Sinatra

by Anthony Summers

  63 first sang in Indianapolis: The first Sinatra performance with Dorsey is variously said to have been in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, or Baltimore (Friedwald, 83, Goldmine, Mar. 22, 1991).

  63 talk of altering/“will never”: Freedland, 52.

  63–64 Dorsey/FS start: (“Romantic Virtuoso”) Sanford, 269; (“We knew”) Freedland, 52; (“Out came”/“I just thought”) Freedland, 52, Dwiggins, 33, Hamill, 109, int. Jo Stafford; (Boy, this) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (“broke it up”) Simon, 166; (“actually looked”) New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946; (“in awe”) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (intruder) Douglas-Home, 23; (“He just moved”) Billboard,Nov. 20, 1965; (band routine) Frank, 30–, Dwiggins, 33; (groomed) Frank, 30, New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946; (Sevano joined) int. Nick Sevano; (extravagant)New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946; (“broke”) “Artanis Knarf,” unid. Bobby Burns article, MHL.

  64–65 FS/Dorsey relations: (dinner) Douglas-Home, 24; (Patsy’s) Newsday, Jul. 24, 2002; (“One time”) Douglas-Home, 24; (“At first everyone”) “Artanis Knarf,” unid. Bobby Burns article, MHL; (“the old man”) Screen Star, Jun. 28, 1955; (“like a father”) Friedwald, 88; (“I’d sit up”) Douglas-Home, 24; (education)Simon, 170; (Dorsey mother) Wilson, 34; (pranks) ibid., 35, Earl Wilson, The Show Business Nobody Knows, New York: Bantam, 1973, 155–; (cologne/ toothpaste) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (trains) Simon, 171; (perfection) int. Peter Levinson.

  65–66 breath control: (“sang a song”) Screen Star, Jun. 28, 1955; (barely any coaching) Life, Apr. 23, 1965; (“Tommy taught me”) Shaw, Sinatra, 33; (elocution)ed. Yarwood, 63; (“I used to watch”/“I’d swear”/“He showed”) Bill Boggs int., and see FS int. by Zion, LAHE, Jun. 6, 1981; (invitation) ibid.

  65–66 FS and classical music: George Evans press release, 1940, MHL, LAT, Aug. 12, 1943. The huge record collection Sinatra would amass once he became wealthy, while largely devoted to jazz, would include more than two hundred classical albums (Metronome, May 1943, Movie Show, Jul. 31, 1947); (Debussy) Movieland, Jun. 11, 1945; (Brahms) Silver Screen, Mar. 24, 1948; (Heifetz) McCall’s, Jul. 1968; Sinatra Diamond Jubilee Tour program, FS int. by Arlene Francis, Oct. 1, 1977, WOR (NY), Joy Williams, “Frank Sinatra,” www.artistwd .com; (“Every time”/“You never”/“I thought”) FS int. by Zion, Life, Apr. 23, 1965, and see Freedland, 65–, Friedwald, 87; (“I did lots”) FS int. by Zion, and see Bill Boggs int.; (increase range) int. Joey Bushkin; (“Frank can hold”) Cahn, 130–; (“calisthenics”/vocalize) FS int. by Zion, Freedland, 55; (rehearsed) Friedwald, 88.

  66 bel canto: (waiter said) New York Daily News, Jan. 17, 1982.

  66–67 “something different”: Life, Apr. 23, 1965—Sinatra suggested in this article that his work on bel canto began in the mid-1930s, yet goes on to indicate that his work in this area was later, from about 1940. This makes more sense; (“never-never-land stuff ”) Opera News, Nov. 1996; (Pavarotti) Sinatra, Legend, 289; (“moaning”) Henry Pleasants, The Great American Popular Singers, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974, 187, and see Stereo Review, Nov. 1971; (“I didn’t know”) int. Connie Haines.

  67 “We were all sure”: Friedwald, 84–.

  67 Astor: (location) NYT, Dec. 29, 2002; (reopening/FS performance) Friedwald, 90–, int. Joe Bushkin; (jam-packed) Tormé, 61.

  67 records: (anxious) Wilson, Sinatra, 29, Goldmine, Mar. 22, 1991; (“three hard-thrill”) Shaw, Sinatra, 192; (Eighty-four songs) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1945; (forty in the first year) John Ridgway, The Sinatra File, Part 2, Birmingham, UK: John Ridgway Books, 1978, 14.

