker and Diskin. Parker brought up the
money situation once again, as if to make sure he had heard correctly
over what might have been a bad telephone line. Thirty-five thousand?
he said. Well, you know that's a lot of money. I don't know if I can raise
that kind of money on an unproven talent. He went over great in Jacksonville,
but you talking about $35,000. That's right, chimed in Tom Diskin.
That's a helluva lot of money. How much money you made on that
boy, anyway? According to Sam Phillips: "I said, 'It's none of your god- -
dam business. In addition to that, I didn't invite you down here. I invited
Tom Parker.' Tom elbowed Diskin on the outside seat of this booth and
said, 'Shut your mouth.' 'Cause, man, I was ready to get up and whip his
ass. Or get whipped. Parker said, 'Look, I don't know where we can go.'
He said, 'Sam, there's not a lot of people believe in this thing. But how
can we work this deal?' I said, 'Well, first thing, you just keep Tom Diskin's
mouth shut.' "
They finally worked out an option deal. The option would take effect
S E P T E M B E R-N O V E M B E R 1955 '" 227
on Monday, October 31, and allow Parker two weeks to raise $5,000 (until
midnight, November 15). The deal was predicated on a $35,000 purchase
price - not surprisingly, Sam Phillips did not budge, and undoubtedly
part of him was hoping that the price would not be met - and the full
amount had to be raised, and the contract executed, within one month,
by December I, 1955. The $5,000 was not refundable, and the deadline
would not be extended. It was a gamble on Tom Parker's part. He was
committed at this point. Ifhe didn't come through, he was unlikely to get
another chance. Mr. and Mrs. Presley believed in him, at least for the time
being; Bob Neal had simply caved in; and the boy - the boy, he thought,
would follow him to the ends of the earth. The boy simply didn't care.
And only the Colonel knew that the money wasn't there.
Sam Phillips, for his part, was also struck by an uncharacteristic moment
of doubt. Upon his return to the radio studio, and after having taken
care of the Hill and Range business, Sam ran into Kemmons Wilson, the
visionary founder of Holiday Inn and the man who was temporarily providing
Sam with free office space. If there was anyone whom Sam Phillips
looked up to in the realm of business, it was Kemmons Wilson, and suddenly
fearful of what he had done, he asked Wilson his opinion. "He said,
'Jesus Christ, thirty-five thousand dollars? Hell, he can't even sing, man.
Take the money!' I said, 'Well, I just done it, and I don't know if they will
come through or not: He said, 'You better hope they do: So I felt better
about it - but I was tom."
FO R B O T H T O M P A R K E R and Sam Phillips the next two weeks were a
period of intense, and sometimes frenetic, activity. On Sunday, October
30, Sam set off for Houston with Marion Keisker for a preliminary injunction
hearing in federal court on his lawsuit against Duke Records. It
was his son Knox's tenth birthday, and he was so worn out by all of his
conflicting obligations that he had to pull over in a cow pasture by the
side of the road outside of Shreveport to catch some sleep. When he returned
to Memphis, he made a conscious point of talking to Elvis about
the deal, but after reassuring Elvis that he would speak to Steve Sholes
personally, that he would never abandon him, there was not much else to
say, and Elvis, never the most verbally expressive of individuals in any
case, pretty much conveyed the same attitude that he had already articulated
to Bob Neal. "Elvis did ask me once or twice, did I think they
2 2 8 T H E P I E D P I P E R S
[RCA] could record him as good as they did at Sun," Neal said, "and I said,
'No reason why not.' He didn't really seem too terribly excited, except he
was excited by the idea that he was increasing in value all the time.... He
was not the type that would just get completely broke up over something,
it was sort of like, 'I knew this was going to happen. It's great, let's keep it
rolling. ' "
Tom Parker, on the other hand, spent almost all of his time trying to
maneuver RCA into raising their offer, either by indicating the interest of
other companies, which by now were in all practical terms out of the picture,
or by attempting to tie in the Hill and Range folio deal in some manner
beneficial to the purchase price of the contract. By the time of the OJ
convention in Nashville, on November IO, the Colonel was sure enough of
his deal that everyone knew there was something in the air, but whether
RCA was aware that Sam Phillips would not move off his original price or
Phillips knew of the RCA shortfall is doubtful. It may well be that the
Colonel was simply counting on RCA's increasing commitment to the idea
of the deal to carry them through the unpleasant financial details.
