The "Colonel" was involved in various sorts of activities before Elvis came along. Here is one very amusing anecdote as was told by the late Milt Josefsberg, reknowned writer of comedy for television celebs back in the day such as Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny.
In
the 1950's an elixir was being promoted by Colonel Tom Parker that was said
to be "only slightly less beneficial than the fountain of youth."
HADACOL it was called and was apparently well-known in it's day as a cure-all.
What it was was made with a higher content of alcohol that would be sold
in bars. According to the source of this information, the late Milt Josefsberg,
"maybe Hadacol had a dubious medicinal value, but if you drank enough
of it you didn't give a damn how you felt." According to Josefsberg,
"Hadacol...was promoted by a Colonel Parker who went on to benefit
mankind even more by discovering and managing Elvis Presley." <<Back