"Having Fun" for FIFTY Years . . .

[Mister Mike]

Well the Vegas August 1969 "monologue" was a KEY part of filling up side 1. ...as was multiple false starts to "I Can't Stop Loving You" helping fill up side 2...

"You know what I can't do?..... Keep my manager from releasing that crap."

[midnightx]

One wonders what Joan thought about 9/2/74?

She probably thought to herself, "lots of suitable talking," but deeply regretted she's already delivered the LP master in August.

Good point. Just think, Joan could have shattered the myth so much earlier, but the timing just wasn't right.

Luckily, she delivered Elvis Sings for Children and Grownups Too! just four years later.

A fine piece of product. She was a visionary.

[drjohncarpenter]

Luckily, she delivered Elvis Sings for Children and Grownups Too! just four years later.

A fine piece of product. She was a visionary.

The first pressing included a little greeting card, too.

Colonel's influence, perhaps . . .


'

[sweetangeline]

The first pressing included a little greeting card, too.

oh yeah that`s a beauty for sure, I made hundreds off that baby on eBay wish I had more

[DearGeorgie]

I'm watching footage from the Philadelphia evening show June 23, 1974 and he says the comment about the flowers and the little bear...so there's another one to add.

Here's a screenshot of him with the bear

vlcsnap-2024-04-19-20h49m02s329.png

[drjohncarpenter]

Page 1 posts have been updated!

Thank you. We are really getting to the nitty-gritty with this fifty year-old masterpiece from Colonel Parker and Joan Deary.

I'm watching footage from the Philadelphia evening show June 23, 1974 and he says the comment about the flowers and the little bear...so there's another one to add.

Here's a screenshot of him with the bear

[minkahed]

Luckily, she delivered Elvis Sings for Children and Grownups Too! just four years later.

A fine piece of product. She was a visionary.

The first pressing included a little greeting card, too.

Colonel's influence, perhaps . . .


'

Hey, wait a second Doc, I like that greeting card!!!

[YDKM]

I just recieved special information that in fact it was Tom Diskin who had a lot of Elvis cassettes under his bed whom compiled 'Elvis having Fun On Stage'.....and that the Colonel giving this album away FORCED RCA to release it.....so seems a lot of miss information on this Album

[Ciscoking]

Tom Diskin...well.

[rlj4ep]

I just recieved special information that in fact it was Tom Diskin who had a lot of Elvis cassettes under his bed whom compiled 'Elvis having Fun On Stage'.....and that the Colonel giving this album away FORCED RCA to release it.....so seems a lot of miss information on this Album

Thanks YDKM for that update and info...., looking back, one can only wonder what RCA was thinking with this release. Do you thinking there is any chance that FTD will release this in an "expanded" form?

[drjohncarpenter]

I just recieved special information that in fact it was Tom Diskin who had a lot of Elvis cassettes under his bed whom compiled 'Elvis having Fun On Stage'.....and that the Colonel giving this album away FORCED RCA to release it.....so seems a lot of miss information on this Album

Where exactly does this "special information" come from?

Tom Diskin's active involvement is not mentioned in any online or written resource I was able to access. And I spent a lot of time on this. He has no history of ever working on any Elvis LP in such a manner, either.

And the suggestion that the Boxcar edition of the LP was "given away" is just idiotic.

Management collected, assembled, mastered, pressed and printed a full LP . . . and then charged $0.00 ?

Really?

Do you know who Tom Parker was, or how he conducted business his entire professional life?



"seems a lot of miss information" is true, but coming from whoever tried to hoodwink you.

[PiersEIN]

I just recieved special information that in fact it was Tom Diskin who had a lot of Elvis cassettes under his bed whom compiled 'Elvis having Fun On Stage'.....and that the Colonel giving this album away FORCED RCA to release it.....so seems a lot of miss information on this Album

Interesting.
Well we know that Diskin was a major shareholder in BOXCAR along with Parker.
And he DID have multiple soundboard cassettes in a box from which, as stated above, ED Bonja got the 1974 rehearsal tape.

Again as noted about Ed Bonja (Diskin's nephew)...

When enough material was available, Ed Bonja's two brothers mixed an audio compilation.

Since RCA had no involvement until months after BOXCAR started flogging it at concerts I have yet to see any proof that Joan Deary was involved at all.
I have read no interview where she mentioned it.
Ed Bonja would surely have said when questioned about it.

Joan Deary was compiling the post-1973 buyout "A Legendary Performer" series that was actually hurting Col Parker's post-1973 Studio LP earnings.
She was of course looking for interesting Elvis interviews to include on the "A Legendary Performer" series but as for her working on a non-rca whole talking-only compilation album that makes little sense.
And why would she be interested in working with Parker on a non-RCA product?

Deary has been quoted as having a 'up-and-down relationship with Col Parker over the years' - I doubt that post 1973 was one of the "UP" periods!

Bonja and Diskin were involved.
Where is the proof that Deary was involved, I think we all need to know?

Cheers, Piers

[YDKM]

I feel sure it would never be found, but a written or typed list by whoever originally compiled this lp would have made very interesting reading!

