by James Kaplan
“For years people had”: Cahn, I Should Care, p. 153.
“When you write lyrics”: Ibid., pp. 154–55.
“wanted you to think”: Will Friedwald, “They Went Together Like a Horse and Carriage,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 7, 2013.
“We began by rambling”: Cahn, I Should Care, p. 152.
“didn’t much care”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 204.
“The first time we sat”: Cahn, I Should Care, pp. 155–56.
“Frank Sinatra is more excited”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, July 4, 1955.
“When they told me”: Shirley Jones, in discussion with the author, Feb. 2010.
“We had the two cameras”: Ibid.
And 20th Century Fox sued: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 183.
“How can I play”: Davidson, The Real and the Unreal, p. 25.
“Through the years, some”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, pp. 182–83.
“Sinatra beat it”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 327.
“I think he did”: Jones, discussion.
“jagged chunk”: Time, Aug. 29, 1955.
“makes me want to cry”: Peter W. Kaplan, “Gable to J.R. with Ava Gardner,” New York Times, Feb. 25, 1985.
“one of his best friends”: Time, Aug. 29, 1955.
“When I got up to Maine”: Bob Thomas, syndicated column, Sept. 13, 1955.
“Everybody reads it”: Time, July 11, 1955.
“magnificent entertainment”: New York Times, Sept. 20, 1955.
“I got a call the next”: Bogdanovich, Who the Devil Made It, pp. 627–28.
“Although Preminger publicly”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 193.
“Sinatra arrived for work”: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 86.
“was surprised to discover”: Preminger, Preminger, p. 112.
“She was terrified”: Ibid., pp. 112–13.
Frank sent her: Conversations with Robert Osborne (TCM Originals, 2014), DVD.
“legs were too heavy”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 68.
“What in the world”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 135.
“Frank Sinatra reports”: Harrison Carroll, Behind the Scenes in Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 18, 1955.
First, Frank failed: Gloria Vanderbilt, in discussion with the author, April 2011.
“Heiress Gloria Vanderbilt”: Associated Press, Nov. 21, 1955.
“He bowed and thanked”: Jim Mahoney, syndicated column, Dec. 19, 1955.
“Nothing has seemed impossible”: Associated Press, Dec. 12, 1955.
“No matter what you”: Erskine Johnson, syndicated column, March 11, 1955.
“Being in Hollywood”: Shaw, Sinatra, pp. 200–201.
“Considering that there”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Nov. 21, 1955.
“for all the delicacy”: New York Times, Dec. 16, 1955.
“thin, unhandsome”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 196.
“I think the whole world”: Bogdanovich, Who the Hell’s in It, p. 50.
“craved class”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 113.
“I see the rat pack”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 210.
“In order to qualify”: Bacall, By Myself, p. 296.
“Remember, it was”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 210.
“platform of iconoclasm”: Bacall, By Myself, p. 296.
But he did stop by: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 223.
“It is enjoyable”: Payn and Morley, Noël Coward Diaries, p. 301.
Bogart had also been unwell: Sperber and Lax, Bogart, p. 509.
“as dinner came to a close”: Bacall, By Myself, p. 254.
CHAPTER 5
“There was always a crowd”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 109.
“At a Sinatra session”: Riddle, Arranged by Nelson Riddle, p. 171.
“I didn’t care”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 118.
“Everything I learned”: Walter Winchell, syndicated column, Sept. 22, 1955.
“I’ve always believed”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 98.
“During the Capitol period”: Ibid.
“Imagine that you’re delivering”: Leonard Slatkin, in discussion with the author, May 2013.
“Syncopation in music”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 98.
“In planning Songs”: Riddle, Arranged by Nelson Riddle, p. 169.
“All the preparation”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 127.
“Sinatra gave him three songs”: Ibid., pp. 128–29.
Rosemary Riddle Acerra notes: Rosemary Riddle Acerra, in discussion with the author, Oct. 2012.
