290 “I developed the film”: Woodfield talked about the pictures in 1984 when author Summers was preparing his Monroe biography, Goddess, but asked then that his identity be concealed and only an abbreviated version of the story published. He was concerned about upsetting Sinatra, who was still very much alive at the time. Woodfield later retold the story to others and—again to Summers— shortly before his death in 2001. An element of corroboration came from Ruth Shavelson, the former wife of Woodfield’s then partner John Florea, who recalled hearing about the episode soon after it occurred (ints. Billy Woodfield, 1984, 2001, and conv. Ruth Shavelson, Summers, Goddess, 396–).
290 Giancana and Monroe sex?: Russo, 432, int. Gus Russo. Peter Lawford is also quoted, by his agent Milt Ebbins, as having said Giancana had sex with Monroe at the Cal-Neva. Former FBI agent William Roemer, who ran the Giancana bugging operation in Chicago, recalled a conversation that may have referred to Monroe. “You sure get your rocks off,” Rosselli told his fellow mafioso, “fucking the same broad as the brothers [Kennedy], don’t you?” Judith Campbell, however, may also have slept with Giancana by July 1962, and—if so—Rosselli may have been referring not to Monroe but to Campbell. Campbell’s memoir indicates that she first had sex with Giancana sometime after May 1962, a date she revised in an interview to as late as December of that year (Lawford—int. Milt Ebbins; Roemer—Roemer, Mob, 184, Exner as told to Demaris, 254, Exner int. with attorney contact of authors); (Monroe disgust) int. Jeanne Carmen.
290 Giancana at Cal-Neva/licenses lost: (Black Book) Farrell and Case, 8; (“He’d sneak in”) int. Nick Sevano; (word reached authorities) Edward Olsen Oral History, 377; (left for Palm Springs) int. George Jacobs; (FS denied/D’Amato obstructed) Edward Olsen Oral History, 381, 391; (FS called Olsen) ibid., 391, int. Guy Farmer, Farmer draft, “Frank Sinatra vs. the State of Nevada,” 1998, supplied to authors; (memorandum) Edward Olsen Oral History, 388–; (agents ejected/bribe) ibid., 394–; (complaint) ibid., 396–; (FS announced) (Washington,DC ) Evening Star, Oct. 8, 1963, SAC Las Vegas to Director, Oct. 7, 1963, FBI 92-6259-19.
291 FS & Kennedy cutoff: (“If he would only”) Arthur Schlesinger, the former Kennedy aide and historian, noted Dickinson’s comment in his journal on October 28, 1963—days after Sinatra was stripped of his gaming licenses (Schlesinger, RFK, 496, 975n104); (JFK trip) Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sep. 29, 1963; (“What are you guys?”) Grant Sawyer, Hang Tough, Reno, NV: University of Nevada Oral History Program, 1993, 94.
292 “Is there anything”: eds. Michael Green and R. T. King, A Liberal Conscience: The Oral History of Ralph Denton, Reno, NV: University of Nevada Oral History Program, 2001, 243. It may be, too, that the president thought of Sinatra at a momentous time the following month. At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when nuclear war seemed imminent, White House press secretary Pierre Salinger called Sinatra to warn him of the gravity of the situation. The singer’s daughter Nancy recalled her father calling to tell her to pack some things and be ready to travel. He also phoned his lover Juliet Prowse, telling her to “get out of New York City because it’s going to be blown apart” (“Pack”—Sinatra, My Father, 184, and see Sinatra with Coplon, 80; “get out”—Freedland, 285).
292 “devastated”: M/G int. of Eddie Fisher; (“It was hurt”) int. Leonora Hornblow.
