After Frank’s death in 1998, Tina would publish My Father’s Daughter: A Memoir. Like her sister, Tina has also made it her mission to be as honest as possible. Anyone expecting a superficial work by her would likely be surprised by Tina’s unflinching account of her family’s battles with Barbara. Slowly and methodically, she built a case against Barbara as a woman who only married Frank for his money and lifestyle, and then did anything she could think of to drive a wedge between him and his children—and anyone else he held dear. Tina even claimed that Barbara had small video cameras surreptitiously placed in Frank’s den and bedroom so that she could secretly monitor his conversations. “I thought about the talks I’d had with Dad, the private moments between father and daughter,” Tina wrote. “Now I realized that they may not have been so private after all.” It felt authentic, fair-minded, and convincing, especially coming from Tina, who was known previously to default to diplomacy where Barbara was concerned. It was only when she felt pushed up against a wall that Tina would retaliate.
In 2012, twelve years after Tina’s book, Barbara Sinatra would offer her own memoir, Lady Blue Eyes. Her account of her life with Frank is very different from Tina’s, filled with lovely reminiscences of fun times and glamorous excess. She glosses over any sort of family feud.
In reading some of the same stories previously told by Tina but now from Barbara’s viewpoint—with the Sinatra children carefully excised from each memory—one was reminded of Tina’s recollection that framed photos of her and her siblings that once had an honored place on the grand piano in Sinatra’s home disappeared soon after he married Barbara. “It was as though Dad had no children,” Tina wrote. “Out of sight . . .”
While about half of Tina Sinatra’s book was devoted to Frank’s marriage to Barbara and the trouble it caused her and her family, Barbara took a very different approach to the story. In a stunning statement all her own, she didn’t mention that Frank even had daughters: Tina’s and Nancy’s names are nowhere to be found in Barbara’s four-hundred-page book.
In fact, Barbara and the Sinatras would have very little, if any, contact with each other after his funeral. “Peace will never happen with my stepmother,” Tina would later say. “There’s no point. There was nothing untruthful in the book [that she would later publish], so there’s not much she can do. I don’t harbor any animosity or resentment,” she clarifies, “it’s really gone now, and that all comes through the cathartic experience of writing the book. It’s like I vomited it up, spewed it up,” she says. “But I can tell you a very brief funny story. I went to some of the bookstores in Beverly Hills for signings that the publisher had set up, and one store said: ‘This is our fifteenth shipment of your book; everybody you know has bought it.’ And I said: ‘Oh, really? Like who?’ And they said, ‘Predominantly, your stepmother’s friends.’ ”
For years, Barbara worked for her husband’s causes, and she was—and still is—active in the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, which treats young victims of child abuse. Frank was never allowed to spend time at the center, however, despite his contributions to it in excess of a million dollars. Molesting fathers often came in for treatment, and Barbara was afraid of her husband’s reaction to them. “My husband’s from a totally different school,” she admitted in 1988. “He wants to break their legs. He wants to round up all the men and break their legs. He said, ‘You can talk to them all you want, but let me teach them and they’ll never do it again. If you put them in a hospital for a year, when they come out, they’re not going to do that.’ So he’s not allowed in there.”
* * *
As earlier stated in this book’s author’s note, I returned to many of the original tapes of interviews conducted for the first edition of this book to mine new material, which has been threaded throughout this text. I also referenced research involving Frank Sinatra for books I wrote since the original edition of this one was published in 1997, and those include Jackie, Ethel, Joan; Once upon a Time; Elizabeth; and After Camelot.
Moreover, I interviewed Frank Sinatra’s valet George Jacobs on three separate occasions in January 1999. Since those interviews took place after the original publication of this book, material from them is now published for the first time in this edition. I also referenced Mr. Jacobs’s book, Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra, which was published in 2009. Sadly, George Jacobs died at the age of eighty-six in December 2013. He was a true gentleman’s gentleman. I also reinterviewed Ted Hechtman, Thomas DiBella, Jimmy Silvani, Dick Moran, and Lucy Wellman for the paperback edition of this book, which was never published. Their additional stories appear in this edition for the first time. I also interviewed Jeffrey Hayden and Allan B. Ecker for the unreleased paperback edition of this work, their stories regarding Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra, respectively, told here for the first time. I also interviewed George Schlatter for that unreleased edition.
