Frank
Page 74
SOURCE NOTES
4 “We like Eddie Fisher”: Ed O’Brien, in discussion with the author, March 2007.
5 “You had to”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 169.
6 “Singer Eddie Fisher”: Fisher, Been There, Done That, p. 42.
7 “The cash customers”: Ibid.
8 “I became the hottest”: Ibid., p. 43.
9 “I almost fell off my chair”: Philip Nobile, “Sinatra: Crooner or Canary?” Gallery, Sept. 1978.
10 “like a lost kitten”: Ibid.
11 “Van Heusen was a wild man”: James Kaplan, “The King of Ring-a-Ding-Ding,” Movies Rock (a supplemental publication of Vanity Fair), Dec. 2007.
12 “We have information”: Nobile, “Sinatra.”
13 “He’s not going to admit any”: Ibid.
14 “That’s a heartbreaking”: George Avakian, in discussion with the author, Oct. 2006.
15 “That’s bullshit”: Friedwald, Sinatra! p. 192.
16 “when they played”: Ibid., p. 191.
17 “A love that’s there for others too”: Lyrics from “I’m a Fool to Want You,” words and music by Jack Wolf, Joel Herron, and Frank Sinatra. From Where Are You? (Capitol Records, 1957).
18 “Dolly showed me”: Gardner, Ava, p. 267.
19 “quieter, withdrawn”: Ibid.
20 “[looked] at me very carefully”: Ibid., p. 269.
21 “Stagehands running in and out”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 225.
22 “Please nobody sit”: Ibid., p. 227.
23 “The only autographs”: Ibid., p. 225.
24 Featured on the stage”: Bosley Crowther, New York Times, April 26, 1951.
25 “I growled and barked”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 80.
26 “Great stuff, Frank”: O’Brien, discussion.
27 “She had a dark and roving”: Lyrics from “Roving Kind,” words and music by Arnold Stanton, Jessie Cavanaugh, and James Cavanaugh (New York: Hollis Music, 1950).
28 “My heart cries for you”: Lyrics from “My Heart Cries for You,” words and music by Percy Faith and Carl Sigman (New York: Massey Music, 1950).
29 “Frank looks at Miller”: O’Brien, discussion.
30 “You’re a nice guy”: Lawrence Staig, “Obituaries: Guy Mitchell,” Independent, July 5, 1999, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-guy-mitchell-1104390.html.
31 “the worst thing”: Friedwald, Sinatra! p. 76.
32 “You look so lovely”: Lyrics from “Mama Will Bark,” words and music by Dick Manning (Columbia Records, 1951).
33 Friedwald points out: Friedwald, Sinatra! p. 187.
CHAPTER 28
1. Pevney, a journeyman who would go on to direct Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 3 Ring Circus, was known for being organized, precise, and relaxed on set—qualities that both Sinatra and the feuding Martin and Lewis tested to the full.
2. Fortunately, Sinatra would get over his distaste for the great song, recording memorable versions of it with Nelson Riddle in 1953 and Neal Hefti in 1962.
SOURCE NOTES
3 “If I can’t get a divorce”: Kelley, His Way, p. 182.
4 “This is what Frank wants”: Ibid.
5 “I don’t think a woman”: Ibid.
6 “Frank Sinatra was the happiest”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 155.
7 “I too had sat”: Winters, Shelley, p. 319.
8 “His children were”: Kelley, His Way, p. 181.
9 “Frank was losing”: Winters, Shelley, p. 320.
10 “I can’t remember what”: Ibid.
11 “Mr. Sinatra is going”: Kelley, His Way, p. 181.
12 “I’ll have a cup of coffee”: Ibid., p. 182.
13 “Shelley, if Frank”: Ibid.
14 “pleasantly tune-filled”: New York Times, March 27, 1952.
15 “GET THE FUCK”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 229.
16 “Crooner Frankie Sinatra”: United Press, Aug. 3, 1951.
17 “The two movie queens”: United Press, “Ava, Back Out of Seclusion, Gets Snub from Hedy Lamarr,” Aug. 5, 1951.
18 “If you don’t give”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 148.