  67–68 “Never Smile”: Shaw, Sinatra, 27, Sanford, 176, Friedwald, 93, ints. Joe Bushkin, Jo Stafford. Sources have disagreed on the genesis of the song. The initial version was that songwriter Ruth Lowe wrote it following the death of her music publicist husband during an operation. This account was later questioned, as was the process by which the song reached Dorsey (Wilson, Sinatra, 29, Dwiggins, 34–, “Composers and Lyricists Database,” http:info.net/.CAL/t16.htm, FS int. WOR (NY), Sep. 25, 1981, Goldmine, Mar. 22, 1991); (“real easy”) Dwiggins, 34; (twelve weeks) Ed O’Brien with Robert Wilson, Sinatra 101, New York: Boulevard Books, 1996, 3, “Sinatra on the Wireless,” Sinatra Music Society, 2000—author John Rockwell notes that “Never Smile” stayed on the charts for four months, Rockwell, 72; (endless play) Sciacca, Sinatra, 40; (bonus) Wilson, Sinatra, 30; (milestone) FS in Silver Screen, Mar. 24, 1948.

  68–69 war mood: (“until, in God’s good time”) Harold Evans, The American Century,London: Jonathan Cape, 1998, 301; (draft) Address to the Registrants under the Selective Service Law, Oct. 16, 1940, Mt. Holyoke Library; (questionnaire) SAC Newark to Director, Feb. 10, 1944, FBI 25-244122-3; (“Young man”) As I Remember It, Frank Sinatra Jr. commentary, Angel Records, 1996.

  69 Las Vegas Nights: (Palladium) Tormé, 64–, Simon, 169; (“Never Smile”/fee) O’Brien, 204, int. A. C. Lyles; (“lying in that warm”) “Artanis Knarf,” unid. Bobby Burns article, MHL; (suite) int. Connie Haines.

  69–70 affairs/state of marriage: (Gooding) int. Nick Sevano, Kelley, 56–; (excited by news) Modern Screen, Jul. 17, 1947, Sinatra, Legend, 43; (“Miss Moonbeams”) Freedland, 55; (“Nancy”) Friedwald, 142–, Sinatra, My Father, 69–; (“Frank would tap”) int. Joe Bushkin; (“I used to stand”) David Hanna, Sinatra,New York: Gramercy Books, 1990, 16; (“I looked up”) Liz Smith, Natural Blonde, New York: Hyperion, 2000, 306; (“There was this thin”) int. Peggy Maley; (“the way he caressed”) ed. Vare, 43; (“I can have”) Taraborrelli, 46; (Cahn) Cahn, 132; (“A short time after”) American Weekly, Jul. 20, 1952; (“because of ”) Sinatra with Coplon, 15.

  70 “This Love of Mine”: Friedwald, 106, Shaw, Sinatra, 29—Sol Parker, a shirt salesman, also contributed to the song. Although eight songs have been attributed to Sinatra, the music writer Will Friedwald commits himself only to Sinatra’s authorship of “This Love of Mine” and “I’m a Fool to Want You” (“Sinatra the Songwriter,” at www.members.aol.com/artanis103/sinatra.htm).

  70 “Nothing meant”: Levinson, September, 114.

  70 Dorsey had said repeatedly: Cosmopolitan, May 1956.

  71 FS remembered: Life, Apr. 23, 1965.

  70 Crosby and FS: ed. Yarwood, 116, Hamill, 24–. Don Dwiggins, author of Frankie, wrote that Sinatra and Crosby met briefly during the shooting of Las Vegas Nights. Other sources indicate they did not meet until 1941 or 1943 (Dwiggins, 35, but see Friedwald, 92, Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, and Louella Parsons in Los Angeles Examiner, Jan. 7, 1962).

  70 “This Sinatra”: “Artanis Knarf,” unid. Bobby Burns article, MHL.

  70 survey/magazines: Shaw, Sinatra, 28–, Goldmine, Mar. 22, 1991, Sciacca, Sinatra,40, Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002.

