Johnny Cash: Self
Quotes
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Johnny Cash : I only ever had one manager who could manage me, and that was Saul.
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Johnny Cash : In late '61 we played the Big D in Dallas, Texas and my manager, Saul Holiff, said, "We need a girl singer on the show tonight. They want more than just you and your band." And I said, "Well, get one." He said, "What do you think about June Carter?" And I said, "I've always been a fan of hers." And I had, you know. I loved her work. I said, "Get her if you can." So we booked June Carter on the Big D in Dallas and then that night my manager asked if she would work the next tour with us. So she did.
[Original Source: Interview with WHN Radio New York, July 4, 1980]
Saul Holiff : Dear June, It was nice talking with you the other night... even though I acted like a concerned father. This letter confirms your appearance in Des Moines. We have George Jones, Carl Perkins, and Patsy Cline and June "The Heel" Carter. I would also like to confirm you and all your assorted relatives, at Carnegie Hall, for a fee of $500. Yours, Saul.
[Original Source: Letter to June Carter, December 25, 1961]
June Carter : Hi Saul, I signed the contract and returned it. As we discussed on the phone, this is our "tour price," and I was expectin' as many as 4 days. At this rate, we will just about make expenses. Let's hope the other dates come through. When I see you, we will discuss the management deal. Regards to John, Fluke, Marshall and Luther. I love you all. June.
[Original Source: Letter to Saul Holiff, January 3, 1962]
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Johnny Cash : [Circa 1966] I had become habituated to amphetamines, barbiturates and alcohol... all three at the same time. I got up to a habit of as many as a hundred pills a day and a case of beer. There was a lot of people OD'd on a lot less than that.
[Original Source: Johnny Cash interview with WHN Radio New York; July 4, 1980]
Saul Holiff : He turned from a quiet, benign personality into a monster.
[Original Source: TBD]
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Johnny Cash : Well, listen Saul. I've got something else on my mind now. Have got it keeping me layin' awake thinkin' about, um, goin' to Israel. I would, uh, do much better, ah, job at, talkin' and showin' about Jesus and his life, you know. I don't know how you go about getting it on the networks, but it seems to me like if I had, um, "Johnny Cash In Israel: Following In the Footsteps of Jesus," you know, for Christmas time.
Saul Holiff : Now that you have told me, I'll break my ass trying to bring it about.
Johnny Cash : Well, Saul, make sure they understand... we talked about me bein' an honest performer now. That Johnny Cash is not the same Johnny Cash that is around now, see? If I do a television special on Israel, I should do it about the life of Jesus, right? Don't you think so?
Saul Holiff : I would say that, in your own way, in a subtle manner, you will follow the footsteps of Jesus... but without hitting them over the head with it.
Johnny Cash : Right, uh-huh...
Saul Holiff : I think it should be labeled "Johnny Cash in the Holy Land" rather than "Johnny Cash in Israel."
Johnny Cash : All right. Okay. Sure.
Saul Holiff : So, let me go to work on it...
Johnny Cash : Well, Saul, I really uh, do have a strong conviction. This is the only thing I want to do.
[Original Source: Telephone call between Johnny Cash and Saul Holiff, May 1971]
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Johnny Cash : Well, I talked to June about those shows, and, uh, just about every show is going to have some work done on it. Uh, I would take out all the cussin' and the "Hells," and the "Damns," and the smart-ass remarks - before I'll ever agree to 'em being re-run.
Saul Holiff : M-hm.
Johnny Cash : I want to ask you about a special. Do they want a special with me?
Saul Holiff : Ah, the letter he wrote simply said, "I've been in discussion with network, to be nameless at the moment, concerning a one-hour Johnny Cash special. I believe it's safe to say that I have an order for a special, subject to the creative theme for the special," um, so whatever he means by that, um, I'm not quite sure.
Johnny Cash : There's only one that I would like to do. I'd like to do a LIVE Gospel music special. The Jesus movement is really goin' strong for us. I would like to close with about a 10-minute sermon from Jimmy Snow, with an alter call, these people coming down to the altar, praying and raisin' their hands up, and then have the closing song over that, you know?
Saul Holiff : In other words, to put on film an actual uh, um, um, segment of a real, uh...
Johnny Cash : A real REVIVAL!
Saul Holiff : Revival.
Johnny Cash : I went to church yesterday, and the thing I saw in that church, if we could get that on network television, boy it would REALLY be something. Those women and men comin' on their knees, and raisin' their hands up, you know like they do to Jesus, and tears comin' down their face. It could be like a Johnny Cash Gospel Crusade, you know?
Saul Holiff : Lemme, lemme try it out on him, and let him go to the network and see if he can create some interest in it.
[Original Source: Telephone call between Johnny Cash and Saul Holiff, August 1971]
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Johnny Cash : [Clearing his throat] Now there's a couple of things I want to say to you that I need to clear the air completely with you on.
Saul Holiff : Uh-huh.
Johnny Cash : First of all, I knew, way before we even did the film that there's a lot of people - maybe the MAJORITY of the people - are not gonna buy what I am saying in the film or what this film is sayin". So, you see, I don't really have to be told that because I know that.
Saul Holiff : Well, when I make a statement like that, that's what's known as trying to be honest, because first of all, if you take a hundred people, twenty- five of them are of Christian faith and twenty of them are Moslems, and ten... you know, that's what I meant.
Johnny Cash : But, but I knew that originally, see?
Saul Holiff : Yeah.
Johnny Cash : Well, I just felt like you didn't have a lot of interest in this film.
Saul Holiff : I'm one of the few people that try to say to you exactly what they think without meaning to be harmful. I'm not trying to break things down, I'm just trying to temper things a little bit by saying, not exactly what people think you want to hear.
Johnny Cash : Yeah, right.
Saul Holiff : I find that a lot of people tell you exactly what you want to hear.
Johnny Cash : Yeah. I know that. I don't need that either.
Saul Holiff : And that doesn't help.
Johnny Cash : No it doesn't.
[Original Source: Telephone call between Johnny Cash and Saul Holiff, July 1972]
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Johnny Cash : [Why did you decide to produce a movie about the life of Jesus Christ?] Well, it's a, hmmm, it was a thing that I felt like, that would be the most meaningful, meaningful thing that we could con contribute with our lives. It was our lives have to say. The story of Christ is a story that needed very much to be told, I think, in a way, so people could relate to it. Christ was sent to earth as a human being. And if our film has that one thing, it has Jesus as human and believable.
June Carter Cash : [June, you had something to do with starting this whole thing in motion. How did that come about?] I had a dream, ha, ha. Well, I dreamed I saw John on top of a mountain, uh, holding a book in his hand, and I believe the book was the Bible, and just told him that dream, and, uh, it's nice now to see it in the film.
