Elvis Presley’s Manager Tom Parker Wasn’t Working at a Carnival When He Met the Singer
The 2022 biopic Elvis got some things right. It also got a lot of things wrong, especially where the pop singer’s longtime manager “Colonel” Tom Parker is concerned.
According to pop culture reporters and the late manager’s biographer, several less-than-accurate details made it into the movie, including a false bit about Parker working at a carnival when he first met Elvis Presley.
Who was Elvis Presley’s manager, Tom Parker?
Born in the Netherlands in 1909, Andreas Cornelius Van Kuijk worked for a Dutch circus before emigrating to the U.S. There, the teenager, who lacked a passport, told authorities his name was “Thomas Andrew Parker.”
The newly-named Parker worked at a talent agency before revisiting Europe. In 1929, Parker returned stateside and toured with a carnival before joining the Army. Despite never becoming a U.S. citizen, he served two years at Fort Shafter in Hawaii. Parker re-upped at the end of his enlistment but deserted his post.
After suffering a “psychotic breakdown” in solitary confinement, Parker was discharged from the Army at age 24, reports Biography. Smithsonian further adds that Parker never rose above the rank of private. The “Colonel” moniker was an honorary title bestowed upon him by the governor of Louisiana in 1948 in exchange for political favors.
Although true that Parker worked as a carny, he’d left that far behind and was already managing a number of singers, including Hank Snow, Eddie Arnold, and Tommy Sands when he and Presley first laid eyes on one another. So, the scenes in Elvis with the hall of mirrors, Ferris wheel, and unstable carnival ride are totally made up.
Other less-than-accurate parts of the ‘Elvis’ biopic
Despite depiction of the same, Presley did not sing the song “Trouble” on July 4, 1956. In fact, the song wasn’t even written yet. Collider goes to explain that the hip-shaking singer was never arrested for his on-screen gyrations, either.
Another glaring inaccuracy involves the timing of Presley’s first kiss with future wife, Priscilla. While it’s true that they met in Germany, she was much younger than depicted. They certainly did not share their first kiss while listening to “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Published by Gladys Music, the song was written for the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii.
The movie version of 1965 shows Parker telling Presley that he kept his promise to make him “the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.” In fact, actors Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando earned as much or more than Presley in the ’60s.
Presley didn’t fire Parker on stage in Las Vegas, either. Nor did the entertainer call him out publicly for being an undocumented alien or a deeply indebted gambler. According to Parker biographer Alanna Nash, the singer did suffer an on-stage meltdown that led to a backstage argument. At this time, Presley sacked the manager. But the true event wasn’t as depicted in Elvis.
Even more inaccuracies in ‘Elvis’
A “defining” moment in Elvis depicts the singer and his 1968 Christmas Special crew watching news reports about the assassination of presidential hopeful, Robert Kennedy. Dramatic to be sure, but it never happened. In reality, Kennedy was shot down three weeks before the holiday show taped.
Toward the end of Elvis, viewers learn that an aging, overweight Presley had a deal to play the lead in the 1976 Barbra Streisand vehicle, A Star is Born. Again, the cinematic treatment is based on a kernel of truth but did not unfold as depicted.
According to Outsider, Streisand considered Presley for the part of Norman Maine. But Parker’s ridiculous demands, including a million dollars up front and 50% of the box office, squelched the deal. In lieu of Elvis, singer Kris Kristofferson got the part. Within a year, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll was dead.
