Sinatra

by James Kaplan

  “Frank and his entourage”: Van Meter, Last Good Time, p. 194.

  And the week—between: Variety, Aug. 29, 1962.

  “It is the belief of”: Uniontown Morning Herald, Aug. 29, 1962.

  “The 28-year-old association”: Variety, Sept. 18, 1962.

  “I didn’t care for it”: Lewisohn, Tune In, p. 731.

  Nancy Sinatra, wanting to give: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 150; Kelley, His Way, p. 333.

  “I certainly didn’t approach”: Bud Yorkin, in discussion with the author, Feb. 2006.

  “Frank came and sat down”: Ibid.

  “I was confused”: MacLaine, My Lucky Stars, p. 68.

  “At 3:16 AM”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, pp. 170–71.

  “I’ve waited twenty years”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 404.

  “would be a bad musical marriage”: Ed O’Brien, Sinatra 101, p. 128.

  But the truth of the matter: Will Friedwald, in discussion with the author, Feb. 2015.

  “If I could put together”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 405.

  “Frank Sinatra, on a fast visit”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 20, 1962.

  “Using a double only”: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 145.

  The ability to grip: Winspur and Parry, The Musician’s Hand, pp. 77–80.

  “I thought this might”: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 327.

  “Following his own acting”: Ibid.

  “Every once in a rare”: Ibid.

  “The picture is really fascinating”: Ringgold and McCarty, Films of Frank Sinatra, p. 187.

  Frank’s daughter Nancy remembered: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 185.

  “Dad flew in and met”: Tina Sinatra, My Father’s Daughter, pp. 95–96.

  “I don’t know how”: Freedland, All the Way, p. 285.

  “On the set”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Oct. 29, 1962.

  “It was low-key”: Tony Bill, in discussion with the author, May 2006.

  In the 1920s, it had been: Sengstock, That Toddlin’ Town, p. 144.

  It was the kind of place: United Press, Feb. 12, 1961.

  Giancana was a part owner: Levy, Rat Pack Confidential, p. 227.

  some reports said as much: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 277.

  “I was singing”: Ibid., p. 278.

  “That Frank, he wants more”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, p. 168.

  In the meantime, more: Sheilah Graham, syndicated column, Nov. 2, 1962; Ed Sullivan, syndicated column, Dec. 5, 1962.

  “Because a friend asked me”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 278.

  “who himself owed Mooney”: Ibid.

  and the showroom, in which: Don MacLean, syndicated column, Dec. 8, 1962.

  “Lines snaked around”: Levy, Rat Pack Confidential, pp. 228–29.

  But Giancana made his real money: Kelley, His Way, p. 296.

  Matty Malneck, the composer: Marcucci, Where or When.

  The two had become deeply: Seymour M. Hersh, Dark Side of Camelot, p. 323.

  “Baby, that’s a very good”: Kelley, His Way, p. 297.

  On the third, just before: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 314.

  FBI wiretaps later: Ibid., p. 298; Levy, Rat Pack Confidential, p. 230.

  “Good thing Peter”: Sheilah Graham, syndicated column, Dec. 11, 1962.

  CHAPTER 19

  “Do you remember me”: Server, Ava Gardner, pp. 404–5.

  “Ava Gardner and Yves Montand”: Walter Winchell, syndicated column, Jan. 16, 1963.

  “We stayed at a villa”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 406.

  “The hospital didn’t disclose”: Associated Press, Jan. 21, 1963.

  On February 3: Long Beach (Calif.) Independent Press-Telegram, Feb. 3, 1963.

  On January 1: San Mateo (Calif.) Times, Jan. 1, 1963.

  At the end of the first week: Parade, Dec. 9, 1962.

  He’d come east: United Press, Feb. 11, 1963; Kelley, His Way, p. 309.

  she had a disconcerting: Author interview with confidential source.

  “She was a pisser”: MacLaine, My Lucky Stars, p. 85.

  “I remember Dolly”: Tina Sinatra, My Father’s Daughter, p. 73.

  “For the [parents]”: New Castle (Del.) News, Feb. 11, 1963.

  “I’ve never heard”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, pp. 120–21.

  Frank had left the invitation: Kelley, His Way, pp. 309–10; also see Kaplan, Frank, pp. 23–24.

  “My son is like me”: Kelley, His Way, p. 310.

