by RCA Records at Parker's request to manage the promotion of Presley's tours, would receive US$1 million (equivalent to $ million in ) from NBC for the special. RCA would receive US$100,000 (), while Presley and Parker would receive US$900,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) to be split between them. Presley's managerial contract, signed in 1967, stipulated that Parker would receive fifty percent of the total profit of his negotiated deals. Eddie Sherman, a Honolulu Advertiser writer, contacted Parker with the idea of giving the proceeds of the concert admissions to a charity he had recently established. Sherman had worked with Parker to promote Presley's 1961 benefit concert for the construction of the USS Arizona Memorial. Since Parker could not charge a television audience for tickets, Sherman proposed taking donations for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund instead. Sherman started the fund to benefit cancer research at the University of Hawaii. Kui Lee, a singer-songwriter from Hawaii, died in 1966 of lymph gland cancer. Presley recorded Lee's "I'll Remember You" in mid-1966 and included the song in his live sets starting in 1972. Presley contributed with the first donation of US$1,000 (); while the audience could determine the amount of their donations. Stage design Pasetta took sketches of his ideas for the stage to Parker. He envisioned the band placed on a riser behind Presley. The stage was to be built low to allow the audience proximity to him, with a runway to allow Presley to move towards them. Mirrors would frame the stage, while the background would feature flashing neon signs that read "Elvis" in the language of the countries where the concert was projected to be broadcast, and the accompanying album would be released. A figure holding a guitar was to be added to the background lights. Parker dismissed the idea, telling Pasetta that Presley would not approve of his plans. Pasetta insisted on taking his ideas directly to Presley; Parker did not object. Pasetta told Presley he was not pleased with his performance in Long Beach and laid out his plans for the stage and the details of the Hawaii production. He finished by telling Presley he would need to lose weight for the special. Impressed by Pasetta's frankness, Presley became excited to work with him, and the meeting lasted four hours. Presley returned to his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, and began to exercise to deal