[PiersEIN]

I feel sure it would never be found, but a written or typed list by whoever originally compiled this lp would have made very interesting reading!

Too right.
You have to wonder who suggested what on-stage Elvis comment was to be used and why.
Ed Bonja and Tom Diskin could be the possible culprits.
BOXCAR would have quickly put some extra cash into their hands.
And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been Joan Deary.

I'm very happy to change my thoughts on this topic when I see the proof.
But Ed Bonja never mentioned Joan Deary when I talked with him about it.
Cheers
Piers

[drjohncarpenter]

I feel sure it would never be found, but a written or typed list by whoever originally compiled this lp would have made very interesting reading!

Again, where exactly did your "special information" come from?

That you refuse to answer tells us you know you posted a bunch of malarkey. Don't appreciate that.

[PiersEIN]

I just recieved special information that in fact it was Tom Diskin who had a lot of Elvis cassettes under his bed whom compiled 'Elvis having Fun On Stage'.....and that the Colonel giving this album away FORCED RCA to release it.....so seems a lot of miss information on this Album

There does seem to be more support for your theory here.
Multiple interviews with Ed Bonja for a start.
I think we all appreciate your input as another good discussion point to be raised..
The fact that there appears to be no real evidence provided to support the Joan Deary theory is starting to make that earlier mentioned supposition more like a bunch of malarkey.
Deary worked for RCA, disliked Col Parker, so why would she do a dodgy BOXCAR compile for him?
Parker getting his lackeys Bonja & Diskin to do the dirty work seems much more likely.

Cheers,
Piers

[drjohncarpenter]

I feel sure it would never be found, but a written or typed list by whoever originally compiled this lp would have made very interesting reading!

Again, where exactly did your "special information" come from?

That you refuse to answer tells us you know you posted a bunch of malarkey. Don't appreciate that.

Since you've disappeared from the conversation, after I twice asked for more on this, we'll file it as "unfounded."

It's clear some know next-to-nothing about Joan Deary. She was a long-time RCA employee, beginning at RCA New York in 1955 as an executive assistant. She moved up through the years, and found herself sometimes relocated to the West Coast as her job duties changed. And from the mid-sixties on, she was even involved in handling Elvis tapes.

Here's part of an interesting interview she gave in the summer of 1980, just after the release of the Elvis Aron Presley box set. You get a nice background on her career path at RCA.

Why the new Elvis Presley album costs $69.95

By YARDENA ARAR
Associated Press

800914_San Bernardino Sun_pB10.jpg

LOS ANGELES -- The Elvis Presley album that's tearing up the record charts will never go gold -- not because its $69.95 price tag is scaring off the faithful, but because RCA Records planned it that way.

[snip]

"I've been working with Elvis Presley, actually, in various capacities, for 25 years. I came to RCA the same year as Elvis did, 1955," says Deary, sitting in a modest office crammed with Elvis memorabilia -- posters, paintings, calendars and cardboard cutouts.

Deary is RCA's West Coast director of product development. But she started working with Presley -- at least on paper -- when she first came to RCA's New York office as secretary to the head of the artist and repertoire department.

By 1964, she had worked her way up to the managerial level -- then an unusual accomplishment for a woman -- but was still keeping up the paperwork for Presley. And whenever someone wanted an Elvis tape, she was the one who got it from the vaults.

"That was really my first entree into the music end of it, and that just continued to increase," she says. "Over a period of time, you develop a knowledge that you don't just sit down and actually study, but you develop it by doing and learning what was different about this performance of such and such a song and that performance of such and such a song."

Deary subsequently worked on a series of Elvis records for a low-priced RCA label and put together the album packages for live performances at Madison Square Garden and in Hawaii. Her first "concept" Elvis work was on the Legendary Performer series, which so far consists of three albums.

San Bernardino Sun - Sunday, September 14, 1980
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19800914.1.24

The box set was a big success for RCA, and this interview makes clear she had a lot of Presley record experience. Joan worked on the Camden budget label releases that came out between 1968 and 1970. That was something I didn't know.

We are aware that she handled the RCA recording and release of the June 1972 New York and January 1973 Honolulu concerts because illness kept independent Presley producer Felton Jarvis in Nashville. Both were very successful. In late 1973, she put together Elvis: A Legendary Performer, Volume 1, which outsold Presley's current studio album in 1974, Good Times.

There is no doubt she hoped to capitalize on the company's loss in faith with producer Jarvis. So when tapped by Presley management to cut together a bunch of soundboard snippets that July, she had the means, location and motive to dive in.

Deary was also appearing in industry reports circa 1973-1974, as she continued to be promoted. I'll upload some next. The most recent, from May 1974, notes that "She will be responsible for . . . coordination of outside labels functioning through the west coast offices." The Boxcar label was certainly an outside label for the RCA west coast offices.

And it seems certain that the major label knew the Boxcar in-house pressing would eventually be superseded by an official imprint.

[drjohncarpenter]

RCA's Joan Deary in Cash Box, 1973-1974


'

[YDKM]

That is very interesting information about Joan Deary but does it PROVE her association with the 'Having fun on Stage' project?

