Sinatra

by Anthony Summers

  323 throw Time journalist: int. the late Billy Woodfield; (wrestled photographer) LAHE, Aug. 13, 1962; (Spain/FS charged) LAHE, Sep. 18, 21, LAT, Sep. 21, 1964; (Paris/cherry bombs) LAHE, Jul. 8, 17, Time, Jul. 17, 1964.

  323 “catastrophic”/“As the paparazzi’s”: int. and corr. Rock Brynner. The companion in question was Jilly Rizzo, Frank’s constant companion from the late 1950s on; (weapon of choice) SAC Miami to SA (deleted), Mar. 27, 1967, FBI 92-99-876, Kashner and MacNair, 293, American Weekly, Nov. 12, 1961, Farrow, 103; (Engels) Wilson, Sinatra, 224, Epstein and Morella, 110, LAT, Jul. 28, 1966.

  323–24 violent episodes: (Irwin/“very much afraid”) LAT, Feb. 28, Mar. 2, 27, Hollywood Citizen-News, Mar. 9, 1957; (“Frank took”/“Frank didn’t”) int. Milt Ebbins; (second parking attendant incident/“bodyguard”/FS settled) HollywoodCitizen-News, Jul. 20, 1960, Reno Evening Gazette, Mar. 15, 1962, unid. articles circa 1960, FBI LA 62-4867-2, 3, 4, and 5, Gehman, 28, Kelley, 275–; (Del Monte Lodge) LAT, Jan. 21, Feb. 2, 1964; (“Whenever Frank”) int. Rock Brynner.

  324–25 Dunne: (FS drunk) Kelley, 529, Bacall, 287, int. Peter Duchin, Lazar with Tapert, 159; (abused wife) ints. Dominick Dunne, Peter Duchin, Kelley, 529, Bacall, 287, New Yorker, May 25, 1998, Peter Duchin, Ghost of a Chance, New York: Random House, 1996, 270–, Lazar with Tapert, 158–; (attack at Daisy) int. Dominick Dunne, Dominick Dunne, The Way We Lived Then, New York: Crown, 1999, 131–.

  325 FS and alcohol: (flag) Granata, 169; (Alka-Seltzer) Zehme, 9.

  325 “Jackie Daniel’s”: Esquire, Mar. 1994. The oft-quoted statement “I’m for anythingthat gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniel’s” did not necessarily originate with Sinatra. It first appeared in “his” 1963 Playboy interview that, as reported earlier, had been written for him by Reprise executive Mike Shore and journalist Billy Woodfield ( Playboy, Feb. 1963); (dressingroom) smokinggun.com; (blazer/crest) (London) Daily Mail, undat., May 1962; (Squires) int. office of Roger Brashears, Jack Daniel’s Inc.; (acre) Perella, 274.

  325–26 carrying glass: In Rat Pack days, according to Tina Sinatra, the glass her father carried on stage for the early show usually contained only iced tea or juice. During the second show, however, it might contain alcohol. Sources differ on what the glass contained in later years. Sinatra is said to have banned alcohol from the recording studio until a session was completed (iced tea—Sinatra with Coplon, 99; sources differ—Friedwald, 488, (Irish) Sunday Independent, Apr. 15, 2001; banned—Jacobs and Stadiem, 124); (good for voice) corr. Ed Walters, by permission; (“gasoline”) Life, Apr. 23, 1965; (chocolate) Philadelphia Inquirer, undat., May 1998; (“You’re not drunk”) Zehme, 109; (“Drink, Dickie”) “Bird,” as reported earlier, was Rat Pack-speak for penis. The friend was actor Dick Bakalyan (Esquire, Apr. 1966); (“bombed”) FS int. by Arlene Francis, Oct. 1, 1977, WOR (NY); (Hawaii/“a bottle each”) int. Jack Cione; (“I feel sorry”) excerpts from Bill Zehme, “The Way You Wear Your Hat,” at www.enteract.com, The Rat Pack, Praeses Productions for A&E, 1999, and see Vibe, Sep. 1995; (“I don’t trust”) FS monologue, Caesars Palace, May 5, 1978, videotape in authors’ collection. On the videotape, it is obvious that Sinatra was under the weather.