Sinatra recorded the first: Levinson, September in the Rain, pp. 128–29.
“make it sound like Puccini”: Riddle Acerra, discussion.
“Why don’t you steal”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, pp. 233–34.
Sinatra was listening: Ibid., pp. 32–33.
“There’s only one person”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 102.
“probably because somebody”: Ibid., p. 101.
“This is awfully good”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 130.
“it was unusual”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 100.
“I left the best stuff”: Ibid., p. 101.
“Milt perspired a lot”: Bob Bain, in discussion with the author, June 2013.
“After the session”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 102.
“I’ve always said”: Bob Thomas, syndicated column, March 8, 1954.
“Frankie now looks”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, May 28, 1956.
“Sinatra got a kick”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 73.
A friend of Kelly’s: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, pp. 191–92.
Crosby and Armstrong had sung: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Jan. 5, 1956.
“sing, dance, hit”: Basinger, Star Machine, pp. 5–6.
“You know, I never”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, pp. 173–74; Zoglin, Hope, p. 243.
“So long as I keep”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 215.
In 1955, Capitol Records: Variety, Jan. 13, 1955.
Atop the Capitol Records Tower: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, pp. 114–18.
Naturally, everything: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, pp. 114–18.
“When we took him on”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 366.
RCA Victor: Ibid.
an annual guarantee of $200,000: Havers, Sinatra, p. 205.
virtual carte blanche: Ed O’Brien, in discussion with the author, May 2013.
Sinatra assigned each writer: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 329.
“Frank asked me”: Ibid.
“My dad and Frank”: Slatkin, discussion.
“conducting with the index finger”: Shaw, Sinatra, pp. 248–49.
“Conducting is primarily”: Slatkin, discussion.
“was damn near”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 329.
“purely a paper deal”: Ibid., p. 367.
“Success hasn’t changed”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 214.
“a Jekyll and Hyde”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 223.
“A few of the women”: Kelley, His Way, p. 230.
“If I had as many”: Kaplan, Frank, p. 282.
“always on his way”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 213.
“I suppose I can”: Jill Corey, in discussion with the author, Nov. 2012.
“I said, ‘Certainly not’ ”: Peggy Connelly, in discussion with the author, Dec. 2006.
In Dorothy Kilgallen’s case: Kelley, His Way, p. 230.
Frank was devastated: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 125.
“We became very close”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, pp. 120–21.
“might not be enough”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 242.
“It was something that”: Slatkin, discussion.
“It’s the most stunning”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 121.
Frank was bothered: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 242.
“I had wanted to go”
: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, pp. 217–18; Peggy Connelly, in discussion with the author, May 2006.
“a joke on the Capitol executives”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 350.
“obviously viewed [the song]”: Ed O’Brien, in discussion with the author, Nov. 2006.
The attackers had apparently: Associated Press, April 11, 1956.
then phoned the singer’s wife: Epstein, pp. 256–57.
Sinatra tended to spend: Goldstein, Frank Sinatra, p. 23.
Columbia had never been: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 230.
“We talked things out”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 217.
“there was something ‘special event’ ”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, pp. 49–50.
The interior color scheme: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 48.
“didn’t seem ex”: Ibid.
“I married one man”: Tina Sinatra, My Father’s Daughter, p. 108.
“actually was coming home”: Ibid., pp. 108–9.
“If I do meet Ava”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 334.
They could discuss it: Sheilah Graham, syndicated column, April 14, 1956.
CHAPTER 6
“no other artist”: Kelley, His Way, p. 231.
“I want to play this role”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 217.
“Only Frank Sinatra’s most intimate”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, April 22, 1956.
They talked on the phone every week: Jordan, Living with Miss G, p. 227.
“all its from-the-blood passion”: Server, Ava Gardner, pp. 270–71.
“It was so unspoiled”: Gardner, Ava, pp. 246–47.
