(123) ELVIS THE ALBUM SELLER and MOVIES

It was our job at American Music to "pitch" our demos to an artist if we had a connection there, but meanwhile Sylvestor Cross, the owner of the company, was always on the phone, making deals for the music we wrote, and despite the staff meetings, it was he who often made the final decision about what songs would go to Bobby Darin, which songs would go to Elvis Presley, and so on.

I was friends with Elvis and attending his house parties every weekend that he threw one, but Cross send demos that my co-workers and I had written by messenger - company mail. He didn't expect me to exploit my friendship with Elvis in that way, and Elvis knew it and appreciated it. So did I. I didn't want to make business an issue between us. That doesn't mean Elvis never entertained any of the songs we at American Music wrote, just that I wasn't showing up at the house with that purpose.

Once Elvis was making movies, and movie soundtracks, it wasn't often that he was looking for music for a single. Elvis was becomming what we called "an album seller" rather than "a single seller." And he had established his own publishing houses, which was a move a lot of singers, be they singer-songwriters or covertune types, took. It was an investment in the songs you recorded to own a peice of them as publisher, and a way to make even more money.

Movies and soundtracks would take him away from the Elvis who sang "Hound Dog." Elvis wasn't concerned. Not yet anyway.