>> the evening from los angeles. i am tavis smiley. today we talk with jerry weintraub. his career has spanned five decades and is the subject of the new memoir, "when i stop talking, you'l know i'm dead." >> there are so many things wal- mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but mostly, we're the team for into building stronger communities and relationships, -- we are looking forward to building stronger communities and relationships, because the best is yet to come. >> chavis and nationwide insurance, working to promote

literacy and the empowerment that comes with it. >> the u.s. census can make your voice heard. your community can benefit from federal funds. we cannot move forward until you mail your spec. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ♪ [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> please welcome jerry weintraub, the legendary movie producer and music manager. he has just released an acclaimed memoir. it is called "when i stop talking, you'l know i'm dead." good to have you on the program.

let me start with a couple things that have to do with the cover of the vote. first, the title. i saw it, and i laughed. that comes from where? >> that comes from my lap -- my actors telling me i talk too much. it wasn't easy title to come up with, because that is what -- it was an easy title to the above with, because that is what i am known for. tavis: stories from a persuasive man. what does it mean to have influence? >> influence is a different thing, but what i meant by being persuasive is i get an idea, get something in my head, and i do not give out triggered -- do not give up until it is done. tavis: being able to persuade in

that way leads to having influence. >> my influence now that i am 72 and can look back reaching my influence in politics and the world and an end show business and philanthropy and everything i do comes from my network of friends around the world. one led to another, and it became quite extraordinary and mind-boggling. tavis: put this cover back up. i talk to guests on this program every day who were born, raised, will die in new york city, but this says a lot about your life, because new york is a character in your life. it is such a rich part of your narrative. tell me about new york and jerry weintraub.

>> so was the brooklyn bridge. this was dreamed up by a great photographer, and the back cover was the hollywood sign, and this cover represents a journey from brooklyn to hollywood, which took me a long time, but i have -- success took me a long time. coming here did not take a long time. new york for me and the brooklyn bridge for me represents my youth and childhood, because my grandparents, who came from europe, lived in brooklyn. my parents and my father's family lived in the bronx. we went back to brooklyn all the time, because my dad was a traveling salesmen, so brooklyn represented the beginning for me, representing my favorite baseball team -- of brooklyn dodgers -- and the guys anin the

neighborhood and so on. tavis: you said coming to l.a. did not take a long time but success took a long term. these stories attest to the fact that you were successful and made friends early along the way, but when you say success of a long time, what do you mean? >> it did not take me a long time. 26 years old after my first presley tor. i became a wealthy man. i started with nothing, but what i mean by success -- it took me a long time to accept it and understand it and live with it -- very difficult to come from nothing, have all lot, all of a sudden and live with it. tavis: what are examples of taking a while to appreciate it? >> i did not think i deserve it.

i could not understand, why me? luckily, i was asking it about success and not having cancer, which i had later anyway. i am a spiritual man. i believe in god, and i believe in a higher power, and i think i was brought along the way, and i was not able to except me being the one -- to accept me being the one he put his hand on or she put her hand on and guided me through this maze. tavis: you literally spent two or three sentences on cancer. i just met you for the first time, but that says something about you. why did you only spend two or three sentences on cancer. >> i did not want to dwell on it . i got it out, and i went on with my life, but i was pretty skinny after a while.

luckily, i know a lot of great doctors, and they helped me get rid of it. tavis: a strange question. given how persuasive you aren',f then hadn't gone the other way, the cancer -- if that had gone the other way, the cancer, the you think you would have felt defeated? or would you say, i am not defeated? this is just the way the story ends. how would you have taken that? >> i would not stop talking. tavis: i will take that and go back to elvis. of this helps make you at 25 or 26 every one -- elvis helps you at age 25 or 26 to be a very wealthy man. now >> i kept a pencil at my bedside, and i got up and wrote,

jerry weintraub presents elvis at madison square garden, and i woke my wife up, and i showed it to her. i said, the you know elvis presley? -- do you know elvis presley? she sent -- she said, how are you going to present elvis presley at madison square garden? i said, i am going to present elvis presley at madison square garden. she says, why don't you go to sleep? you are crazy. i went back to sleep, got up in the morning, made a couple of phone calls. colonel parker was elvis presley's manager, and i called him, and he said, not a chance. i owe people shows for elvis, and he was kind of retired at the time -- and it will not be due. forget it. i called him every day for one