  “Everything happens to Frank”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Feb. 14, 1963.

  “Ava Gardner has become”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Feb. 18, 1963.

  “Ava Gardner, hair straight”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Feb. 20, 1963.

  “Ava Gardner and Peter Duchin”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Feb. 25, 1963.

  Frank junior says there were: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 170.

  “as a kind of work therapy”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 261.

  “on 35-millimeter”: Will Friedwald, in discussion with the author, July 2014.

  “it was such an incredibly”: Levinson, September in the Rain, p. 154.

  “The Reprise version”: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 328.

  “the worst possible time”: Tina Sinatra, My Father’s Daughter, p. 70.

  “cute, smart, and funny”: Ibid., pp. 71–72.

  “They shared a certain”: Ibid., pp. 73–74.

  He was packed off: Ibid., p. 81.

  “Until September 1958”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 322.

  But that summer: Associated Press, July 30, 1962.

  “If my son is going”: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, Oct. 9, 1962.

  “He’s more of an actor”: Associated Press, Dec. 23, 1962.

  a ghost band: Levinson, Dorsey, p. 309.

  “Mike was absolutely”: Mo Ostin, in discussion with the author, Aug. 2012.

  “I used to go to have”: Mike Shore, in discussion with the author, Jan. 2007.

  “Sinatra said, ‘I don’t want’ ”: Ibid.

  “PLAYBOY: Many explanations”: Playboy, Feb. 1963.

  ABC’s cameras were: Cynthia Lowry, syndicated column, April 9, 1963.

  “a little lecture in show biz”: Ibid.

  “Before we get on”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8vnDMyQcfo.

  “Frank Sinatra sold”: Hedda Hopper, syndicated column, April 16, 1963.

  “consolation prize”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 157.

  And second, Betsy: Betsy Duncan Hammes, in discussion with the author, June 2011.

  “I had some sugar cubes”: Ibid.

  a new toy: Sun Lakes Aero Club, “Frank Sinatra and His Lear Jet N175FS,” www.sunlakesaeroclub.org/updates_web_data/081231/Sinatra.htm.

  and a Hughes 269A: Jimmy Van Heusen, private memoir.

  He had also just bought: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Dec. 11, 1962.

  “Every time Frankie spits”: Associated Press, Jan. 10, 1962.

  “If you approve one”: Ibid.

  “not more than 35”: Ibid.

  As Friedwald points out: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 260.

  Bernhart had a soundtrack-recording: Ibid.

  “They put a tiny turd”: Berg, Goldwyn, p. 473.

  “Both RUDIN”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, p. 181.

  But after the FBI reviewed: Ibid., pp. 182–83.

  “The Los Angeles Division”: Ibid., pp. 184–85.

  “TO: SAC”: Ibid., p. 186.

  “After going at top”: Bob Thomas, syndicated column, May 1, 1963.

  “HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS”: FBI file on Giancana.

  Warner Bros. had offered: Leonard Lyons, syndicated column, April 19, 1963.

  “needs the power not”: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000736/bio.

  “Sinatra, tanned and rested”: Hedda Hopper, syndicated column, June 14, 1963.

  “Out for a good time”: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide,
p. 154.

  “She’s back, and I’m”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 282.

  “It’s on. All the way”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 408.

  “Ava had met the fierce”: Ibid., pp. 408–9.

  “These creeps are going”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 282.

  “We had a great time”: Kelley, His Way, p. 317.

  “So when are you two”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 409.

  the twenty-one-year-old sensation: Lowell (Mass.) Sun, June 9, 1963.

  “got into the worst fight”: Kelley, His Way, p. 317.

  Frank, being Frank: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, June 14, 1963.

  Frank strove to please: Ibid.

  “never liked women”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 226.

  “Sam didn’t like her”: Kelley, His Way, p. 318.

  “This was more than Frank”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 283.

  “Buddy boy”: Server, Ava Gardner, p. 410.

  “Suddenly,” a witness recalled: Kelley, His Way, p. 318.

  “that while GIANCANA”: FBI file on Giancana, CG 92-349.

  “Why don’t you fucks”: Kelley, His Way, p. 316.

  “We have learned”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, pp. 186–87.

  “If Bobby Kennedy wants”: Kelley, His Way, p. 316.

  But unknown to Giancana: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, pp. 496–97.