She had bought a house: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 341.
“We had just awakened”: Peggy Connelly, in discussion with the author, May 2006.
“had not lived in such”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 334.
“You goddamned jerk”: Kelley, His Way, p. 232.
“with two seats down front”: Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, May 30, 1956.
“professor”: Alec Wilder correspondence, New York Public Library.
“Sixteen weeks!”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 218.
“Let’s get this circus”: Kelley, His Way, p. 233.
“He was always yelling”: Ibid.
“When Sinatra walks into a room”: Ibid., p. 232; Shaw, Sinatra, p. 218.
“It’s no accident”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 215.
“Throughout dinner”: Kelley, His Way, p. 234.
“After dinner they parted”: Server, Ava Gardner, pp. 334–35.
“The first thing”: Connelly, discussion; Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 220.
“Hot or cold”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 217.
“with potted palms”: Ibid.
“When I first heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ ”: Lewisohn, Tune In, p. 257; Lennon, interview by Howard Smith, WPLJ-FM, New York, Sept. 10, 1971.
Both the thirteen-year-old: Guardian, Nov. 30, 2001; Richards, Life, p. 58.
“Frank Sinatra has been booked”: Terre Haute Tribune, Aug. 4, 1956.
to the tune of: United Press Convention Preview, Aug. 6, 1956.
“Sinatra…has a police”: Westbrook Pegler, syndicated column, Aug. 14, 1956.
“berating [the southerners]”: Ibid.
“Aren’t you going to”: Look, May 14, 1957.
and brought a libel suit: Kelley, His Way, pp. 243–44.
What may be true: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 466.
“In bars or nightclubs”: Ibid., p. 216.
“When the lights”: Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 706.
“Senator John F. Kennedy”: New York Times, Aug. 14, 1956.
“Okay. That’s it”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, pp. 132–33.
“were still a hard-working”: Havers, Sinatra, pp. 219–20.
“that often when [he was]”: Levinson, September in the Rain, pp. 132–33.
“We looked up at Tommy’s”: Ibid., pp. 133–34.
“If Tommy Dorsey was late”: Cahn, I Should Care, p. 131.
“Mr. Sinatra, the actor”: New York Times, Aug. 16, 1956.
three nights: Havers, Sinatra, p. 220.
Sinatra’s opening act: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 220.
“Emotional tension”: Ibid., p. 100.
An alternate theory: Sperber and Lax, Bogart, pp. 510–11.
That same week: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 12, 1956; Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Sept. 14, 1956.
Less satisfyingly, Ava: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Sept. 14, 1956.
“Hollywood people called”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 81.
“When its owner”: Hal Humphrey, syndicated column, Sept. 14, 1956.
Peggy Lee, too: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 75.
who earned more than: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, April 22, 1956.
“How are ya, Ed?”: All quotations from the Sept. 14, 1956, Person to Person are transcribed from a kinescope of the show on a private DVD.
there has been some controversy: “ ‘Person to Person,’ 1953–1961,” The Pop History Dig, www.pophistorydig.com/topics/person-to-person1953-1961/.
Unlike virtually everybody: Havers, Sinatra, pp. 222–23.
He gave her a large stuffed horse: Bacall, By Myself, pp. 321–22.
“decided to withdraw”: Ibid., p. 321.
“His neck”: Sperber and Lax, Bogart, p. 511.
“I hadn’t expected it”: Bacall, By Myself, p. 322.
“a bit edgy and resentful”: Ibid.
“Frank loved Bogart”: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 230.
“Everybody knew about”: Kelley, His Way, p. 240.
Critics praised Frank: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 68.
Frank’s end of the deal: “The Joker Is Wild,” AFI Catalog of Feature Films, www.afi.com /members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=52247.
“I don’t want any of these”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 223.
“I’ll do some of Joe’s”: Bob Thomas, syndicated column, Oct. 23, 1956.
The persona was very close: Fischer, When the Mob Ran Vegas, p. 72.