RCA head of specialty singles Steve Sholes (he oversaw not just the
country and western but the gospel and r&b divisions as well) was at the
convention as a matter of course, and the Colonel spent as much time as
possible with him and publicity director Anne Fulchino, not one of his
biggest fans after the scene he had made in Florida the previous year, mapping
out variations on his vision of the future. He did not neglect to point
out that both Cash Box and Billboard had selected his boy as most promising
new c&w artist in disc jockey polls, and in fact each presented him with a
scroll at the convention to go with the plaque he received from Country &
WesternJamboree for topping their readers' poll with 250, 000 votes for "New
Star of the Year." Probably the elephant that the Colonel had tethered outside
of the Hickory Room of the Andrew Jackson Hotel did not fail to
make its implicit point either, while at the same time proclaiming, 'Like an
elephant Hank Snow never forgets. Thanks Dee Jays."
As for Elvis, he scarcely had time to breeze in and breeze out, flying
out of Nashville late Friday night for a few hours at home before taking
off again early the next morning for a mill opening in Carthage, Texas,
and a Hayride performance that night, then flying back to Memphis for
an all-star "Western Swing Jamboree" at Ellis Auditorium Sunday afternoon
and evening. The convention itself went by like a blur - the Colonel
introducing him to many old friends (not to mention Mr. Sholes), Hank
S E P T E M B E R-NOVE M B E R 1 95 5 "'" 229
Snow taking him under his wing, Bob Neal reining in old friends and colleagues,
everyone having fun and doing business. There were girls all over
the hotel and parties to introduce you to the girls (if you needed an introduction).
Hill and Range representative Grelun Landon brought him
proofs of the song folio and showed them to him and Bob Neal: the cover
was printed in pink and black, and the back had a studio photograph of Vernon
and Gladys Presley, looking youthful and happy (Gladys' mouth was
open, her hair had been done by Mr. Tommy at Goldsmith's, she looked as
pretty as a doll).
He had never realized before how many friends he had in the business.
Biff Collie was here and T. Tommy Cutrer, with his deep booming
voice, who had just moved up from Shreveport; all the local DJs and promoters
were there, and they were all treating him, he noticed, as if he
were somehow... different. He didn't feel any different, though, he was
still just like a kid bouncing on his toes itching to get on with it. When he
ran into RCA head of country and western promotion Chick Crumpacker,
whom he had met first in Richmond and then in Meridian, Mississippi,
the previous spring, he announced proudly, "Hey, I'm with you
guys now." And to Buddy Bain, the Corinth DJ who had hosted him at
the outset of the year and showed him a scrapbook filled with Opry pictures,
he announced proudly, with a big grin, "Buddy, 1 believe I'm gonna
make it. The Colonel just sold my contract to RCA." To which Buddy
replied, "I believe you are."
So many people wanted one thing or another from him - he didn't
have time to sit still for all that. He didn't mind signing autographs, and
he was glad to shoot the breeze about music or any other subject with
anyone who came up to him, but he didn't want to talk business with anyone,
heck, he didn't know anything about business, that's what Bob and
Colonel were there for. Mae Boren Axton, the lady from Jacksonville who
worked for Colonel in Florida, had been trying to get him to listen to this
song ever since he got in - she kept saying it would be his first millionseller,
he could have it if he would just make it his first single release on
RCA, she was so pleased that he had gotten this wonderful deal. He didn't
feel like listening to any songs now, there was so much to do, but Bob
finally got him to go up to the room with him and Mae, and he really
liked it, he said, "Hot dog, Mae, play it again," and she played it over and
over - it was really different, a little like Roy Brown's "Hard Luck
Blues," only this was about a hotel, a heartbreak hotel, where the bell230
'" T H E P I E D P I P ERS
hop's tears kept flowing and the desk clerk was dressed in black. He knew
the whole song before he left the room. "That's gonna be my next record,"
he said, nodding at Bob Neal so Mae would know he was serious
and maybe leave him alone about it now.