  326–28 quit drinking: Yarwood, 32, Jacobs and Stadiem, 58, Farrow, 93; (“Drink, drink . . .”) Sinatra, My Father, xix; (not big drinker) ints. George Jacobs, George Sidney, Milt Ebbins, Sinatra, My Father, 137; (“More times than not”) Ladies’ Home Journal, Nov. 1973; (“In all the long”) int. Leonora Hornblow; (runs in families) John Cooney, Under the Weather: Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1991, 13; (“drinking man”) Yarwood, 52; (“a case of beer”) int. Marilyn Sinatra; (doctor warned) int. Peggy Connelly; (Cahn) int. Gloria Cahn Franks; (Cooper/“someone”) Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 16, 1998; (Hendrickson) Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 16, 1998; (Deutsch) int. Armand Deutsch; (FS admitted) Zehme, 11; (“He needed it”) int. Leonora Hornblow; (“better professors”/“the outrageous”/“alcoholic shit”) ints. Rock Brynner; (Schwartz treatment) Jonathan Schwartz, All in Good Time, New York: Random House, 2004, 272–; (“a textbook case”) Vanity Fair, Jul. 1998, and see New Yorker, Nov. 3, 1997; (“There is little”) corr. and int. Dr. Robert Morse; (“Sinatra was an alcoholic”) int. James Graham. Graham is the author of The Secret History of Alcoholism, Shaftsbury, Dorset, UK: Element, 1996; (“personalitychange”) corr. and int. Dr. Robert Morse; (“Sinatra would get”) int. Mort Viner; (“Something would”) int. Bob Neal; (“The trick”) Lazar with Tapert, 158; (“It was predictable”) int. Rock Brynner.

  328–29 Weisman: (incident) LAHE, Jun. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, NYT, Jun. 11, Hollywood Citizen-News, Jun. 11, 28, LAT, Jun. 12, Variety, Jun. 13, 30, Chicago’s American, Oct. 2, 1966, Jacobs and Stadiem, 230–, ints. Jeanne Martin, Carol Weisman Wilson, Kelley, 353–, Freedland, 330; (“in hiding”) LAHE, Jun. 10, 1966; (“We all drove”) Jacobs and Stadiem, 231; (“the only time”) Kelley, 354; (“no evidence”) Variety, Jun. 30, 1966; (“The guy was cursing”) Time, Jun. 17, 1966; (“I at no time”) Chicago’s American, Oct. 2, 1966; (“discolored”) LAT, Jun. 12, 1966; (fists or ashtray) LAHE, Jun. 11, and see NYT, Jun. 11, 1966; (“some man”) Hollywood Citizen-News, Jun. 11, 1966.

  329 “to vent”/“I was standing”/threw telephone: Kelley, 353. The valet George Jacobs, however, wrote: “Jilly . . . began beating Weisman in the head with one of the phones.” “Jilly” is a reference to Sinatra’s close friend and almost constant companion Jilly Rizzo, described in a later chapter. (Jacobs and Stadiem, 230, and see 14) (“they just beat”) int. Carol Weisman Wilson; (“We were a little”) Look, Dec. 26, 1967, in an interview with Oriana Fallaci; (Jeanne Martin nodding)int. Jeanne Martin, Deana Martin with Wendy Holden, 158.

  329 Dexter/“He went crazy”: int. Brad Dexter, 2001, Esquire, Nov. 1999, and see Kelley, 356.

  330 Mason: M/G int. of Jackie Mason, int. Myrna Lee Falk, Kelley, 364–. The author Kitty Kelley also interviewed Mason, in 1983 (Kelley, 364–, 533).

