Jackie Kahane: Reflections on working with Elvis
I was the comedian with Elvis Presley for seven years. Colonel Parker, his manager gave me a lifetime contract with Elvis. This was all in a handshake. You didn't need a contract with Colonel.
Elvis and I had our private little jokes. I would tease him that Southerners didn't pronounce their 'L's' They would. say 'hep me' and I'd say to Elvis, 'Evis hep me'. In fact his father Vernon called him Evis.
It was a most unusual group. It was a family.
We had out little arguments as most families do, but there was a great affection between us.
In all the time I was with him, I never had a cross word with Elvis. I did have one confrontation with Colonel. He hated to have his picture taken, I had gotten a new camera and was taking a picture of the plane, the Lisa Marie, and I didn't see Colonel sitting on the stairs of the plane. He called me over to him and in very vulgar terms told me off. I stood my ground, yelled right back at him and finally said, 'Remember I can get another job, you can't'. With that we both broke into laughter, shook hands and never had a bad word after that.
The two accomplishments I'm most proud of are:
- Being voted one of the ten best comedians of the decade by Time Magazine, and
- Being asked by Colonel Parker to deliver the eulogy at Elvis' funeral, which was written by Barry W. Adelman and me.
It was a great ride!
Elvis Presley and Jackie Kahane.