  The grounds: the agency: Giancana and Giancana, Double Cross, pp. 321–22.

  “SAD TALE”: Van Meter, Last Good Time, p. 195.

  “that the G-men were”: United Press, July 1, 1963.

  “detailing every aspect”: Giancana and Giancana, Double Cross, p. 322.

  And the FBI car: United Press, July 16, 1963.

  “[Redacted] furnished”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, p. 187.

  “much to the consternation”: Ibid.

  On July 19: Oakland Tribune, July 19 and 21, 1963.

  “Most of the time”: Life, Sept. 27, 1963.

  Kitty Kelley writes: Kelley, His Way, p. 319.

  Soon, in any case: Giancana and Giancana, Double Cross, p. 322.

  “[Redacted] advised”: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, pp. 187–88.

  “Sam came charging”: Kelley, His Way, pp. 319–20.

  “Phyllis was pounding”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, pp. 202–3.

  Someone called the police: Kuntz and Kuntz, Sinatra Files, p. 188; Kelley, His Way, p. 320.

  “I call it a wonderful”: Don Alpert, syndicated column, July 22, 1963.

  The altercation in Chalet 50: “Edward A. Olsen,” University of Nevada Oral History Archive, http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/cdm/ref/collection/unohp/id/2517, p. 159.

  CHAPTER 20

  By early 1963: Bowen, Rough Mix, p. 86.

  “I finally went to Frank”: Mo Ostin, in discussion with the author, Aug. 2012.

  “Giving up on Reprise”: Cornyn, Exploding, p. 52.

  “It was a gamble”: Ibid., p. 51.

  And the label’s roster: Ibid.

  Dean Martin was down: Bowen, Rough Mix, p. 86.

  the man who had first brought: Friedwald, Sinatra!, p. 214.

  Burke would also work: Cornyn, Exploding, p. 51.

  Nitzsche had a Top 10: Van Nuys (Calif.) News, Aug. 16, 1963.

  And then there was: http://www.allmusic.com/album/trini-lopez-at-pjs-mw0000591232.

  “It was a huge picture”: Ostin, discussion.

  “Because Mickey knew”: Ibid.

  “Draft one of the deal”: Cornyn, Exploding, p. 52.

  “A startled Ostin”: Ibid., p. 53.

  “Mickey, it was known”: Ibid.

  “That turned out to be”: Ibid., p. 132.

  “Selling his two-thirds”: Ibid., pp. 53–54.

  “SINATRA NAMED WB”: Variety, Aug. 7, 1963.

  He carried it around: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 204.

  “This is what I call”: Kelley, His Way, p. 324.

  “Jack went crazy”: Ibid., pp. 324–25.

  “Since there has been”: Ibid., p. 325.

  On the advice: Van Meter, Last Good Time, p. 196.

  “Everybody had a short”: Olsen oral history.

  As a result of a childhood: Ibid.

  “We interviewed him”: Ibid.

  Frank sat ringside: Walter Winchell, syndicated column, Aug. 16, 1963.

  “I’m so nervous”: Life, Aug. 23, 1963.

  The place was packed: United Press, Aug. 9, 1963; Variety, Aug. 14, 1963.

  “It’s obviously good”: Variety, Aug. 14, 1963.

  “I’m very proud”: United Press, Aug. 9, 1963.

  “he had charge accounts”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 207.

  “That huge seashore”: Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, July 14, 1963.

  “The new Sinatra sound”: Life, Aug. 23, 1963.

  “red-carpet treatment”: United Press, Aug. 30, 1963.

  “Sinatra’s attorney, a very charming”: Olsen oral history.

  “There’s no truth”: Kelley, His Way, p. 321.

  “conducted very”: United Press, Aug. 30, 1963.

  “Hancock opened the conversation”: Olsen oral history.

  Grandly, Sinatra suggested: Ibid.

  “To describe him”: Ibid.

  “Throw the dirty”: Ibid.

  “Here’s one for each”: Ibid.

  “Skinny tried to grease”: Van Meter, Last Good Time, p. 199.

  “Well, that was just”: Olsen oral history.

  “This was the last thing”: Ibid.

  On Thursday night: Marcucci, Where or When.

  Twelve reels of tape: O’Brien and Sayers, Sinatra, p. 113.