[PiersEIN]

That is very interesting information about Joan Deary but does it PROVE her association with the 'Having fun on Stage' project?

You are right there, in fact that new information tends to point to the very opposite.

Why would Joan Deary - who had a bad relationship with Parker in 1974 - and who was promoted to West Coast RCA VICE PRESIDENT want to have anything to do with an ELVIS "Talking Only" album.
It makes no sense at all.
The album was put out by BOXCAR behind RCA's back (FACT) - and I believe Parker was later informed by RCA management that it was RCA who had the rights to all Elvis' recorded material even the talking parts. Thus stopping Parker going any further with the idea.

The BOXCAR organisation was of course out of Madison (FACT), I very much doubt it had anything at all do do with RCA "West Coast" operations!

So why wouldn't Ed Bonja (who has personally confirmed that he was involved in compiling "talking Only" tapes - FACT) and Tom Diskin be involved in putting the album together?

What we do know is that in 1974 RCA's George Parkhill had quit RCA to go and work with Col Parker. (FACT)
Parkhill was a stockholder in BOXCAR along with Tom Diskin.(FACT)

It would make far more sense if it was Parkhill who had used his previous RCA & Studio contacts to get the BOXCAR album produced.

Joan Deary has never mentioned it and the articles above show no involvement by her in producing "Having Fun with Elvis".
And in any case after the 1973 RCA buyout Deary's 'Legendary Elvis' albums were counteractive to Col Parker & Elvis making money with their new studio albums.

I don't think Deary's name should be sullied by such a crappy project, and as far as anyone can discern she had NOTHING to do with that scoundrel Parker and his crappy BOXCAR side-project.

YDKM, I still think you are looking at the right angle, it wasn't Deary and more likely Bonja, Diskin and Parkhill.

Cheers
Piers

[drjohncarpenter]

That is very interesting information about Joan Deary but does it PROVE her association with the 'Having fun on Stage' project?

It positions her as the most likely person to have done the assembly of the LP in July 1974.

So far you have presented NOTHING to the contrary, except to bring out some of the worms.

Don't spoil this topic. Thanks.

[PiersEIN]

That is very interesting information about Joan Deary but does it PROVE her association with the 'Having fun on Stage' project?

Please don't spoil this topic by including FACTS such as RCA's George Parkhill's involvement with BOXCAR and Col Parker at the exact time the album was produced.
And please don't add FACTS such as interviews with Ed Bonja who states that he was involved in compiling "Talking Only" tapes.

YDKM, you are ruining an one-sided discussion that wants to bad mouth Joan Deary - who seems to have had no involvement at all - and who actually started producing ELVIS albums that real collectors wanted.

Cheers
Piers

[PetriTCB]

My source is Ed Bonja with whom I spoke about Having Fun with Elvis on Stage album on summer 2007. Ed said that "two of his brothers" made a recording, which contained Elvis' dialogue on stages. The Colonel asked RCA Records to send them concert recordings from '69 - '74. Those tapes had Elvis' dialogue but not enough material to an complete album. The Colonel didn't knew that audio engineer Bruce Jackson had recorded soundboard recordings from concerts, but Ed Bonja knew that at least few recordings were made, so Ed made a phone call to Bruce, so that they could clarifye this case. The result of this phone conversation was that there were a lot of concert recordings, which contained enough spoken material to a full album. After the conversation Bruce Jackson sent those tapes to The Colonel's office.

Then The Colonel asked Ed Bonja to take care that two of his brothers would made a compilation from concert recordings, which includes only Elvis' talking voice only. It was a hilarious moment when Ed was trying to explain to his brother about the concept of this album! His brother's first comment was that "Is The Colonel using drugs now too!?", which has of course a reference to Elvis!

The making of process was not happened in any recording studio, but there was a studio where usually made different kind radio station commercials, spots, jingles, etc. Ed's brothers only put together Elvis' banters, so there were not anykind reason to record audio.

The Colonel and RCA Records made an agreement that RCA Records' custom label will made albums in 3 formats (8-tracks, cassettes and LPs) and that later the album would be the other part of 2 albums and 4 singles contract per a year.

The Colonel also made album's artwork too. Ed Bonja remembered that "the early draft has one Elvis picture, but that was later changed to a cavalcade of six pictures, where Elvis used same jumpsuit". And that "using only black and white pictures was late change to the cover art". About the back cover "The Colonel demanded, that cities where Elvis were performed should mark as stars just like state capitals in the map of USA, not as balls!". Ed's comment to the back cover's statement, where reads that "Executive producer for this recording project: Elvis" was "b------t! I have understood that Elvis didn't like this album very much...".

To the best of my knowledge the Having Fun with Elvis on Stage album was all the way so called "in-house" production only by Boxcar Records. Maybe it was Joan Deary who handled concert tapes from RCA Records to The Colonel, maybe not...

[YDKM]

Thanks Petri TCB nice information......Elvis can be heard commenting about the album early in his vegas summer 74 season.

[Jokerlola]

Thanks Petri TCB nice information......Elvis can be heard commenting about the album early in his vegas summer 74 season.

What were his comments?