“We had rehearsed”: Levinson, September in the Rain, pp. 136–37.
“Where Lovers included”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 235.
“I usually try to avoid”: Granata, Sessions with Sinatra, p. 94.
“in nearly all tempos”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 43.
“seemed to take a particular”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 132.
In his biography of Dorsey: Levinson, Tommy Dorsey, p. 302.
officially claiming: Associated Press, Dec. 3, 1956.
Bill Miller later speculated: Levinson, Tommy Dorsey, pp. 303–4.
The network also bought stock: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 228.
“Ezzard Charles”: Davidson, The Real and the Unreal, p. 48.
“When no rooms”: Ibid., p. 18.
Jerry Lewis, who had broken up: United Press, Dec. 16, 1956.
the two installments: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 519.
“the Ava era finally ended”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 224.
CHAPTER 7
After the vocal glitch: Wire-service report, Jan. 1, 1957.
Though she had a bad: Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, Jan. 15, 1957.
“When I got to the dressing room”: Davis, Boyar, and Boyar, Sammy, pp. 250–51.
“Frankie sang for”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Jan. 16, 1957.
“Dot Kilgallen isn’t here”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 226.
“in bad taste”: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 129.
“It was more than just”: Davis, Boyar, and Boyar, Sammy, p. 251.
“Mr. Sinatra was in excellent”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 225.
“I can’t go on”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 225.
John Huston gave: Sperber and Lax, Bogart, pp. 517–18.
“Frank Sinatra will be unable”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Jan. 17, 1957.
Then again, things: Wilson, Sinatra, p. 131.
“Sinatra is still the chairman”: Havers, Sinatra, p. 226.
rising as high as number 5: Ibid.
“I don’t like to call”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Feb. 1, 1957.
He wound up paying: Havers, Sinatra, p. 225.
“ ‘CRANKY FRANKIE’ ”: Wire-service report, Feb. 7, 1957.
On Valentine’s Day: Davidson, The Real and the Unreal, p. 25.
“an informant”: Wire-service report, March 8, 1957; Havers, Sinatra, p. 225.
“It seems to me”: Wire-service report, March 8, 1957; Kelley, His Way, p. 242.
“a loud-mouthed blonde”: Wire-service report, March 8, 1957.
“snappily clad”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 28, 1957.
“Throughout his questioning”: Ibid.
“There is perjury apparent”: Ibid.
“Do you still fear”: Ibid.
“Frankie looked as if”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Feb. 28, 1957.
“There is definitely a bald”: Kelley, His Way, p. 243.
The result was seen: Wire-service report, March 27, 1957.
Yet even without: Cramer, Joe DiMaggio, p. 389.
“I’m going to do as”: Ezra Goodman, Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood, p. 245.
“He informed director”: Ibid., p. 246.
“the last great musical”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 229.
“Without intending any slight”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, pp. 251–52.
“Sinatra took good care”: Ibid., p. 251.
“Frank used Nelson”: Ibid., p. 252.
The highly expressive: San Marino (Calif.) Tribune, Sept. 19, 1946; Portsmouth (Ohio) Times, Dec. 13, 1946; etc.
“Why not have time”: Jenkins, Goodbye, p. 206.
“He felt”: Ibid., p. 210.
Frank had been furious: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 341.
“The room emptied”: Jonathan Schwartz, in discussion with author, Dec. 7, 2011.
“There’s a certain squareness”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 336.
“When I first heard it”: Jonathan Schwartz, in discussion with author, Dec. 7, 2011.
“Not only did it turn the tide”: Lima (Ohio) News, April 23, 1957.
“Four long-time viewers”: Erskine Johnson, syndicated column, May 6, 1957.
“My mission was to try”: Davidson, The Real and the Unreal, pp. 12–13.
“There is Sinatra”: Look, May 14, 1957.
Against the advice: Kelley, His Way, p. 245.