  71 arrogance/violence: (“cocky”) Metronome, Sep. 1943; (“best singer”) Cahn, 132; (Wilson) Wilson, Sinatra, 30–; (“He didn’t like me”/“He called me ‘cornball’ ”) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002, int. Connie Haines, and see Connie Haines, For Once in My Life, New York: Warner, 1976, 39–; (“sulk”) Screen Star, Jun. 28, 1955; (“I was changing”) int. Lucille Kirk Buccini, M/G int. of Buccini; (Hawkins) Levinson, Blues, 70; (drunk) Sanford, 184; (“flew off”) Shaw, Sinatra,26; (“The trouble”) Milton Berle, Milton Berle, New York: Delacorte, 1974, 212.

  71–72 Rich: (egos) Simon, 169; (tempers) Levinson, Blues, 209, Tormé, Traps, 62; (rooming) Douglas-Home, 23; (bus) photo—Sinatra, Legend, 45; (little chance) Tormé, Traps, 60–; (billing) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (irritate) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Dwiggins, 34, ints. Joe Bushkin, Jo Stafford, Freedland, 61; (pitcher incident) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002, ints. Jo Stafford, Joe Bushkin, Connie Haines, Tormé, Traps, 62; (Rich beaten up) Down Beat, Sep. 1, 1940; (“coldly”/“he had asked”) Tormé, Traps, 62–; (Frank lent) New Jersey Monthly, Feb. 1982, Dwiggins, 34; (performed together) JazzTimes, May 1998, Golden Nugget poster; (helped when ill) ( Ireland) Sunday Independent, Apr. 15, 2001; (“He’s the most”) Kelley, 64.

  72–73 FS/Dorsey rift: (short fuse)
Simon, 170, int. Tommy Dorsey III, Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (FS sent home) Tormé, Traps, 63; (fired FS) int. Connie Haines; (“all they wanted”) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946; (“This boy’s going”) Wilson, Sinatra, 31—the reporter was Earl Wilson; (Dorsey and uniforms) Simon, 171; (“go and comb”) Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002; (“We were like puppets”) Life, May 3, 1943, and see Hamill, 110; (year’s notice) Douglas-Home, 25, Friedwald, 111, but see doubt as to whether he gave notice at Levinson, September, 114; ($250) ed. Vare, 34; (“strike”?) Wilson, Sinatra,33; (rehearsed) Friedwald, 108; (“It was a real”) Dwiggins, 40; (“Frank sat”) Haines, 41; (well received) Shaw, Sinatra, 31; (polls) New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946, Redbook, Oct. 1951, Freedland, 59, Taraborrelli, 50; (encores) Shaw, Sinatra,32.

  73 raise to $400: While Dorsey biographer Peter Levinson refers to a raise to $400, Sinatra asserted later that he was earning only $150 a week at this time (Palm Springs Life, Feb. 2002, American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952).

  73 FS leaves Dorsey: (“He started talking”) Kelley, 60–; (FS felt had to leave) Douglas-Home, 25, FS int. by Zion, Shaw, Sinatra, 32; (Dorsey reaction) FS int. by Zion, New York Daily News, Jan. 23, 1978, Kelley, 61, Sinatra, Legend, 50; (two more years?) FS in American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952—FS referred to “one more year with options” while Nick Sevano has spoken of the full contract having been for five years; M/G int. of Sevano; (late/walking out) M/G int. of Nick Sevano; (schedule) Sinatra, Legend, 48–; (“Let him go”) Wilson, Sinatra, 35.

  73–74 sang with Dorsey last time: Sinatra himself, and a contemporary report by Metronome’s George Simon, indicate that the last performance with Dorsey was on September 10 (Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Metronome, May 1943).

  74 “was literally crying”: Cosmopolitan, May 1956.

  74 “You’re not gonna leave”: FS int. by Zion.

  74 severance deal: (terms) “Assignment of Wages,” Sep. 3, 1942, supplied to authors by Tommy Dorsey III, FS in American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952, Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Freedland, 69. One music magazine was to calculate that Sinatra was committed to pay over 93 percent of his earnings to others. Another waggish theory had it that he had managed to sell more than 100 percent of himself. Sinatra’s predecessor Jack Leonard had been released only under basically the same conditions. Connie Haines had a similar contract, although Dorsey did not hold her to it (percentages—Shaw, Sinatra, 62; Leonard/ Haines—Sciacca, Sinatra, 39, int. Connie Haines, Haines, 58); (unlimited) ibid., int. Tommy Dorsey III, and see “Assignment of Wages.”