On Sunday he played Ellis in what was billed by the Press-Scimitar as a
rare local appearance. He was the headliner, with his name above Hank
Thompson and Carl Smith, and that new boy from Jackson, Carl Perkins,
was at the bottom of the bill. Both his parents were present - Colonel
made sure of that, and that they were well treated. Both Colonel and
Hank Snow had been calling Mr. and Mrs. Presley regularly to reassure
them that everything was all right, that this new RCA deal was really
going to come about, and they had even stopped by to visit once or twice
at the little house on Getwell. Gladys still didn't like the Colonel, he knew
that, but she was finally getting more used to his ways, and while Vernon
didn't ever say much, he seemed to know which side his bread was buttered
on. At the show that night Elvis wore his oversize red suit and
climbed up on top of Bill's bass fiddle with him after popping three or four
strings on his guitar. "Scotty's onstage to keep order," said someone in
the audience, and after the show was over all the performers signed autographs
while still onstage, with Elvis prowling around on the balls of his
feet, like a caged tiger, one observer noted, unable to find a release for all
that energy.
On November 15, the day the option had to be picked up, the Colonel
was still feverishly working out the deal. Bill Bullock continued to balk
over the price to the very end, with Parker telegramming him one last
time to remind him that time was running out and that if they didn't pick
up the option now, he believed the price would simply go up again. Personally,
said the Colonel, he believed the price was too high, and, he emphasized,
he had nothing to gain from the deal, other than to protect everyone's
interests, but he believed that they should go ahead because the
talent was there. He had managed to stop Sam Phillips from releasing a
new Sun single, he said, but the clear implication was that he couldn't
stop him for long. He reminded Bullock of the price once again and of the
condition that he had inserted, no doubt as one last way of accentuating
the difference between himself and Bob Neal, that there would be three
national television appearances guaranteed in the contract. Then he
pointed out that the banks closed in Madison at 2:00.
Bullock was finally convinced. With his go-ahead, Parker called PhilS
E P T E M B E R-N O V E M B E R 1 9 5 5 n.,. 231
lips to ask if he wanted the money wired to conform strictly to the deadline.
No, Sam said, he could just mail it if he wanted, and sent a telegram
to that effect. They would have to get together in the next week or so to
finalize the deal, and that would, naturally, take place in Memphis. The
Colonel went to his bank in Madison and sent the money air mail, special
delivery, then wrote to H. Coleman Tily III, RCA's legal representative,
and thanked him for all the help he and Bullock had been. The Colonel
hoped he had done all right on the deal; he had done the best he could in
the absence of their guiding hand. He reminded Tily of the three guest
appearances that had to be part of the deal, or else he would lose his credibility
with the Presleys, and then he gave instructions as to how his reimbursement
check should be made out, with a clear notation that it was a
refund, not a commission; as an RCA shareholder he was simply proud to
have advanced the money.
In Memphis Sam Phillips felt momentarily bereft. Part of him had
never fully believed that the deal would actually go through; part of him
knew that it had to. But he plunged back into his recording activity, spent
long hours at the new radio studio, started gearing up his new release
schedule (he was detertnined to have "Blue Suede Shoes," the new Carl
Perkins record, out by the first of the year), and continued to pursue his
claim against Duke Records, which was due for resolution by the end of
the month.