292 pressure on Giancana: (FS had flown) appen., HSCA, vol. 9, 34; (intense surveillance/as if dictatorship) log of conv., Dec. 6, 1961, vol. 1, Misc. ELSUR Refs., HSCA Subject Files, Frank Sinatra, JFK. A court order requiring the FBI to moderate its surveillance had been rapidly reversed (UP, AP, Jul. 17, 1963, Brashler, 258–, Blakey and Billings, 255–); (funds cut off) log of conv., Sep. 19, 1963, Misc. ELSUR Refs., HSCA Subject Files, Sam Giancana, vol. 4, JFK, SAC Chicago to Director, Sep. 21, 1963, FBI 92-3171-1222; ($470,000) int. Joe Shimon, 1985; (might be ousted) (Chicago) Daily Tribune, Jun. 4, 1962, SAC Chicago to Director, Sep. 11, 1963, FBI 92-3171-1205, notes of Giancana ELSUR, Oct. 16, 1963, supplied to authors, appendix, HSCA, vol. 9, 34; (cursing the government)SAC Chicago to Director, Oct. 17, 1963, 92-3171-1234; (board stripped) (Washington, DC) Evening Star, Oct. 23, 1963; (Giancana with FS in November) “Samuel M. Giancana,” Jan. 28, 1964, FBI 92-3171, section 20.
292–93 JFK assassination: (Tom Jones/“September Song”) O’Donnell and Powers with McCarthy, 387–; (FS recorded) Rednour, 82—FS recorded this song in 1946, 1961, and 1965; (Campbell 1963) Exner as told to Demaris, 272–; (Campbell’s calls/Giancana/FS) NYT, Apr. 12, 1976; (“like I was”/Rosselli installed) Exner as told to Demaris, 281, 286.
293 FS reaction: (movie location) O’Brien, Film Guide, 158, Gene Ringgold and Clifford McCarty, The Films of Frank Sinatra, New York: Carrol, 1993, 199. Another account had it that Sinatra heard about the assassination not at the Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, but while filming a courtroom scene on the Warner lot. Most sources, including his costar Sammy Davis, said the news reached him at the cemetery (O’Brien, Film Guide, 158, Davis, Boyar, and Boyar, Why Me, 150–, Sinatra, My Father, 156–); (gravestone) ibid., 200, citing Newsweek, Sinatra, My Father, 156; (walked off, etc.) Davis, Boyar and Boyar, Why Me, 150–, Haygood, 316, Sinatra, Legend, 178; (stayed in Palm Springs), ints. George Jacobs, Sonny King, Sinatra with Coplon, 81, Jacobs and Stadiem, 205–; (Thanksgiving) Wilson, Sinatra, 200.
293 Frank Jr. kidnapping: Turner, Gambler’s Money, 167, Shaw, Sinatra, 331–, LAT, Dec. 15, 1963, May 19, 1964, New York Sunday News, Oct. 31, 1965, “File Review & Summary Check,” Mar. 26, 1970, FBI LA 100-41413-179. Attorneys for the accused tried to argue at the trial that this had been a bogus kidnapping, a hoax designed to get publicity for Frank Jr. One of the kidnappers, Barry Keenan, was quoted in 1998 as having admitted that this was a defense “perpetrated by me and our attorneys to confuse the jury and get us off the hook, plain and simple. It didn’t work” (Shaw, Sinatra, 336, Taraborrelli, 316, New Times, Jan. 15, 1998); (“were only executing”) (LA) Daily News, Oct. 31, 1965.
293 FS haunted: The authors are indebted for this information to the author Dick Russell, who passed on the contents of a mid-1990s conversation with Tina Sinatra.
293–94 Assassination findings: (lone gunman/Ruby loner) “Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964, 19, 21–, 801; (poll) Gallup Poll, Nov. 21, 2003, www.gallup.com, and see Report, HSCA, 1; (“the Mob did it”) Anthony Summers, Not in Your Lifetime, New York: Marlowe, 1998, 201; (“He meant”) Hersh, 450–, and see Richard Goodwin, Remembering America, Boston: Little, Brown, 1988, 465, Schlesinger, RFK, 615–; (Campbell in hotel/to Palm Springs) Exner as told to Demaris, 286; (“Sinatra wondered”) Jacobs and Stadiem, 205.