  74 FS/Dorsey dispute: (“wrong for anybody”) Shaw, Sinatra, 62, New York Journal-American, Aug. 25, 1943; (“ratty”) Sinatra, Legend, 49; (suit) New York Journal-American, Aug. 25, 1943, Chicago’s American, Sep. 26, 1966.

  74–75 “I hired”: American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952. References to the amount of the severance deal have varied. The authors here cite Sinatra’s 1952 version, but Nancy Sinatra’s two books on her father refer to a total sum of $75,000. It has generally been said that Sinatra’s contribution to the deal was ponied up by Columbia Records, as an advance against future royalties. Columbia was reportedly persuaded to pay on Sinatra’s behalf by its senior executive Manie Sacks, who believed in Sinatra’s potential. Another theory, propounded by author Michael Freedland, is that Dorsey made the arrangement possible for Sinatra by agreeing to wait until he could find the money ($60,000—American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952, and see Down Beat, Aug. 1998 reprinting article of Sep. 15, 1953; $75,000—Sinatra, My Father, 40, Sinatra, Legend, 50; Columbia—Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; Freedland—Freedland, 72); (“No! No! No!”) FS int. by Zion; (Jaffe/Dorsey exchange) drawn from FS int. by Zion, and Sinatra, My Father, 40.

  75 physical threat to Dorsey: (article) New American Mercury, Aug. 1951—the article was by the hostile journalist Lee Mortimer; (“Tommy told me”) int. Ed Becker; (FS insisted) American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952, Sinatra, My Father, 39, FS int. by Zion, and see FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981; (attorney/aide) Kelley, 63–; (Dexter) ints. Brad Dexter.

  75 Dorsey children and threat: ints. Tommy Dorsey III, Patricia Dorsey Hooker. As reported in Randy Taraborrelli’s biography of Sinatra, quoting Sinatra’s friend Joey D’Orazio, Dorsey was threatened not by “real underworld characters but just some frightening fellows” known to Sinatra and Hank Sanicola. D’Orazio knew this, he is quoted as saying, because he himself had been asked to fly to Los Angeles with the men involved. He refused to take part, but learned about the threat to Dorsey afterward. He said Sanicola “didn’t want Sinatra to know any of the details . . . he always wanted Sinatra to be able to claim that he didn’t know nuttin’ about nuttin’.” Taraborrelli also quoted Bea Wilken, a friend of Dorsey’s then wife Pat Dane, as saying that Sinatra “sent his fellows to hurt Tommy” (Taraborrelli, 65).

  75–76 Moretti involvement?: (“I was visited”) Parade, Jan. 12, 1964; (“Let’s say”) int. Dan Lewis, Peter Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin’ in a Great Big Way. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005, p. 161; (“The Italians”) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 233; (“when some dough”) Gosch and Hammer, 312; (Bureau of Narcotics document) “File Review and Summary Check,” Frank Sinatra, Sep. 19, 1960, FBI 100-41413-121, and see “Correlation Summary,” Frank Sinatra, Jun. 8, 1964, FSFBI, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 1968, Gage, 81–, int. Ralph Salerno; (“assigned”) int. Sonny King; (“friends with the Boys”) Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 17, 1998; (“You don’t know Italians”) Lees, 91, ints. Gene Lees, Gene DiNovi.

  Chapter 8: “F-R-A-N-K-I-E-E-E-E-E!”

  77 Dorsey on FS leaving: (“I hope you fall”) Sinatra, Legend, 50; (did not think) Lawrence Quirk and William Schoell, The Rat Pack, Dallas: Taylor, 1998, 25.

  77 Sacks recognized: Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946.

  77 industry paralyzed: Goldmine, Mar. 22, 1991, Simon, 54. Sacks had known Sinatra since his days at the Rustic Cabin, twice heard him sing with Dorsey, and assured him of recording work as a soloist “anytime you’re free.” He reportedly persuaded Columbia to contribute $25,000 to help Sinatra get out of his Dorsey contract (see chapter 7, page 74 supra.). Sacks and Sinatra signed an initial agreement in 1942, and Columbia found ways around the union dispute. In May 1943 the company rereleased “All or Nothing at All,” which had been recorded with Harry James in 1939, and it now became a million-copy best seller. The following month Sinatra cut the first of nine solo songs sung a capella, accompanied only by voices because of the ban on using musicians. Normal recording did not resume until November 1944, by which time Sinatra had shot to the top by other routes (Sacks—Woman’s Home Companion, May 1956, Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; first agreement—Friedwald, 122; “All or Nothing at All”/a capella—Ridgway, pt. 2, 21, 26–).