Six days later, on November 21, Steve Sholes, Ben Starr, Coleman
Tily, the Colonel, Tom Diskin, Hank Snow, local RCA distributor Jim
Crudgington, and regional rep Sam Esgro all converged on the little Sun
studio for the signing of the papers. Colonel Parker came accompanied by
a document dated the same day stipulating that out of the 40 percent in
combined commissions due the Colonel and Bob Neal (25 percent to the
Colonel, 15 percent to Neal), there would be an even split for the duration
of Neal's agreement, until March 15, 1956. The buyout agreement itself
was a simple two-page document in which Sun Records agreed to tum
over all tapes and cease all distribution and sales of previously released recordings
as of December 31, 1955, while the managers " do hereby sell, assign
and transfer unto RCA all of their right, title and interest in and to"
the previously exercised option agreement. The purchase price was
$35,000; RCA undertook responsibility for the payment of all back royalties
and held Sun Records harmless from any subsequent claims. Out of
all this Elvis Presley would get a royalty of 5 percent as opposed to the 3
232 '" T H E P I E D P I P E RS
percent that he was currently receiving from Sun - this amounted to almost
two cents more per record sold, which over the course of a million
sales would come to about $18,000.
In addition, as the result of a co-publishing arrangement that the Colonel
had entered into with Hill and Range (who probably contributed substantially
themselves toward the purchase price), Elvis would now receive
half of the two-cent statutory mechanical fee and half of the two-cent
broadcast fee on all new Hill and Range compositions that he recorded,
which would be registered through his own publishing company. If at this
point he were to start writing songs as well, or, perhaps more pertinently,
if he were to start claiming songwriting credit for songs he recorded, a
practice going back to time immemorial in the recording industry, he
could increase his income by up to another two cents per side. Hill and
Range, meanwhile, stood to gain an almost incalculable advantage over
their competitors in the field by securing not just an inside track, but what
amounted to virtually a right of first refusal from the hottest new singing
sensation in the country.
After the contract was signed, there was a picture-taking ceremony,
with different configurations of the various parties involved. In one Elvis
is flanked by the Colonel and Hank Snow, proud partners in Jamboree Attractions,
while Bob Neal, to Snow's left, jovially approves; in another
Gladys plants a kiss upon her son's cheek and clutches her black handbag
as the Colonel pats her on the shoulder and Vernon looks stiffly on. In yet
another Sam and Elvis shake hands across RCA attorney Coleman THy. In
all the pictures all the men are beaming - everyone has seemingly gotten
exactly what he wanted. After the picture taking a number of the participants
dropped by for a brief on-air appearance on Marion Keisker's show
in the brand-new WHER studios. "They thought it would be great fun,"
said Marion, "if they all came over and we announced it. So they all
crowded into the little control room, and we did a little four- or five-way
interview, well, not really an interview, just a little chat. And in the course
of it, I remember, Hank Snow said, 'I'm very proud this boy made his first
appearance on the national scene on my section of the Grand Ole Opry.'
And he was being such a pompous ass about it, I couldn't help it, but I
said, 'Yes, and I remember, you had to ask him what his name was.' That
was a rather tactless thing for me to do."
Bob Johnson's story in the Press-Scimitar the following day was headS
E P T E M B E R-NOVE M B E R 1 9 5 5 '" 233
lined "Memphis Singer Presley Signed by RCA-Victor for Recording
Work."
Elvis Presley, 20, Memphis recording star and entertainer who zoomed
into bigtime and the big money almost overnight, has been released
from his contract with Sun Record Co. of Memphis.... Phillips and
RCA officials did not reveal terms but said the money involved is probably
the highest ever paid for a contract release for a country-western
recording artist. "I feel Elvis is one of the most talented youngsters
today," Phillips said, "and by releasing his contract to RCA-Victor we
will give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its
kind in the world, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity."
