The Smiley Smile Message Board

This evening I picked up Jerry Schilling's new book "Me and a Guy Named Elvis." I've only very briefly scanned the book. However I did note several references to his time spent both with the Beach Boys and with Carl as his personal manager. He had some very warrm, heartfelt comments about Carl.

Question....what's the popular opinion of Jerry's time spent with The Beach Boys? Was he an asset or a liability?

Well, I like Jerry very much; he's a good guy, also if you're talking about Elvis. But I think he was with the Boys around 1980 and he unfortunately couldn't bring them back to making great music.

I think Schilling and Myrna are part of an interesting chapter in the Life of Carl Wilson.


When is that Carl Bio going to be written?

Indeed - when IS that Carl bio going to be written??  We've had several on Brian, and several on Dennis...and nothing on Carl.  It is long past time for this book, all you writers out there!

Strangely, there aren't even that many websites.  What happened to the forgotten Beach Boy?  Maybe it's a family thing - he was a private person and maybe his memory should remain the same.  Shame, though.

He was a private person, but he was a public figure.  Frankly, it's bewildering and more than a little surprising that a biography hasn't been written yet. 

I put this on another thread awhile ago so I just copied it here:

Jerry lasted until mid 1981. Carl retained him as a personal manager until the end of his life. Jerry was really ok as a manager. I remember having to meet with the group in 1981 and Brother Records could not find out where the band was staying in Houston. But, they did have the number to the place in Dallas where they were at. So I called Jerry at 3:30 am (yeah, big mistake). But after he chilled, he thanked me for my interest in the group and actually sent me some promo material later on. So I always liked him.

Bob[/b]

I'm listening to "What You Do To Me" off of Youngblood as I type this.  I think Myrna Smith was actually a pretty good foil to Carl on some of these cuts.  She had (has?) a really lovely voice.  What's the deal?  Was she's Carl's girlfriend at the time?  I could use a little more of her and little less of Jeff Baxter's awful 80's production on this record.

She was married to Jerry Schilling at that time. She sings in the Sweet Inspirations and toured as part of that group with Elvis in the 70s (probably that's where she got to know Jerry)