294 Ruby and Reprise: (Assassinations Committee on crime connections) appen., HSCA, vol. 9, iii, 149, 179; (Ruby in Chicago) Blakey and Billings, 283–, Summers, Lifetime, 332–; (associates convened) The Third Decade, vol. 1, no. 2, Jan. 1985, 15, Seth Kantor, The Ruby Cover-Up, New York: Kensington, 1978, 53–; (discussing promotion) Robert C. Patterson testimony, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 14, 129, “Supplemental Correlation Summary,” Feb. 25, 1969, FSFBI; (Shore adviser and publicist for Frank) Sinatra had recently assigned Shore—with William Woodfield—to draft his responses for a Playboy magazine interview. He then reviewed and approved the draft. (int. Billy Woodfield, Freedland, 292, 303–, Gigliotti, 106n6, int. Michael Shore for PITV, Kelley, 307, Playboy, Feb. 1963).
294 Ruby calls to Shore: appendix, HSCA, vol. 9, 198, 1088, 1098, 1079, Scheim, 220–. Shore was originally from Chicago, and had gone to school with Irwin Weiner and Ruby’s brother Earl. “We all grew up on the West Side together,” he said in a deposition to the House Assassinations Committee (origins/school— appendix, HSCA, vol. 9, 1044, 1047, 1050; “We all grew”—audiotape of Michael Shore deposition, Jun. 14, 1978, HSCA, JFK); (Shore testified calls re union) Michael Shore deposition, June 14, 1978, Rec. No. 180-10131-10432, HSCA, JFK, appendix, HSCA, vol. 9, 1044, 198; (AGVA the
n mob-dominated) Blakey and Billings, 290, Scheim, 246–.
294–95 call to Weiner: ibid., 1098; (Weiner background) Report, HSCA, 159, Summers, Lifetime, 342; (Giancana associate) Hearings, HSCA, vol. 4, 497, 9, 1057; (was not/was about union) ibid., 1043; (Shore and Woodfield re find attorney and Ruby interview) Michael Shore deposition, ints. Billy Woodfield, int. Michael Shore for PITV, “Supplemental Correlation Summary,” Feb. 25, 1969, FSFBI, appendix, HSCA, vol. 9, 1044, 1074, Alan Adelson, The Ruby Oswald Affair, Seattle, WA: Romar, 1988, 2, Blakey and Billings, 325–, John Kaplan and Jon Waltz, The Trial of Jack Ruby, New York: Macmillan, 1965, 25–, 31–, 63–; (Shore never discussed) int. Michael Shore by PITV.
295 “things in confidence”: int. Tony Oppedisano.
295 FS/Giancana continuing relations: (never forgave) “Samuel M. Giancana,” Nov. 5, 1975, FBI 92-3171, rereviewed and released to authors, 2003; (“That motherfucker”) Russo, 449, int. Gus Russo—the authors know the name of the family member, who does not wish to be named; (socialized) “Frank Sinatra,” Feb. 18, 1972, and “Supplemental Correlation Summary,” Feb. 25, 1969, FSFBI, SAC San Diego to Director, May 22, 1975, Sinatra FBI file, rereviewed and released to authors, 2003, FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Commission, Feb. 19, 1981; (Once, in Las Vegas) int. Joseph Shimon, Aug. 13, 1977, HSCA, JFK; (spoke of having Frank killed) int. Jimmy Roselli, and see Evanier, 152.
295 Murder of Giancana/arrangements to testify: Blakey and Billings, 389–. Giancana’s associate Johnny Rosselli, who did testify to the committee and who had begun to talk about the Kennedy assassination, was murdered the following year (Blakey and Billings, 383–).
295 Safire questions: Dallas News, Jan. 7, 1976. For most of the other questions, see chapter 24, p. 268.
296 “Put Your Dreams Away”: Sinatra, My Father, 353, Frank Sinatra Jr. commentary on As I Remember It, and Tina Sinatra comments on Sinatra: The Classic Duets, Sinatra Enterprises, 2002, videotape in authors’ collection, Rednour, 79, 249—Sinatra recorded the song in 1944, 1945, 1957, and 1963.