solid year, 364 days. i was very friendly with him on the phone. the 365th day, i did not have to call him. he called me, and he said, the you still want to take elvis on the road, he said, meet me in las vegas tomorrow with $1 million. i said, no problem. when i was that age, $1 million to me was so far -- i cannot even begin to tell you. it was impossible. i thought about rockefeller having $1 million. carnegie had $1 million, but not jerry weintraub. there were a lot of people in new york who kept saying, you have got a future. i would like to invest with you. let me know when you want to do something, so i went for all these guys. nobody gave me a nickel. not one of these guys, so i put

the word out that i have this deal with elvis presley, and i got on a plane and went to law vegas. when i got there, there was a phone message. call a man in seattle, washington, who owned radio stations, and he said, i heard about this presley thing. he said, how much money did you need? i said, i need $1 million. he said, what will i get? i said, you get half of my concert company. he says, i get half? i like it. send your lawyers to meet with mine, and we will figure out a deal. i said, you do not understand. i need $1 million in three hours, or i am not going to have a deal. i do not have time for lawyers. first, i do not have lawyers. second, i do not have time for

lawyers to go to seattle and negotiate. he said, i liked you. i want to do it. he wired me $1 million to las vegas. it is a whole story. i got a million and hit the national hotel in las vegas, met colonel parker at the roulette table. we went upstairs, and we talked about a deal. i did not know how to make a deal, because it was unprecedented, and i had sold half of my concert company. of course, i did not have a concert company. that was pretty persuasive. he ended up making tens of millions of dollars. he took me up to see elvis, and we talked about the deal before we went to see elvis, and he did not know what to ask for, and i did not know what to ask for. this had never been done before.

nobody had ever taken a concert tour in two arenas. i kind of waited it out, and i talked to him a little bit more, and he said how about 50/50? i said, that sounds ok with me. i said, great. i did not realize at that time i was going to become a multimillionaire in no time, and he took me up to see elvis. i met elvis, and elvis said, i have two requests. he called me "sur." he was 3 years older than me, and he call me sir. number one, every seat in the arena has to be full. that is very important, and the most important thing -- all the first 20 rows have my fans. i do not care if the governor comes. i do not care if the president

comes. if anybody wants to come and leave me an award, tell them to leave it at the box office. i am interested in singing to my fans, and i need them in the front, because they give me energy and make me sing better. i said, no problem. on the first show that i did with presley, i'd put him in miami beach, fla., on july 4, and i do not know if you have ever been to miami beach on july 4, but it is quite humid, and most cable get out of town. i sold the show out -- most people get out of town, but i sold the show out. i called down there, and i sent -- they said, it sold out. they said, how about a matinee? i said, i will ask. i went to see elvis, and i said, how about a matinee?

great, a matinee. i called him up and said, it is sold out -- both shows. when i got to florida, i went to the building, and there were 5000 seats left for the matinee out of 10,000 sea, -- 10,000 seats, and i guaranteed every seat would be followed -- full. the next day, the colonel and elvis came to the building, and i went to the colonel, and i said, we have a problem. they said, what is the problem? i said, i have 5000 seats left for the matinee tomorrow. he said, we do not have a problem. you have a problem, so i went

outside, took a walk to get some air to say, this cannot be the end. this is just the beginning, and i saw the miami beach jail staring me right in the face, and i went into the jail, and i went to the warden and said, how many prisoners have you got? he said, 300 or 400. i said, i need to hire them to come to the miami beach convention center and take 5,000 feet, -- 5000 seats out, put them in the parking lot, cover them with tarp, and after the first show, i need them to put them back in the center so i have 10,000 seats for the nighttime show. it worked. the only comment i got in when the show was over -- i went to have a drink and a sandwich with elvis, and i said, how did you like it? he said, it was great.

he said, you know, the nighttime audiences have much more energy than the daytime. there were 5000 more people. tavis: you did not go to school to learn this. how did that happen? >> you cannot go to school to learn it, but i learned it on the streets. i learned how to survive. i think one of the great things about growing up was i had a lot because my parents were great people, and my dad was a loving, great guy and a fantastic salesmen, and my mother was a wonderful, nurturing, terrific mother. in those days, mothers stayed home. it was always food, fresh milk and cookies and so on when i came home from school. i live in a neighborhood that was a whole different thing from life today. i went to the university of hard