19 “It was dark”: Gardner, Ava, p. 271.
20 “Kill the light”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 148.
21 “Next time I’ll kill you”: Ibid.
22 “I hope I’m going”: Ibid., p. 149.
23 “I’m sorry to”: Ibid.
24 “Grossly exaggerated”: Ibid.
25 “I honestly don’t know”: Ibid.
26 “It doesn’t really”: Gardner, Ava, p. 274.
27 “I suppose you wish”: Ibid.
28 “It was about”: Ibid., p. 275.
29 “Just a few”: Ibid.
30 “Oh my God”: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 99.
31 “I did not try”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 150.
32 “Tuesday night”: Ibid.
33 “Ava was chatting”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 232.
34 “Every time I”: Ibid.
35 “I like the way”: Bill Miller, in discussion with the author, May 2006.
36 “Sinatra’s my pal”: Ibid.
37 “Speaking of getting laid”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 29
1. True to egocentric and vindictive form, for several weeks Frank ended every show by looking the camera straight in the eye and saying, not in a warm and fuzzy way, “I leave you with two words … SHELLEY WINTERS.” He continued the practice until Winters’s lawyer sent CBS and Sinatra’s lawyer a cease-and-desist letter threatening a large lawsuit (Winters, Shelley, p. 323).
2. Of course in real life, Bing too was the anti-Crosby, but that, as they say, is another story.
3. This seems as good a place as any to note that for whatever unknown reason, almost all Sinatra books, including some of the most trustworthy and authoritative, insistently misspell Sacks’s surname with an h instead of a k. The mistake is so widespread that during the course of my research I kept having to refer back to photocopies I had made of letters from Sacks to Sinatra, on the record executive’s stationery, with typed and handwritten signatures, to assure myself that the majority opinion, in this case at least, was wrong. The moral being that any and every convincing assertion about Frank Sinatra’s life should always be examined carefully.
4. And still retains a weird charm after fifty-plus years.
SOURCE NOTES
5 “Everything is a racket”: Associated Press, Dec. 14, 1950.
6 “spotty, taking full”: Jim Davidson’s Classic TV Info, www.classictvinfo.com/Sinatra/SinatraShow1.htm.
7 “a very real”: Jack Gould, “C.B.S. Presents Its No. 1 Competitor to Milton Berle in the Person of Frank Sinatra,” New York Times, Oct. 12, 1951.
8 “The wedding is off”: Gardner, Ava, p. 284.
9 “Now the bedlam began”: Ibid.
10 “They were giggly”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 96.
11 “How did those creeps”: Kelley, His Way, p. 187.
12 “Frank was so angry”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 161.
13 “Wonderful designer”: Ibid.
14 “Well, we finally”: Ibid.
15 “This marriage is blessed”: Kelley, His Way, p. 189.
16 “Who sent this”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 154.
17 “Look after him”: Kelley, His Way, p. 190.
18 “All I had with me”: Gardner, Ava, p. 286.
19 “It was a chilly day”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 154.
20 “Naturally a photographer”: Gardner, Ava, p. 286.
21 “We drank a lot”: Ibid., p. 287.
22 “Frank and I didn’t start”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 162.
23 “SNARLING FRANK”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 155.
24 “WHAT A BORE”: Ibid.
25 “Frank Sinatra evidently”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 97.
26 “By every ordinary standard”: Swan, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 158
.
27 “Come on-a my house”: Lyrics from “Come On-a My House,” words and music by Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan (1939).
28 “Chief beef hinges”: Friedwald, Sinatra! p. 196.
29 “Kidding each other’s”: Jim Davidson’s Classic TV Info.
30 “Mr. Gardner”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 163.
31 “We’re going to redecorate”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 155.
32 “I lost control”: Ibid., p. 157.
33 “Even the most”: Bosley Crowther, “Six Newcomers on Holiday Fare,” New York Times, Dec. 26, 1951.
34 “a tiny curly-headed”: James Jones, From Here to Eternity, p. 37.
35 “Cohn’s Folly”: Zinnemann, Life in the Movies, p. 171.
36 “No wonder Sinatra”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 138.