Chapter 28: The Lonely Millionaire
297–98 Drowning incident: ints. Brad Dexter, 2001, Ruth Koch. Dexter is credited with the rescue in one of Nancy Sinatra’s two published accounts of her father’s near-drowning, but not in the other. His name did not appear in the account published in the press the day after the accident. That account, however, was based on a statement by Sinatra’s publicist. Piecing together the known details and various accounts, the authors believe that, though others played their part in the rescue, Dexter’s was the most important. Ruth Koch was categorical in saying as much when interviewed by the authors in 2004. Fire Department lieutenant George Keawe, one of the rescuers, confirmed the gravity of the incident. He said Sinatra’s “face was turning blue. . . . In another five minutes he would have been gone” (Nancy on rescue—Sinatra, My Father, 338, and Legend, 189; press accounts—LAT, Hollywood Citizen-News citing UPI, May 11, 1964; “turning blue”—Hollywood Citizen-News, May 11, 1964); (“Did you forget?”) Wilson, Sinatra, 184, Orange County Register, May 16, 1998.
298 FS power: (Gehman/“The Enigma”/“If you know”) Good Housekeeping, Jul. 1960; (“It would be disturbing”) ibid., Gehman, 219; (“It does not matter”) ibid., 220.
299 starts Reprise: (“I gotta right”/“as if he stood”) Sayers and O’Brien, 90, Jonathan Schwartz, “The Intimate Spirit,” liner notes for The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings; (ripped up) Granata, 149; (“I helped”) Shaw, Sinatra, 283; (“to play”) Granata, 146; (“a new, happier”) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; (creative freedom/money) Granata, 145–, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; (10 albums) Rednour, 240–. One album, Great Songs from Great Britain, was recorded in London in 1962 and released there in 1965. It was not released in the United States until 1993 (Granata, 163, Rednour, 72, 241); (jazz) High Fidelity, Aug. 1971, Granata, 168–; (performed/TV) Where or When?, ed. Mustazza, Popular Culture, 228; (“not so much”) Show Business Illustrated, Sep. 1961; (Woodfield photo) Lahr, 141, Shaw, Sinatra, 286; (Another photo) Lahr, 81.
299 Chairman of the Board: (nickname/disc jockey) Shaw, Sinatra, 317, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, LAT, Aug. 5, 1986.
300 No Sinatra single: Sayers and O’Brien, 265–. Seven Sinatra singles made the top forty between 1957 and 1963—“Can I Steal a Little Love,” “All the Way,” “Witchcraft,” “High Hopes,” “Talk to Me,” “Ol’ MacDonald,” and “Pocketful of Miracles” (O’Brien and Sayers, 265–); (Capitol was taking) Variety, Jul. 31, 1961, Granata, 147, Shaw, Sinatra, 311–; (Reprise in trouble) Granata, 147, (Washington, D.C.) Evening Star, Oct. 14, 1963, Wilson, Sinatra, 152.
300 FS had sold: Variety, Aug. 7, 1963, New Yorker, Nov. 3, 1997, Granata, 147. The total amount involved in the deal was $3 million, or some $18 million at today’s rates (Variety, Aug. 7, 1963); (showing check) Shaw, Sinatra, 327, Jacobs and Stadiem, 204; (owed Warner) “Correlation Summary,” Jun. 8, 1964, FSFBI; ($250,000/15 percent) Look, Dec. 14, 1965.
300 nine movies/no more Rat Pack movies: Of the nine movies, those involving Rat Pack members were Sergeants 3, Come Blow Your Horn— featuring a cameo appearance by Dean Martin—4 for Texas, Robin and the 7 Hoods—publicized with the risqué subtitle Who Maid Marian?—and Marriage on the Rocks (O’Brien, 133–74, 214–, and re Who Maid?, corr. Daniel O’Brien).
300 Manchurian Candidate: For Sinatra, Manchurian Candidate evoked a positive memory of his relationship with President Kennedy. The president had personally intervened to urge that the film be made at a time when United Artists boss Arthur Krim, who happened to be a senior member of the Democratic Party, was obstructing its development. Kennedy viewed the movie in August 1962, before its release in October on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October.
