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Sinatra

Page 117

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.
r />   “A New High”: Nevada State Journal, Jan. 24, 1957, p. 7.

  “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.

 

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