The Unsavory Parker of the 1950s

Parker had his start in the entertainment industry as a con man. Throughout his life he loved to manipulate people, playing humiliating practical jokes on them that weren't so much jokes as demonstrations of his power over them. He was during World War II that Parker moved into country music promotion. First became involved in music when he got to know Gene Austin, one of the biggest stars of the 1920s. I asked Gene what it was like working with an unsavory character who would kill someone and then get away with it. We also know that he desperately hid his undocumented status Long past the time when he would have been eligible for citizenship and that he completely cut off all contact with his family