The comments by Lester Sacks’s daughter, Adrienne Ellis, about the wedding of Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra were culled from the feature “Frank & Ava: An Unforgettable Day” by Rose DeWolf (Philadelphia Daily News, May 18, 1998).
After Barry Keenan was interviewed for the first edition of this book—his first interview ever about the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.—there was great national interest in his story. Six months after the book was released, Keenan gave an interview to reporter Peter Gilstrap for an article called “Snatching Sinatra,” which was published in New Times Los Angeles magazine. His story was then offered to Hollywood as a movie and eventually sold to Showtime. The movie, Stealing Sinatra, aired on Showtime in 2003, starring David Arquette as Barry Keenan, with James Russo as Frank Sinatra and Thomas Ian Nicholas as Frank Sinatra Jr. William H. Macy, who portrayed John Irwin, was nominated for an Emmy.
For this volume, I also reinterviewed Tom Gianetti (January 30, 2014); Eileen Faith (March 14 and March 16, 2014); Doris Sevanto (March 17, 2014); and Tina Donato (March 18, 2014). My source Joey D’Orazio—quoted liberally in the first edition of this book and now in this edition based on new material gleaned from his original interviews—died in 2006. I interviewed his son, Tony D’Orazio (March 18, 2014), to corroborate some of his father’s earlier stories. I also spoke to Nancy Venturi’s daughter, Angela (June 12, 2014), to corroborate some of her mother’s memories found in the first edition.
I referenced the following books: Under My Skin by Julie Sinatra; Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner; Living with Miss G by Mearene Jordan; Memories Are Made of This by Deana Martin with Wendy Holden; That’s Amore by Christopher Smith and Ricci Martin; My Way by Paul Anka and David Dalton; and By Myself and Then Some by Lauren Bacall.
2015 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am so happy to have had the opportunity to revisit Sinatra, a favorite subject of mine, with the rerelease of this now revised book. I would like to thank my publisher, Jamie Raab, for shepherding this project, and also my editor, Gretchen Young, for another terrific job. The Hiltons: A Family Dynasty was a collaborative effort on many levels, from inception to publication. Here I would like to acknowledge those who assisted me in this endeavor. I would like to also thank Jamie’s capable assistant, Deb Withey.
It’s been my great honor for the last sixteen years to call Grand Central Publishing my home, and I am deeply indebted to Jamie Raab for creating such a nurturing environment. As always, I would like to thank my managing editor, Bob Castillo, for his invaluable contributions. Special thanks to Anne Twomey for her excellent cover design. I would also like to thank Claire Brown in art, Sara Weiss in editorial, and Tom Whatley and Giraud Lorber in production. A special thanks to my copy editor, Roland Ottewell.
I would like to thank John Pelosi and the staff of Pelosi Wolf Effron & Spates for their legal review of this work, which, as always, was thorough and much appreciated.
I would like to acknowledge my domestic agent, Mitch Douglas, for sixteen years of excellent representation.
I w
ould also like to acknowledge my foreign agent, Dorie Simmonds of the Dorie Simmonds Agency in London, who has been with me for almost twenty years.
I am fortunate to have been associated with the same private investigator and chief researcher for more than twenty years, and that is Cathy Griffin. I owe her a great debt of gratitude for her work on this book. Thanks also to my personal copy editor, James Pinkston, who spent many hours with Sinatra back in the 1990s.
I would also like to thank Maryanne Reed for helping me organize all of the tape-recorded interviews and transcripts that were pivotal to the research behind this book.
My thanks also to Jonathan Hahn, my personal publicist and good friend.
Thanks also to all of those from “Team JRT”: attorney James M. Leonard; CPA Michael Horowitz, of Horowitz, McMahon and Zarem in Southern California, Inc.; and also Felinda deYoung, of Horowitz et al.
Thanks to Andy Steinlen; George Solomon; Jeff Hare; Andy Hirsch; Samuel Munoz; Bruce Rheins and Dawn Westlake; Richard Tyler Jordan; and all of my good friends, too many to list here but they know who they are.