To further capitalize on that opportunity Elvis and the Colonel flew
into New York on November 30 for a whirlwhind visit to RCA's New York
headquarters the next day. On December 2 Elvis was back on the road,
playing to a decidedly modest crowd in Atlanta and joining an Opry package
headlined by Roy Acuff and Kitty Wells the following night in Montgomery,
Alabama, for which he was paid $400. That same day's issue of
Billboard magazine ran a banner headline announcing, "Double Deals Hurl
Presley into Stardom," and speculating shrewdly about the bright future
that might well lie ahead.
Elvis Presley, one of the most sought-after warblers this year, signed
two big-time contracts as a recording artist, writer and publisher. RCA
Victor beat out the diskery competition and signed the 19-year-old to a
three years-plus options contract. Besides which, Hill & Range inked
him to a long-time exclusive writing pact and at the same time set up a
separate publishing firm, Elvis Presley Music, Inc., which will operate
within the H&R fold.... Altho Sun has sold Presley primarily as a
c.&w. artist, Victor plans to push his platters in all three fields - pop,
r.&b., and c.&w. However, RCA Victor's specialty singles chief, Steve
Sholes (who will record Presley), plans to cut the warbler with the
same backing - electric guitar, bass fiddle, drums and Presley himself
on rhythm guitar - featured on his previous Sun waxings.
T H E D O RS E Y S H O W. M A R C H 1 7. 1 9 5 6. (A L F R E D W E R T H E I M E R)
STAG E SHOW
No matter what people say about you, son, you know who you are and
that's all that matters.
- Gladys Presley to her son as quoted by Harold Loyd
in Elvis Presley's Graceland Gates
The last admonishment I had to Elvis was, "Look, you know how to do
it now, you go over there and don't let anybody tell you - they believe
enough in you that they've laid some cold cash down, so you let them
know what you feel and what you want to do. "
-Sam Phillips on his advice to Elvis Presley, late fall
ON T U E S D A Y, J A N U A R Y 1 0, 1 9 5 6, two days after his
twenty-first birthday, Elvis Presley entered the RCA studio
in Nashville for the first time. Just before Christmas Steve
Sholes had sent him a brief note proposing ten titles for his
consideration, along with acetate demos and lead sheets for each of the
songs. The selection included ballads, novelty numbers, country weepers,
blues, and "beat" songs, which Sholes urged him to learn and then let the
RCA a&r man know which of them he liked best. About a week before the
session, at the Variety Club in Memphis, an after-hours "members only"
club for entertainment people and businessmen, Elvis sat down at the beatup
old upright and picked out "Heartbreak Hotel" for Dewey, announcing
he was going to cut it in Nashville the following week.
Sholes meanwhile got in touch with Chet Atkins, his Nashville coordinator
and one of Scotty's principal inspirations on guitar, about booking
the studio and putting together a band for the session. The band was no
problem - they would use Elvis' regular group with Chet on rhythm. In
addition, Atkins contacted Floyd Cramer, who had just moved to Nash-
2 3 6 ", S T A G E S H O W
ville and had played piano behind Elvis on the Hayride and on tour over
the past year, as well as Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires, the popular
quartet who had toured with Eddy Arnold and were singing background
on an increasing number of Nashville sessions. He would not be able to
employ the full group, Atkins explained to Stoker; RCA had just signed
the renowned Speer Family gospel quartet, and he wanted to use Ben and
Brock Speer to augment the sound on any ballads they might cut at the
session.
Steve Sholes was becoming increasingly nervous. At the DJ convention
the previous November, wrote Billboard editor Paul Ackerman, the
prevailing attitude was, "Anyone who buys [Elvis Presley] will get stuck,"
and the prevailing attitude at the New York home office was no more
comforting. Sholes, ordinarily the most cautious of men, was not unaware
that with this signing he had put his neck on the line. He had little
doubt that there was enough corporate jealousy to bury him, and it didn't
help his state of mind any when Sam Phillips put out his latest release, an
upbeat, rambunctious rocker called "Blue Suede Shoes" by twenty-threeyear-
old Carl Perkins, just before the new year. "Steve was afraid he'd
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