  77 no sure thing: (Reveille) O’Brien, 204; (NBC) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Shaw, 38; (Burns) George Burns, Dr. Burns’ Prescription for Happiness, New York: Putnam, 1984, 151; (Babs) Music Web Encyclopedia of Popular Music, www.musicweb .uk.net; (CBS) Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Friedwald, 121–; (theaters) FS int. by Zion, FS int. by Arlene Francis, Oct. 1, 1977, WOR (NY).

  77–78 Romm/Weitman/Mosque: (got the attention) Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Chicago’s American, Sep. 26, 1966; (half full) Woman’s Home Companion, May 1956; (“He rang me”) FS int. by Zion.

  78 Paramount: (described) “Paramount Building Timeline,” Tobin Parnes Design Enterprises, http://tobinparnes.com, “The Paramount Building,” www.greatgridlock.net, Wilson, Sinatra, 25; (At dawn) FS int. by Zion.

  78–79 “EXTRA” at Paramount: photo in Doctor, 26. Sources have varied as to whether the Paramount opening was on December 30 or 31, 1942. A contemporary advertisement in Metronome established that it was on December 30 (30th— entry, Where or When? CD compiled by Giuseppe Marcucci, Dick Schwarz, and Ed Vanhellemonk, privately published, Jan. 2002, Shaw, Sinatra, 40, Dwiggins, 45; 31st—Friedwald, 123, FS int. by Zion; advert
isement—Doctor, 25–). (“Who’s he”) Shaw, Sinatra, 40; (“Benny”/“I thought”) Sinatra, My Father, 44; (“F-R-A-N-K-I-E-E-E-E-E”) ibid., 45; (“absolutely deafening”/Goodman could not imagine) Dwiggins, 45, Kelley, 66; (“For Me and My Gal”) Dwiggins, 45; (“Black Magic”) Silver Screen, Mar. 24, 1948; (“The devout”) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (a hundred songs) Wilson, Sinatra, 40; (nine shows) Life, Aug. 23, 1965—but see “10 shows,” Life, Jun. 25, 1971; (“One Saturday”) Larry King int. of FS, May 19, 1998 (rerun); (family to theater) New York Daily News, Apr. 2, 1944, Kelley, 95–; (Marty/Francesco) Freedland, 80, NYT, May 17, 1990, FS int. on Suzy Visits; (appearance extended) Life, May 3, 1943, Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946, Newsweek, Mar. 22, 1943, Metronome, May 1943.

  79–80 bobbysoxers: (typically dressed) Taraborrelli, 54fn; (bobbysoxers) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (“The squealing”) Armand Deutsch, Me and Bogie, New York: Putnam, 1991, 103, int. Armand Deutsch; (settled in) New Yorker, Nov. 2, 1946, int. Al Viola, Alan Dale, The Spider and the Marionettes, New York: Lyle Stuart, 1965, 53; (urinated) Hi Fidelity, Aug. 1971, Shaw, Sinatra, 42; (“They would scream”) int. Al Viola; (“hushed”) Kahn, 51; (to knees/billboards) Freedland, 78, Wilson, Sinatra, 40, Kahn, 54; (trimmings) Liberty, Feb. 12, 1944, Kahn, 55, Wilson, Sinatra, 56; (handkerchief) Wilson, Sinatra, 54; (in front of his car) Kahn, 55, int. Jo Carroll Dennison; (flowers, etc.) Kahn, 66; (underwear thrown) int. Nick Sevano; (brassieres/opened coat) Dwiggins, 37; (“He was my idol”) int. Marie Carruba; (“Groups of little girls”) All or Nothing at All, BBC radio documentary, undated, audiotape in authors’ collection, NYT, Oct. 13, 1974—Lear appears to have seen FS at the Paramount and in Boston, and see Friedwald, 124, Kahn, 63, Dwiggins, 48; (“poor”) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (“plain”) Kahn, 46; (“unkempt”) Cosmopolitan, May 1956.