  330 FS in Miami 1967: (Fischetti/women) SA (deleted) to SAC Miami, Mar. 16, 1967, FBI 92-99-868, Mar. 27, 1967, FBI 92-99-876, May 3, 1967, FBI 92-99-886, and May 4, 1967, FBI 92-99-889; (smashed furniture, etc.) ibid., SA (deleted) to SAC Miami, Jun. 9, 1967, FBI 92-99-902, and see “Sands Hotel,” Nov. 11, 1967, FBI 92-6314-32.

  330 Shecky Greene: (drinking hard) Kelley, 368, 533, SA (deleted) to SAC Miami, Mar. 16, 1967, FBI 92-99-868; (“As bad shape”/acid remarks) GQ, Nov. 1999; (“things got”/“the bandage”/“Frank had so many”) Kelley, 368, and see GQ, Nov. 1999, “Joseph J. Fischetti,” Jul. 28, 1967, FBI 92-3024-92.

  331 FS enraged/“Feeling no pain”: SA (deleted) to SAC Miami, May 3, 1967, FBI 92-99-887.

  331–33 Sands incident: (Hughes buys Sands) Elaine Davenport and Paul Eddy, The Hughes Papers, London: André Deutsch, 1977, 76–, Charles Higham, Howard Hughes: The Secret Life, London: Pan, 1993, 279–; (Hughes rival) Gardner, 158; (FS with astronauts) Sinatra, Legend, 203; (owed house/cut credit/Cohen row/all quotes unless specified) Lt. W. Conger and Sgt. W. Adams to Sheriff R. Lamb, “Incident at the Sands Hotel,” Sep. 18, 1967—kindly supplied to authors by David Robb, and see Bishop to DeLoach, Sep. 11, 1967, FSFBI, “Sands Hotel,” Nov. 22, 1967, FBI 92-6314-32; (Anka “got up”) eds. A. J. Hop-kins and K. D. Evans, The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas, Las Vegas: Huntington Press, 1999, 164; (“gonna break”/“I built”) LAT, Sep. 12, 1967, Time, Sep. 22, 1967; (Mia/golf cart) Farrow, 100–; (Palm Springs/drinking) Wilson, Show Business Nobody Knows, 20–, int. Ken Roberts; (Cohen incident described) Levy, 88–, LAT, Dec. 30, 1986; (“bewildered”/ speech “unclear”) Farrow, 110–; (“get” Cohen) int. Sonny King in Sinatra: Good Guy, Bad Guy; (“In that town”) int. Ed Walters; (“just an argument”) FS testimony to Nevada Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981 on Giuliano audiotape; (FS call to Alo/“Jimmy was sitting”) int. Ken Roberts, Jimmy Roselli; (contract with Caesars) press release, Sep. 11, 1967, Sands Hotel Collection, Un
iversity of Nevada, Las Vegas, LAHE, Sep. 12, Variety, Sep. 13, Newsweek, Sep. 25, 1967.

  333 Lees “All his jokes”: High Fidelity, May 1967.

  Chapter 31: Looking for an Exit

  334 “Strangers in the Night”: (“I don’t want”) int. Brad Dexter, 2001; (“stick that violin”) Eve Quillen, My Life in Shorts, Las Vegas: self-published, 2003, 235; (“That’s the worst”) corr. Ed O’Brien, Ric Ross re Concert for the Americas, Aug. 20, 1982; (“If you like”) FS monologue at Meadowlands concert, Dec. 12, 1983, supplied to authors by Ed O’Brien; (“You still like it”) McCall’s, Aug. 1983; (“Just where my pants”) (Long Beach, CA) Southland Sunday, Mar. 10, 1974; (“dreck”) eds. Petkov and Mustazza, 140; (“lounge lizard”) Esquire, Dec. 1987; (“bad scatting . . . Alistair Cooke”) ibid.; (“He’d make fun”) int. Armand Deutsch, McCall’s, Aug. 1983.

