A Hollywood deal-maker's life in stories: a year of daily calls to land Elvis, the art of packaging, and relationships as the only real currency.
At 26, broke and unknown, Weintraub called Colonel Tom Parker every day for a year about taking Elvis on tour - until Parker finally answered: 'You still want to take my boy on the road?'
His father turned a worthless sapphire into the legendary 'Star of Ardaban' with a name, armed guards, and press. The trick to selling, Jerry learned, is packaging.
Weintraub built his name on personal service - the tickets, tables, and doctors nobody else could deliver. Favors done first became the network that opened every door.
He believed in strength in numbers and 'flying in a pack' - from Elvis and Sinatra to presidents, his friendships were kept for decades and outlasted every deal.
Colonel Parker's rule, adopted for life. Sinatra shook his hand on it: 'I'm never going to disappoint you, and you're never going to disappoint me.' Neither did - loyalty and straight talk were his real capital.
The rest of this summary — and the one thing to do this week — is in the PDF.
Download the free PDFJerry Weintraub - Brooklyn-born, Bronx-raised, the son of a gem salesman - talked his way into becoming one of Hollywood's great deal-makers: promoter and manager for Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and John Denver, then producer of Nashville, Oh, God!, The Karate Kid, and the Ocean's Eleven films. This memoir, written with Rich Cohen, tells that rise as a string of 'useful stories,' each with a lesson attached.
The founding story: at twenty-six, unknown and broke, Weintraub decided he would take Elvis Presley on tour. He called Colonel Tom Parker every day for a year until Parker picked up and asked, 'You still want to take my boy on the road?' That persistence became the spine of his career - and he went on to reinvent the concert business itself, cutting out local middlemen and partnering directly with artists and arenas.
