Talk:Colonel Tom Parker

Template:Vital article

Departure

There were rumours about Parker's rapid departure from Holland. He seems to have left the U.S. Army because of mental trouble. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.116.24 (talk) 16:10, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Left the army? I read he was rejected by the United States army when he drafted. Eligius (talk) 03:38, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Parker served in the US army for two years, but went AWOL during his second stint. He was classed as a deserter and charged, ending up in a mental hospital for a couple of months. He was then discharged from the army for a constitutional psychopathic state; an honorable discharge due to illness. As the article currently stands it doesn't discuss his Army days much, but hopefully that will soon be remedied. ElvisFan1981 (talk) 09:00, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Great sectiontitles

I do like the sectiontitles: "Finding Elvis", "Surviving Elvis". But should it not be (more like):

• "On his way to Elvis" (=previous life)
• "Finding Elvis",
• "Managing Elvis",
• "Surviving Elvis"
• "Death"

-DePiep (talk) 17:19, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree, DePiep, and I think the article could do with a little re-writing and shuffling around. I think a lot of the information about his life before Elvis should be put at the beginning of the article, not the end. ElvisFan1981 (talk) 09:02, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Maybe a good start then to reorder the sections (by complete section) into chronological order. The intro already focuses on Elvis. Let's not wait another year ;-) Go ahead if you like. -DePiep (talk) 10:24, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, I gave it a go, started the work on it and hopefully it's a good, solid start. I'm still debating in my head whether his marriage should be mentioned earlier in the article, before his talent management section, or if it's well placed in the personal life section. ElvisFan1981 (talk) 20:36, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Outside influence

Parker might well have been afraid of outside infuences but this does not explain his reluctance to travel aboard. Outside influences could have spoken to Elvis in America itself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.118.111 (talk) 10:30, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Parker didn't have a passport at any point in his life 80.229.37.234 (talk) 10:29, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

"Colonel" Tom Parker, with scare quotes

I was mildly surprised to learn from this article that Colonel Tom was really a Colonel, in the Louisiana State Militia. In light of this fact, shouldn't the scare quotes be removed from the two occurrences of the word "Colonel" in the lede paragraph? That isn't how we style the names, for instance, of "Admiral" Chester Nimitz or "General" George Washington.

"Duke" Ellington was not an actual Duke but it turns out that Tom Parker was really a Colonel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TypoBoy (talk • contribs) 15:40, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

The funny thing (which I also learned from this article) is that the name Tom Parker was a complete pseudonym. So he wasn't "Colonel" Tom Parker; he was Colonel "Tom Parker".

I added this section to the talk page some weeks ago, and nobody has made an argument that the scare quotes should be retained. TypoBoy (talk) 01:53, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Shortened footnotes

Since some sources are being cited many times, may I suggest that we start using shortened footnotes (as we add new citations). The documentation at Template:Sfn explains how to do this.

Please note that this means that one would need to add "|ref=harv" to the "cite web" or "cite book" template elsewhere on the page. (I've attempted to do this for the sources in the "Further reading" section.)

I started to do this for a new cited source, and I converted one of the Nash citations to this source. DougHill (talk) 19:19, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

50/50 Partnership

According to recent documentation found (This is according to Charles Stone, a tour producer of Elvis' in the 70s, who worked both for Parker and Presley in separate capacities) , there was never a 50% management deal and it was 25% all the way through, with the exception that in the late 70s - somewhere between 12-24 months before his death when they formed a 50/50 Ltd company entirely for some merchandise purposes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.229.37.234 (talk) 10:33, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

Trivia

There seem to be some items of dubious importance in the section "Portrayals and popular culture: Television" (incidentally, should that read "Portrayals in popular culture"?). Is it really encyclopedia-worthy, for instance, that "Parker was mentioned in the TV series The Simpsons, season 21 in episode number 9 ("Thursdays with Abie")" or that "Parker is also mentioned in the fifth episode of Archer Vice, entitled "Southbound and Down""? 86.190.155.178 (talk) 01:46, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Pop culture

I added info about a stage play that has been produced multiple times in the US, that features Parker as a main character, and it was removed. Can anyone explain why? It seems like a more important appearance than a brief aside on a TV show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Belmontian (talk • contribs) 19:32, 13 July 2018 (UTC) Belmontian (talk) 19:35, 13 July 2018 (UTC)

'Lede too long' tag

Currently the lede is about 5% of the length of the article. I regard that as a suitable proportion. It may be that you feel the main article is too long. Valetude (talk) 22:15, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

Would not be able to return to U.S.?

I see mention of problems with citizenship and passport. Elsewhere, I heard comment that he was concerned about not being able to re-enter U.S. if he left, and is this comment worked in here? Carlm0404 (talk) 20:25, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

emigrated illegally

Is this necessary at the opening of the lead? It reads very awkwardly. Many people began in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants. Pyrrho the Skeptic (talk) 22:17, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

I agree and seriously, this article needs a massive rewrite, and this webpage is very helpful in clearing up the misconceptions and myths about the Colonel. 220.244.15.201 (talk) 03:08, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

References

Colonel Van Kuijk

Tom Parker was a fictional name. We should probably stop referring to him as that.

2600:6C56:6408:71:E121:8561:3EA0:E630 (talk) 07:30, 20 June 2022 (UTC)anonymous