It was long said that Sinatra ensured that Candidate was kept out of circulation for years after Kennedy’s assassination. He was supposedly appalled by the possibility that—because it involved the assassination of a presidential candidate—the movie might somehow have inspired events in Dallas. Both the singer and his daughter Nancy, however, maintained that the movie’s withdrawal was not of his doing. Similarly, it was said Sinatra insisted on the withdrawal of the 1954 film Suddenly, in which he had played a would-be presidential assassin—because Lee Harvey Oswald had supposedly watched the movie on television a few weeks before the assassination in Dallas. Research indicates, however, that Suddenly was not shown on local television at the time alleged.
A remake of Manchurian Candidate, produced by Tina Sinatra, debuted in 2004 (JFK intervened—Variety, Nov. 12, 1987, Feb. 26, 1988, Sinatra with Coplon, 82; JFK viewed—NYT, Sep. 14, 2003; Candidate withdrawal—e.g., Variety, Feb. 8, 1980, O’Brien, 148, and see FS int. on Larry King Live, May 13, 1988, Sinatra, Legend, 168, NYT, Sep. 14, 2003; Suddenly withdrawal/Oswald —Variety, Nov. 12, 1987, McMillan, 380, Blakey and Billings, 361; Suddenly not shown— authors’ corr. Gary Mack; Candidate remake—Paramount Pictures release, Jul. 2004).
300–301 Candidate “without doubt”: Yarwood, 104; (Queen of Diamonds/pool) FS int. on Suzy Visits; (“special assistant”) Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 4, 1963; (office/orange/photos/bust) Newsweek, Sep. 6, 1965; (Artanis, etc.) ibid.
301 planes in 1965: ibid., int. Johnnie Spotts, Sinatra pilot. One of the planes was soon replaced by a British Hawker-Siddeley jet that Sinatra named Christina II, after his daughter Tina. Christina I was his yacht (ints. Johnnie Spotts, Bob Neal); (jet commute) Newsweek, Sep. 6, 1965, Look, Dec. 14, 1965; (handy) Sinatra with Coplon, 137, Farrow, 81; (employs seventy-five) Life, Apr. 23, 1965; (homes) Newsweek, Sep. 6, 1965; ($3.5 million) Look, Dec. 14, 1965; (“lives like royalty”) Newsweek, Sep. 6, 1965; (yacht/barber) Globe Features notes for William Read Woodfield photos, int. Woodfield.
301–302 FS generosity/charity: (“over-privileged adult”) Sinatra, Legend, 163. Sinatra gave thirty benefit performances in the two months of the 1962 World Tour for Children alone. Between 1965 and 1980, the Nevada State Gaming Commission was told, he made a further
250 appearances for charity. The authors were unable to calculate how many benefits he gave in the course of his long career (thirty in 1962–1965 entries, Where or When?; 250—comments of Commissioner Dodge, Hearing, Nevada State Gaming Commission, Feb. 19, 1981); (World Tour/$6 million) Shaw, Entertainer, 94, Ridgeway, pt. 1, 169, Douglas-Home, 48–; (Styne’s mother) Taylor, 123; (Silvers) int. Jo Carroll Dennison, Variety, Sep. 11, 1947, Look, May 14, 1957; (Napoli) int. Madeline Pucci; (Miller) Friedwald, 39, McCall’s, Aug. 1989; (Rich) Levinson, Trumpet Blues, 211, (Ireland) Sunday Independent, Apr. 15, 2001; (Louis) ed. Vare, 210, Ladies’ Home Journal, Oct. 1979, People, Nov. 21, 1977; (Cobb) int. Shirley Ballard, Carpozi, Sinatra, 300, Robert Stack with Mark Evans, Straight Shooting, New York: Macmillan, 1980, 264; (Colbert’s husband) Shaw, Sinatra, 1, Newsweek, Jan. 15, 1968; (Lee) corr. Eve Quillen, Peggy Lee, “Frank-Lee,” at www.sinatra-ms.com/article1; (Mercer) int. Leonora Hornblow.
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