I have always been so blessed to have a family as supportive as mine. My thanks and love go out to Roslyn and Bill Barnett and Jessica and Zachary, Rocco and Rosemaria Taraborrelli and Rocco and Vincent, and Arnold Taraborrelli. Special thanks to my father, Rocco. A big smile, also, for Spencer.
Picture Acknowledgments
All images © mptvimages.com with the exception of:
The Christaldi Collection / mptvimages.com: here; here; here; here; here
© Mel Traxel / mptvimages.com: here
© Sid Avery / mptvimages.com: here; here; here
© David Sutton / mptvimages.com: here; here and here; here
Photo by Ken Veeder / © Capitol Records / mptvimages.com: here
© Bob Willoughby / mptvimages.com: here
© Bernie Abramson / mptvimages.com: here
© Gene Trindl / mptvimages.com: here
© Ted Allan / mptvimages.com: here; here; here and here
John Enstead / mptvimages.com: here
© Martin Mills / mptvimages.com: here; here
© Ed Trasher / mptvimages.com: here and here; here and here
INDEX
ABC-TV Sinatra Timex specials, ref1
Academy Awards, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Accardo, Tony, ref1
Adler, Buddy, ref1, ref2, ref3
Adonis, Joe, ref1
Agnew, Spiro T., ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
AIDS Project Los Angeles, ref1
Algren, Nelson, ref1
All Alone (album), ref1
Allen, Woody, ref1
Allenberg, Burt, ref1
“All of Me,” ref1
“All or Nothing at All,” ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
“All the Way,” ref1
Allyson, June, ref1
Altman, Alan, ref1
America I Hear You Singing (album), ref1
Americana Hotel, NY, ref1
American Federation of Radio Artists, ref1
American Mercury magazine, ref1
Amsler, James, ref1
Amsler, Joseph Clyde, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
Anastasia, Albert, ref1
Anchors Aweigh (film), ref1
Andreotti, Giulio, ref1
“Angel Eyes,” ref1, ref2, ref3
Aniston, Ethel, ref1, ref2
Anka, Paul, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Annenberg, Walter, ref1
Arden, Harold, ref1, ref2
Armstrong, Louis, ref1
Astaire, Fred, ref1
“As Time Goes By,” ref1
Babes in Arms (Broadway musical), ref1
Bacall, Lauren, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Baker, Anita, ref1
“Bali Ha’i,” ref1, ref2
Ball, Lucille, ref1, ref2
Bantam Books, ref1
Barbato, Mike, ref1
Barefoot Contessa, The (film), ref1
Barrett, Rona, ref1, ref2
Barton, Ben, ref1
Barton, Eileen, ref1
Barzie, Tino, ref1
Basie, Count, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Beatles, ref1
Beau, Heinie, ref1
“Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” ref1
Bennett, Tony, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Benny, Jack, ref1, ref2, ref3
Berle, Milton, ref1
Berlin, Irving, ref1, ref2
Bernstein, Leonard, ref1, ref2
Berrigan, Bunny, ref1
“Best Is Yet to Come, The,” ref1, ref2
Billboard; ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Bishop, Joey, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Blackwell, Richard, ref1
“Blue Skies,” ref1
Bobby Tucker Singers, ref1
Bogart, Humphrey, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Bonanno, Joe “Bananas,” ref1
Bono, ref1
Bonucelli, Dorothy (Alora Gooding), ref1, ref2, ref3
Boots Enterprises Inc., ref1
Borgnine, Ernest, ref1, ref2
Bowen, Jimmy, ref1, ref2
Bowes, Major, ref1, ref2
Boys’ Town of Italy, ref1
Bradlee, Benjamin, ref1
Brando, Marlon, ref1, ref2
Brazil, Rio Palace shows, ref1
Brisson, Frederick “Freddie,” ref1, ref2
Britt, Mai, ref1
Brown, Edmund “Jerry,” Jr., ref1
Brunswick record label, ref1, ref2
Bunker, Richard, ref1