  335 number one: Rednour, 11. “Strangers in the Night” originated as the score for the 1966 movie A Man Could Get Killed, with James Garner and Melina Mercouri. Sinatra’s last number one single had been “Learnin’ the Blues,” in 1955. Once “Strangers” became a hit, it was tacked onto the front of the Sinatra album currently in the works—which duly went on sale as Strangers in the Night and became a number one album (movie—Granata, 180–, A Man Could Get Killed entry, imdb.com; previous No. 1—Rednour, 11; album—Granata, 181, Rednour, 249); (fifteen weeks) Sayers and O’Brien, 266; (four Grammys) ibid., 279, and see Goldmine, May 3, 1991; (“Michelle”) Sayers and O’Brien, 280.

  335 “My Way”: (“I was thrilled”) int. Al Viola; (“national anthem”) Wilson, Sinatra,3; (Anka brought/“kooky”/“really had”) FS int. by Sid Mark, “Fridays with Frank,” WWDB (Philadelphia), Dec. 31, 1979, audiotape in authors’ collection; (“all him”) Newsweek, May 25, 1998; (“five words”) Frank Sinatra Jr. commentary, As I Remember It; (“surly roar”) Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1984; (“something Hitler”) (London) Observer, May 17, 1998; (“the temper tantrums”) www.salon.com, Feb. 7, 1997, Vowell, 159–; (“Every time”) Granata, xvii; (“littleArab”) FS monologue, Caesars Palace, May 5, 1978; (“embarrassment”/ “overplayed”) Newsweek, May 25, 1998, and see New York Daily News, Jan. 22, 1978.

  335 “My Way” not to top: “My Way” reached only number twenty-seven in the BillboardTop 100 and vanished from the list after eight weeks. It was nominated for a 1969 Grammy—for Best Contemporary Male Vocal—but the award went to Harry Nilsson for “Everybody’s Talkin’.” In the U.K., however, “My Way” stayed in the top fifty for an astonishing 122 weeks. The original French hit on which Anka based the song was “Comme d’habitude,” written by Jacques Revaux and Giles Thibaut and sung by Claude François (O’Brien with Wilson, 153, Sayers and O’Brien, 281, (London) Observer, May 17, 1998, Joy Williams, “Frank Sinatra,” www.artistwd.com/joyzine).

  335–36 unsettled musically: (“How’s your bird?”) Granata, 190; (“Some Enchanted Evening”) Rednour, 84, Esquire, Dec. 1987, Friedwald, 432.

  336 “Gunga Din”: Stan Cornyn with Paul Scanlon, Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes & Hustlers of Warner Music Group, New York: Harper Entertainment, 2002, 74–, Sayers and O’Brien, 127, Ridgway, pt. 2, 277. The theme of “Gunga Din,” transplanted from British Colonial India to Utah, had served as the inspiration for Sinatra’s 1961 movie Sergeants 3. The movie flopped. Author Anthony Summers listened to the unreleased recording of “Gunga Din” courtesy of Ed O’Brien (Ringgold and McCarty, 177–, O’Brien, 138–).

  336 Jobim: The two collections are Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, released in 1967, and Sinatra and Company, which appeared in 1971. Jobim’s work features on only one side of the 1971 album, as the only published part of what was initially planned as a full second Sinatra-Jobim collection (O’Brien with Wilson, 150–, Rednour, 245); (A Man Alone) Friedwald, 437–; (Watertown/“one more entry”) ibid., 442.