CHAPTER 30
1. The practice prevented a studio from losing money on a contract player temporarily lying fallow: when studio A had nothing going for a star, it would loan said star to studio B for one picture, at a rate above the salary it was paying the player, and pocket the difference.
2. An intriguing parallel is Dean Martin, Ava’s male counterpart as a (platonic, of course) love object for Frank, who possessed many of these same qualities, and whose extreme masculine beauty was not dissimilar to hers.
3. And who would drop dead of a heart attack eleven years later, at fifty-eight, just a couple of years too soon to see his daughter Mia become Frank Sinatra’s third wife.
SOURCE NOTES
4 “It was like”: Gloria Delson Franks, in discussion with the author, May 2006.
5 “Neither gave an inch”: Kelley, His Way, p. 192.
6 “Just so you know”: Lyrics from “Walking in the Sunshine,” words and music by Bob Merrill (New York: Chappell, 1952).
7 “What are you”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 99.
8 “I sold Fox”: Gardner, Ava, p. 293.
9 “Cynthia, from Montparnasse”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 239.
10 “SINATRA SCRAMBLES TO RECOVER”: Oakland Tribune, March 20, 1952.
11 “I’ll always be”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 159.
12 “Nodding, he became”: Ibid.
13 “As one of his”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 99.
14 “somewhat subdued”: New York Times, March 27, 1952.
15 “GONE ON FRANKIE”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 160.
16 “If your sweetheart sends”: Lyrics from “Cry,” words and music by Churchill Kohlman (New York: Mellow Music, 1951).
17 “JOHNNIE’S GOLDEN RAYS”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 160.
18 “Do you folks suffer”: Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Journal, March 12, 1952.
19 “I’d like to tell you”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 99.
20 “These people have”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 161.
21 “What do you want”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 161.
22 “Frank didn’t want”: Friedwald, Sinatra! p. 187.
23 “was known for making”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 73.
24 “Today is our”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 165.
25 “I don’t know”: Lethbridge (AB) Herald, June 10, 1952.
26 “Under present conditions”: Ibid.
27 “She is unwilling”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 163.
28 “Ava had a reckless look”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 77.
29 “Services of Frank Sinatra”: Kelley, His Way, p. 194.
30 “the asshole of creation”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 243.
31 “Frankly Speaking”: Kelley, His Way, p. 195.
32 “Well, there it is”: Ibid.
33 “That should have”: Ibid., p. 196.
34 “When I recently”: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 104.
CHAPTER 31
1. Miller, Marden’s postwar successor as owner of the gorgeous nightclub atop the Jersey Palisades, was no relation to Sinatra’s pianist—but was the father of the controversial New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
2. Lana would soon have Lamas fired from Latin Lovers (to be replaced by Ricardo Montalban) and would take up with Lex Barker—whom she would marry a year later, and whom Turner’s daughter Cheryl Crane would later accuse of having sexually abused her when she was ten.
SOURCE NOTES
3 “Ava Gardner, upon”: Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Sept. 8, 1952.
4 “After all”: Gardner, Ava, p. 200.
5 “Whatever Sinatra ever”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 163.
6 “He sang onstage”: Kelley, His Way, p. 198.
7 “I’ll never come back”: Ibid.
8 “There were twenty thousand”: Cannon, Grabtown Girl, p. 99.
9 “Don’t you remember”: Lyrics from “Why Try to Change Me Now,” words and music by Cy Coleman (New York: Hal Leonard, 1952).
10 “That’s it, Frank”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 76.
11 “Well! What whorehouse”: Cannon, Grabtown Girl, p. 100.
12 “Breakfast with the Sinatras”: On Broadway with Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 19, 1952.
13 “The battles between”: Newspaper Enterprise Association, Aug. 1, 1952.
14 “You’re all that I desire”: Lyrics from “Love Me,” words and music by Victor Young and Ned Washington (New York: Helene Blue Musique). First recorded by Jack Teagarden, 1933.
15 “nearly broke”: Cannon, Grabtown Girl, p. 101.
16 “a crackup of their marriage”: Associated Press, Oct. 7, 1952.
17 “We’re having oral battles”: Ibid.