Burke, Sonny, ref1
Burns, Lillian, ref1
Bushkin, Joey, ref1
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” ref1
Cabré, Mario, ref1, ref2, ref3
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; Sinatra and daughter act, ref1; Waterman incident, ref1, ref2
Cagney, Jimmy, ref1
Cahn, Sammy, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Cain, Marilyn, ref1
Callas, Charlie, ref1
Cal-Neva Lodge, Lake Tahoe, ref1, ref2, ref3; Marilyn Monroe and Sinatra at, ref1; Sam Giancana incident, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4; Sinatra investment in, ref1; Sinatra sells share of, ref1; Sinatra’s suicide attempt and, ref1
Can-Can (film), ref1
Candullo, Joe, ref1
Candy Store, Beverly Hills, ref1, ref2
Capiello, Steve, ref1, ref2
Capitol Records, ref1n, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5n, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; 1953 recording sessions, ref1, ref2; 1993 recording sessions, ref1; “I’ll Never Smile Again” recorded, ref1n; Sinatra’s earnings and, ref1
Capitol Theater, NYC, ref1, ref2
Capone, Al, ref1
Capra, Frank, ref1
Carbone, Anna, ref1
Carnegie Hall, NYC, ref1
Carousel (Broadway Musical), ref1
Carpozi, George, ref1
Carson, Johnny, ref1
Casnoff, Philip, ref1
Cassavetes, John, ref1
Cast a Giant Shadow (film), ref1
Castellano, Paul, ref1
Castle, William, ref1
“Castle Rock,” ref1
Cattaneo, Hank, ref1
CBS-TV, ref1, ref2, ref3
Chase, Barrie, ref1
Chasen, David, ref1
Chasen’s Restaurant, ref1
Cheshire, Maxine, ref1
Chester, Bob, ref1
Chez Paree, Chicago, ref1, ref2
Chicago Theatre, ref1
“Ciribiribin,” ref1
Ciro’s, Hollywood, ref1
Clemens, Paul, ref1
Clift, Montgomery, ref1, ref2
Clinton, Bill, ref1
Clooney, Rosemary, ref1, ref2
Cobb, Lee J., ref1, ref2
“Cockeyed Optimist, A,” ref1
Cohen, Carl, ref1, ref2, r
ef3
Cohen, Mickey, ref1
Cohn, Harry, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6n
Cohn, Joan, ref1
Cohn, Mickey, ref1
Cohn, Roy, ref1
Colbert, Claudette, ref1
Cole, Nat King, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Coleman, Cy, ref1
Collins, Victor LeCroix, ref1, ref2
Colombo, Russ, ref1
Columbia Pictures, ref1, ref2
Columbia Records, ref1, ref2, ref3n, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9; drops Sinatra, ref1, ref2; Sinatra records “Why Try to Change Me Now,” ref1; Sinatra’s earnings and, ref1
Come Blow Your Horn (film), ref1
Come Dance With Me (album), ref1
“Come Fly with Me,” ref1
Come Fly With Me (album), ref1
“Come Rain or Come Shine,” ref1
Come Swing With Me (album), ref1n
Como, Perry, ref1, ref2, ref3
Concert Sinatra, The (album), ref1
Condon, Richard, ref1
Confidential magazine, ref1
Congressional Gold Medal, ref1
Conte, John, ref1
Conversations with Kennedy (Bradlee), ref1
Copacabana, NYC, ref1, ref2, ref3; 1950 engagement at, ref1, ref2, ref3; 1957 engagement at, ref1; Monroe sees Sinatra at, ref1
Corrado, Doris, ref1
Cosell, Howard, ref1
Cosgrove, Ruth, ref1
Cossette, Pierre, ref1
Costa, Don, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Costello, Frank, ref1
Costra Nostra (Mafia or “the Mob”): cancellation of JFK’s visit to Sinatra’s home and, ref1; Cronkite interview and, ref1; end of an era, ref1; Havana, Cuba meeting, ref1; in Hoboken, ref1, ref2; Justice Department report, ref1; Kennedy’s war on, ref1; New Jersey investigation of, ref1; Sinatra and, ref1, ref2, ref3n, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10; Sinatra’s gambling license and, ref1, ref2
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