knocks, but i learned how to survive. my mother loved the movies. she loved books. she read to me all the time. she lived her life through film, because she was afraid of everything. she was afraid of travel. she was a very cloistered woman in new york city. my dad traveled the world and did a lot of things when he was a young man, so he started traveling when he was 14 years old. i think i got a lot of that from them, and intuition and savvy and knowing how to survive is a big part of its common -- big part of it, and a lot of why i said in a book i could have been a better father was that i did not have time to teach my children they had to survive by themselves, they can as i gave them too much. i give them too much to this day -- because i gave them too much. i give them too much to this

day. i would not change anything for the world. they are wonderful children, but i could have spent more time with them. there are choices in life. i made a choice for career and success. when you make that choice, you give up something. i worked 24 hours today and seven days a week. i do not know about saturday or sunday, holidays or vacations. to me, working and being around people and talking and persuading people in politics and charity work and movies and television, broadway, everything i have done has always been about persuading people to do it my way. tavis: i have to take that last comment and say, that is awfully empty. this guy has lived 73 years, and with all the things you just ran, it is all about jerry trying to get people to do it

his way? >> i did not mean it that way. tavis: it sounded that way. >> it is not about doing it my way. it is about getting it done, whether i am working with my president 41, bush, who i love with all my heart, and i was with him from the beginning, before he was with politics, and i would do anything for the men, and he opened of the world to me. world leaders, anton i lived in the white house, in the lincoln bedroom -- and i've lived in the white house, in the lincoln bedroom, and i have total access to the president. he taught me a lot and showed me a lot. i did not do it my way, but i did what i had to do for him politically or as a friend to get things done. i compromised. i have learned because i have

been on both sides of the aisle. i have been on the republican side and the democratic side. i am socially very liberal, and i am conservatively fiscal. i am a centrist, and that is where i believe the world should be. when it comes to the center, you can win. when it is one party in both houses and the presidency, you do not win. tavis: at the top of this, you talked about the back of the book, and i want to go to that, because there is a wonderful line that says, written -- written by your friend george clooney and it says when it comes to work, no one works harder. when it comes to charity, no one gives more -- no one killed some

better. you are known for squeezing are reaching no one g -- no one guilts better. you are known for twisting arms. >> i am known for charity. it came from my father, who taught me from a young age, when you have, you must help other people who do not have, and you are much better off to invent getting, and that was always his mantra -- you are better off giving then getting, and that was always his mantra. if he had an extra $10 and saw a man on the street who did not have food, he gave it to them. now i was brought up with that kind of -- it was taught to me as akin, and as life when don -- to me as a kid, and as life went on, i got involved in important causes.

the stuff that was important, not only to me, but helped people round the world -- i am not putting myself on the back. i will tell you a quick story. we were going to cannes with one of the oceans pictures -- the ocean pictures, and george clooney -- i got all the guys on board. they do not like to do that, enand to the roberts and cathere t. did jones -- zeta jones, and clooney said to me, we have a problem. i said, why do we have a problem? he said, we are going toucans -- to cannes. you have a huge yacht. you get there, and you have 50 people waiting for you.

you are smoking havana cigars, drinking champagne, eating caviar, and you are talking about sad and star for and never mind -- that does not work -- talking about shad and now are for region -- talking about chad and darfur, and that does not work. now i said, we will have the first night for charity. he said, do you think we can raise a couple hundred thousand dollars? i started to put together a foundation called "not on our watch" foundation. it is brad pitt, matt damon, don siegel, and myself. a good lineup and -- don cheadle, and myself. i got caught up.

i raised $10 million the first night in kansacannes, and all oa sudden we had a foundation, but it happened because clooney said to me, you cannot go there and beat jerry weintraub. you have to go there and be the other -- and beat jerry weintraub. you have to go and be the other. -- and be jerry weintraub. you have to go and be the other, but good came out of it at the end of today. tavis: the new book is called "when i stop talking, you'l know i'm dead." useful stories for a persuasive man. good to have you. that is our show for tonight. you can access our radio

podcast. i will see you next time on pbs. until then, and goodnight. as always, keep the facith. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> for more information on to dave's show, visit tavis smiley on pbs.org. >> join me next time for shelby lynne. that is next time. we will see you then. >> there are so many things wal- mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but mostly, we are looking forward to helping build stronger communities and relationships, because with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance probably supports tavis smiley. working to improve financial

literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> u.s. senses can make your voice heard. your community can benefit from $400 billion a year in federal funds. we cannot move forward until euan mail it in. >> and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. thank you.