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Our American Stories

Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker: Stories From the Early Years

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, Elvis Presley’s rise to become the King of Rock and Roll did not happen in isolation. Behind the scenes stood his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who helped guide the career of a young Elvis during the explosive years of 1950s rock and roll.

Greg McDonald met Elvis Presley as a teenager shortly after Colonel Parker began managing him. What followed were encounters that reveal the personalities behind the headlines. Greg shares three stories from inside the early world of Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.6

Guaranteed Human.

0:14.0

And we continue with our American stories.

0:17.7

Craig McDonald's got his start in show business as a teenager after meeting Elvis Presley

0:23.0

and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, while changing their air conditioning filters in Parker's

0:29.1

Palm Springs, California home. Greg went on to manage Ricky Nelson for 17 years and worked

0:35.1

under Colonel Parker and Elvis shortly after Parker began managing Presley

0:40.2

in the 1950s.

0:42.4

Here's Greg with three Elvis Presley stories.

0:50.5

When I was a teenager, Colonel had an office at MGM Studios.

0:57.0

It was called the Elvis Exploitation Office.

0:59.6

That's what it said on the door.

1:02.7

In those days, an exploitation officer was a real thing.

1:06.3

Now it sounds terrible, but it really wasn't.

1:10.1

So the exploitation officer at a studio was a big deal.

1:14.8

They wouldn't give a manager a free office, but they would give a star free office, one of the actors.

1:22.2

So they called that Elvis's office at NGM.

1:25.9

We're there for years.

1:27.1

So the colonel had formed a club.

1:30.5

He and Ellis formed a club called the Snowman's League.

1:34.5

Well, the Snowman's League, the first member was Elvis and the colonel and, you know,

1:40.6

Priscilla and just about everybody in the Memphis Mafia. All of us, I was in it.

...

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