Elvis and the Colonel: An Insider’s Look at the Most Legendary Partnership in Show Business

In this addictive behind-the-scenes account, film and TV producer McDonald teams up with biographer Terrill (Steve McQueen) to dispel myths surrounding the relationship between Elvis Presley and his longtime business manager, Colonel Tom Parker. McDonald, who met Elvis as a teen and eventually worked under Parker, frames the “mega-manager” as the first to make “forays into today’s multimedia world of music, film, television, publishing, and Las Vegas-style entertainment.” “Seeing opportunities no one else saw,” the “Baron of ballyhoo” began representing 20-year-old Presley in 1955, and through their partnership marshaled a dizzying host of marketing strategies to boost his client’s star, including winning Elvis movie roles, licensing Elvis-themed collectible merchandise, and establishing Elvis as artist-in-residence at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1969. Contending that the view of Parker as a “malevolent leech” stemmed from tensions over Presley’s estate in the 1980s, when a judge-appointed attorney claimed Parker struck deals that robbed Presley of millions, McDonald offers instead the riveting tale of a man who used his “innate knack for creating a spectacle” to bring his client’s once-in-a-lifetime talent to the masses. Unfortunately, his adulatory tone (Parker was “fair-minded, loyal, funny... a man whose word was his bond”) precludes a more complex view of the subject. Still, this will more than satisfy fans hungry for insight into Elvis and those in his orbit. (Nov.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly described the author as a film director.