  336 “Fly Me to the Moon”: Research indicates that “Fly Me to the Moon” was not, as stated by Sinatra’s daughter Nancy and the song’s arranger Quincy Jones, played from the surface of the moon during the first lunar landing in July 1969. The authors contacted Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who has been cited by Jones as saying he played a tape of the song after the landing. Aldrin responded saying that he had not played the song during the flight. According to the NASA History Office, however, the song was played during the Apollo 10’s earlier orbital flight. Andrew Chaikin’s book on the Apollo voyages says the same, and states that astronaut Cernan played the tape (Nancy claim—Sinatra, My Father, 365; Jones claim—ints. of Jones in Vibe, Sep. 1995, Rolling Stone, Jun. 25, 1998; Aldrin denial—corr. with authors, 2004; NASA—Chronology of Music Flown in Space, compiled by Colin Fries of NASA History Office; book—Andrew Chaikin, A Man on the Moon, New York: Viking, 1994, 150–).

  336–37 FS and family: (Marty surgery/death) Sinatra, Legend, 209, Sinatra with Coplon, 123, Variety, Jan. 29, 1969; (Dolly tried to throw) Sinatra, My Father, 218; (reburied Palm Springs) Sinatra with Coplon, 162; (medical center) Sinatra, Legend, 217, Variety, Jan. 13, 1971, PR Newswire, May 15, 1998; (Dolly moved) Sinatra with Coplon, 162, LAT, Mar. 24, 1971, LAHE, Jan. 8, 1977; (loathed CA) Jacobs and Stadiem, 256; (fights) Sinatra, Legend, 253, Sinatra, My Father, 234; (“adored”) Sinatra with Coplon, 162; (“He’d give”) ibid., 161; (Tina adolescence/reproaching/“rock”) ibid., 101–, LAT Calendar, Jul. 26, 1992; (Frank Jr./“away from inner”) Esquire, Apr. 1966, and see Kelley, 357; (“Is it genuine?”) Good Housekeeping, Jun. 1964, and see Life, Aug. 23, 1965; (“just one simple”) Harry Evans article for TV Star Parade, Jun. 1969.

  337 The younger Nancy: Nancy had first married pop singer Tommy Sands, when she was twenty. In 1970 she married producer and choreographer Hugh Lambert, by whom she was to bear two daughters. Nancy’s book on her father would not appear until 1985, when it was published as Frank Sinatra: My Father. This was followed, in coffee-table book form with many photographs, by Frank Sinatra:An American Legend, in 1995; (A Very Gentle) Life, May 5, 1967.

  337 FS dalliances: Women linked with Sinatra from 1968 included Peggy Strasberg, a young model, the actresses Irene Tsu, Carol Lynley, Carol White—temporarily borrowed from her boyfriend—and Hope Lange (Strasberg—Star, Dec. 5, 1995, int. Josephine Alvarez; Tsu—unid. article, Paul Fjordsen, “The Girl Who Refuses to Marry Sinatra,” and Dave Bryan, “How It Feels to Love Frank Sinatra,” May 1970, MHL, Wilson, Sinatra, 196, authors’ contacts with Irene Tsu; Lynley—int. Carol Lynley, Taraborrelli, 406, 415; White—“Sinatra Made Me Feel Like a Real Woman,” unid. UK newspaper article by Carol White, MHL; Lange—int. Leonora Hornblow, Romero, 202, Wilson, Sinatra, 321–); (Duke) Patty Duke and Kenneth Turan, Call Me Anna, New York: Bantam, 1987, 194–; (Ava/“a sacred monster”) Higham, Ava, 232.

  337–338 Hamill/“A song out”: Hamill, 13–, int. Pete Hamill. It was Billie Holiday’s rendering of “I’m a Fool to Want You” that was playing on the jukebox at P. J. Clarke’s in 1970.

