ELVIS lives.
At least that’s what Little, Brown predicts for its second volume of a two-part series on Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick that hits January 8 – which happens to be the birthday of the King.
The book “Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley” goes from his time in the Army in Germany in 1958 – when he first met future wife Priscilla, who was only 14 years old at the time – to his death in 1977.
“It is going to be received as a major, serious biography,” predicts Michael Pietsch, editor-in-chief of Little, Brown.
He said Presley first took amphetamines in the Army while on night watch. “They helped him stay awake, and he never thought of them as drugs,” says Pietsch. “He was hooked on them for the rest of his life.”
Among the interesting tidbits in the book: In a White House session, Presley pressed President Richard Nixon to give all of Presley’s cronies, known as the “Memphis Mafia,” presidential cuff links.
When Nixon complied, Presley pressed further. “They all have wives,” he is said to have cajoled.
“Nixon went back to the drawer and gave them more booty,” says Pietsch.
The book also delves into the complex relationship that Presley had with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
“After the death of Elvis’s mother, Parker became the most important person in Presley’s life.”
Parker made Presley the highest-paid movie star of his day but committed him to do low-quality flicks such as “Viva Las Vegas!”
Presley’s songs slumped because Parker’s terms were so oppressive regarding royalty rights for songwriters that the best ones refused to accept them and would not sell songs to Presley.
“Most of all, it is a portrait of Presley that will just make you weep,” promises Pietsch, who adds that the company plans a first printing of 65,000 copies.
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Political books are bubbling to the surface once again. Little, Brown finally has the manuscript for the much-delayed George Stephanopoulos book “All too Human,” an inside look at the Clinton White House. It hits in April, and Little, Brown is betting big on it with a 400,000-copy first printing.
Henry Kissinger is preparing the third volume of his memoir on his political career for Simon & Schuster. The book, on the post-Nixon years, is entitled “Years of Renewal.” Watergate scribe Bob Woodward is checking in this July with a still-untitled tome on American presidents from Ford to Clinton, also for Simon & Schuster.
The long-awaited Ronald Reagan biography, “Dutch” by Edmund Morris, is also penciled in for next year, although Random House has not yet settled on a date.
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A new “Star Wars” movie being released this spring may spawn as many movie tie-ins as “Titanic” did 13 months ago. “There will be dozens of “Star Wars”-related books out there,” predicts Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House Inc. The Ballantine imprint of Random House plans to capitalize with “Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace” by Terry Brook.
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The $1.2 billion Emap takeover of the Petersen Cos. – actually $1.5 billion if you include existing debt – should be completed by January 15.
Emap’s chairman, Kevin Hand, says existing American management will stay in place and run the company.
Our prediction: Petersen Chairman Jim Dunning is going to take the money and run in less than a year. Emap has no U.S. presence and so, understandably, wants to keep the management team in place.
But Dunning probably hasn’t been under anyone as an employee since the 1970s when he worked for Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone.
Claeys Bahrenburg, vice chairman of Petersen Communications, also has a pile of money from the deal.
But unlike Dunning, Bahrenburg might be primed to make a big comeback at Petersen, where he has not had much to do in recent months under Dunning.
Lots will depend on who the Brits send to America, and what kind of control they want to exert – but few expect Dunning to stick around.
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The battle in the men’s magazine field is going to get bloody next year.
Maxim, the British import, seems to be giving major headaches to some existing titles, especially Details, as it pushes its rate base to ever-higher levels. And Petersen expects to introduce the men’s title For Him Magazine (FHM) in the United States at some point.
The British edition of FHM already has a rate base of 750,000 – which places it ahead of the U.S. editions of GQ and Esquire. Look for the Yanks to take some drastic measures to defend their turf.