18 “Harry, I want”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 108.
19 “You must be out”: Ibid.
20 “About the money”: Ibid.
21 “God, Ava”: Kelley, His Way, p. 203.
22 “I want you to get Harry”: Ibid., p. 185.
23 “You know who’s right”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 96.
24 “We bumped into Frank”: Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 17, 1952.
25 “By the time”: Gardner, Ava, p. 192.
26 “I want to have”: Aline Mosby, United Press, Oct. 3, 1952.
27 “a hollow success”: Lana Turner, Lana, p. 158.
28 “to catch Frank”: Gardner, Ava, p. 305.
29 “looking lovely as ever”: Ibid., p. 306.
30 “Everybody wants to”: Eliot, Cary Grant, p. 1.
31 “It is true”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 105.
32 “Ah, Frank”: Gardner, Ava, p. 195.
33 “We did what we could”: Lana Turner, Lana, p. 168.
34 “Frank seemed to approve”: Gardner, Ava, p. 309.
35 “For God’s sake”: Ibid., p. 310.
36 “NOT CONFIRMED”: Los Angeles Times, Oct. 21, 1952.
37 “the Palm Springs police”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 101.
38 “COLUMNIST SAYS SINATRA”: Associated Press, Oct. 21, 1952.
39 “Frank’s in the bathroom throwing up”: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 102.
40 “The problems were never in bed”: Kelley, His Way, p. 175.
41 “FRANKIE READY TO SURRENDER”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 165.
42 “I can’t do anything myself”: Ibid.
43 “Hey, Ava”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 249.
44 “So, Frank”: Ibid.
45 “Sinatra smelled like”: Kelley, His Way, p. 188.
46 “Frank was very nice”: Mary Edna Grimes, in discussion with the author, Nov. 2008.
47 “Goodbye, Dolly”: United Press, Oct. 3, 1952.
CHAPTER 32
1. She’s also said to have won him over with another variant of her most famous remark: when Ford introduced Ava to the English governor of Kenya and the governor’s wife, the director is alleged to have said, “Ava, why don’t you tell the governor what you see in this one-hundred-twenty-pound runt you’re married to,” and Ava is alleged to have replied, “Well, there’s only ten pounds o
f Frank but there’s one hundred and ten pounds of cock!” “Ford wanted to kill her,” one Sinatra biographer wrote—but given the fact (according to Maureen O’Hara) that the director constantly doodled pictures of penises, he probably would’ve been more intrigued than upset (Kelley, His Way, p. 190).
SOURCE NOTES
2 “It was quite”: Higham, Ava, p. 133.
3 “Clark’s the kind”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 253.
4 “on safari”: Gardner, Ava, p. 316.
5 “The movie company”: Ibid.
6 “once we settled”: Ibid.
7 “Make the spaghetti”: Bogdanovich, Who the Hell’s in It, p. 404.
8 “Why don’t you”: Peter Bogdanovich, in discussion with the author, May 2009.
9 “I had the strongest”: Gardner, Ava, p. 319.
10 “I often felt”: Ibid.
11 “The truth is”: Ibid.
12 “Let’s put it”: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 23, 1952.
13 “You’re damn good”: Gardner, Ava, p. 324.
14 “For someone with”: Ibid.
15 “Jack Ford tried”: Ibid., p. 327.
16 “I don’t need this”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 170.
17 “He’s such a comical”: James Jones, From Here to Eternity, p. 246.
18 “Frank had never”: Gardner, Ava, p. 199.
19 “scared to death”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 170.
20 “The [screen] test”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 172.
21 “Since [Sinatra’s] was”: Shaw, Twentieth-Century Romantic, p. 170.
22 “CONFIDENTIAL”: Kelley, His Way, p. 214.
23 “AVA GARDNER STRICKEN”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 259.
24 “Frank, give the earrings”: Ibid., p. 260.
25 “When I was on my lecture tour”: Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 4, 1952.
26 “Spent a pleasant”: Edith Gwynn, Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 25, 1952.
27 “Where’s your wife”: Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 26, 1952.
28 “At the end”: Mark Rotella, “Simply Red,” New York Times, Aug. 10, 2003.