  338 FS friendships: (concept of loyalty) LAT Calendar, Jul. 26, 1992, FS int. on Suzy Visits, int. Milton Greene, 1983, int. Rock Brynner, Esquire, Apr. 1966, M/G int. of Jay Bernstein, GQ, Nov. 1999, ed. Mustazza, Popular Culture, 247–, MacLaine, Lucky Stars, 87; (“My son”) Esquire, Apr. 1966; (“ferocity”) Family Weekly, Jun. 17, 1984; (Sanicola fight) “File Review & Summary Check,” Mar. 26, 1970, FBI LA 100-41413-179, Shaw, Sinatra, 311, Variety, Jan. 31, 1963, Sinatra, Legend, 165–; (Entratter) Kelley, 470, Jacobs and Stadiem, 87; (“capable of being”) int. Phyllis McGuire; (Dexter fired) int. Brad Dexter, 2001; (Jacobs dumped) Jacobs and Stadiem, 9–, 250, int. George Jacobs; (Entratter dead) Freedland, 353; (Joe E. Lewis) NYT, Jun. 5, 1971, Wilson, Show Business Nobody Knows, 246; (Armstrong) NYT, Jul. 7, 1971, refs. in Where or When?, O’Brien, Film Guide, 92; (Romanoff) Sinatra, Legend, 224, ints. Gloria Romanoff, 1983; (Maxwell) LAT, Mar. 24, LAHE, Mar. 25, 1972, ints. Jean Greenberg, Joseph Spaccavento, 1947, 1951 entries, Where or When?; (Sanicola death) LAT, Oct. 8, 1974; (“To be Frank’s”) Ladies’ Home Journal, Nov. 19
73.

  338 Jilly Rizzo: (“Ermenigildo”/background/fighter) “Jilly Rizzo,” New York Field Office Report, Oct. 31, 1966, and Sep. 29, 1970, FBI 92-9522—correct spelling of name supplied by Tony Oppedisano; (rhinoceros) FS int. by Arlene Francis, Sept. 25, 1981, WOR (NY).

  339 bartender/Jilly’s on 52nd: “Jilly Rizzo,” New York Field Office Report, Oct. 31, 1966, FBI 92-9522, undat. article for Sound Track, by John J. Miller. Other Jilly’s would sprout in Miami Beach and Palm Springs, but by then Rizzo and Frank were bosom pals (“Jilly Rizzo,” Oct. 27, 1967, FBI 92-9522-3, Sinatra with Coplon, 139, int. Marilyn Sinatra); (“Home of the King”/photos/chairs/customersevicted) LAT, Nov. 19, 1968, NYT, Jul. 1965, Modern Maturity, Jan./Feb. 2000; (at hand in crises) Sinatra, Legend, 189, Kelley, 330, undat. article by John Miller; (“fuckface”/“belong”) New Yorker, Nov. 3, 1997, Sinatra with Coplon, 139; (hookers) int. Brad Dexter; (Jackie O. et al./“clean up”) Kelley, 436, Sinatra with Coplon, 139, Joey Villa, Living Well Is the Best Revenge, Las Vegas: Comic Two Talent, 1998; (orange jackets) ibid., New York, Jul. 15, 1974; (“like a goddamn”/“the greatest”/“you purify”) Esquire, Apr. 1964, undat. article by John Miller; (Artanis/movie parts/“Jilly loves you more”) Kelley, 533, “Jilly Rizzo,” New York Field Office Report, May 27, 1970, FBI 92-9522, Granata, 190, Ringgold and McCarty, 248—the three movies were Tony Rome, Cannonball Run, and, for TV, Contract on Cherry Street; (“poet”) Sinatra, Legend, 302.

  340 Rizzo & violence: (arrested) “Jilly Rizzo,” New York Field Office Report, Oct. 31, 1966, FBI 92-9522; (bodyguard) “Jilly Rizzo,” May 27, 1970, New York Field Office Report, FBI 92-9522, Sinatra with Coplon, 138, ints. Marilyn Sinatra, Joey Villa; (“tractor”) Esquire, Apr. 1966—the comic was Don Rickles; (Rizzo stomped) int. Rock Brynner and see chapter 30, p. 323, supra.; (“pulverized”) undat. article by John Miller, int. Jackie Jordan, and see LAT, Jul. 22, 1972, “Sinatra, Ol’ Blue Eyes at 75,” New York: Starlog, 1990, 45; (punished drunk) undat. article by John Miller.