  Jackie Gleason was there: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 13, 1963; Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 207.

  “He is handicapped”: Variety, Sept. 11, 1963.

  “I spoke to Dad”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 321.

  “sojourned to Chalet No. 50”: Ibid.

  “all hell broke loose”: Olsen oral history.

  “Italian-Americans Make”: George E. Sokolsky, syndicated column, July 22, 1959.

  “Trouble, trouble”: Arizona Republic, Sept. 12, 1963.

  “Sinatra has 15 days”: Associated Press, Sept. 12, 1963.

  “Sinatra being the national”: Olsen oral history.

  “If I’m ever roasted”: Ibid.

  “I cannot think of any”: Kelley, His Way, p. 322.

  “I’m going to kick”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 322.

  “the great uplifter”: Ibid., pp. 322–23.

  “Anybody want to buy”: Kelley, His Way, p. 323.

  “There are legal brains”: Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 18, 1963.

  “What the local gambling”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 323.

  “I don’t think it should”: Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 18, 1963.

  At the end of September: Associated Press, Sept. 30, 1963.

  “Aren’t you people being”: Olsen oral history.

  “Now, that’s about the highest”: Ibid.

  The lawyer later told Nancy: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 168.

  He had come well prepared: Olsen oral history.

  In the midst of the proceedings: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 168.

  “because the investigation was”: Ibid.

  “not only as an entertainer”: Ibid.

  “Even this enforced”: Variety, Oct. 9, 1963.

  In the case of his 50 percent: Ibid.

  “his dream, Cal-Neva”: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 176.

  “That fucker shouldn’t”: Van Meter, Last Good Time, p. 201.

  “called Ed Olsen a cripple”: Kelley, His Way, p. 323.

  “That bastard”: Ibid., p. 327.

  “Mr. S never met”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 204.

  “And Davis looks at me”: Olsen oral history.

  “The press, of course, had”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 168.

  Kelly, whose phone wasn’t: Ibid., p. 156.

&nbs
p; “The reason isn’t too hard”: Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, Oct. 21, 1963.

  “I wasn’t making any decisions”: Shaw, Sinatra, p. 329.

  the three-picture deal: Louis Sobol, syndicated column, Nov. 24, 1963.

  Dean played Robbo’s: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 157.

  Production began on Halloween: Ibid., p. 158.

  then shifted to the busy: Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, Nov. 16, 1963.

  The only hint of tension: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 158.

  On his audio commentary: Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood, p. 347.

  Her father was stunned: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 178.

  “Let’s shoot this thing”: Nancy Sinatra, My Father, p. 171.

  Gordon Douglas shot nine: Levy, Rat Pack Confidential, p. 259.

  “Casino execs reported”: Variety, Nov. 27, 1963.

  Sinatra and George Jacobs retreated: Nancy Sinatra, American Legend, p. 178.

  “he holed up”: Jacobs and Stadiem, Mr. S, p. 205.

  “Frank was pretty broken up”: Kelley, His Way, p. 328.

  The Hollywood trade papers: Daniel O’Brien, Frank Sinatra Film Guide, p. 158.

  Nancy senior did: Tina Sinatra, My Father’s Daughter, p. 97.

  “Thanksgiving was a jovial”: Ibid.

  As a student: Dean Torrence, in discussion with the author, July 2013.

  By age twenty-one: “205: Plan B,” This American Life, www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/205/transcript.

  “Not here”: Wilson, Sinatra, pp. 200–201; Taraborrelli, Sinatra, pp. 297–98.

  He left not realizing: “205: Plan B.”

  “Good Lord, Rona”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, p. 299.

  “I got no comment”: Ibid., pp. 299–300.

  along with Mickey Rudin: Ibid., p. 300.

  Both men said: United Press, Dec. 11, 1963.

  “Please. Don’t do”: Ibid.

  The pair were presumed: Associated Press, Dec. 9, 1963.

  “Sinatra is ready”: Nevada State Journal, Dec. 11, 1963.

  Many years later: Summers and Swan, Sinatra, p. 293.

  “God talked to me”: “205: Plan B.”

  He also planned to tithe: Torrence, discussion.

  “Since I was going to have”: “205: Plan B.”

  “And just imagining”: Ibid.

  “It would bring father”: Ibid.

  “No. Fuck you”: Taraborrelli, Sinatra, pp. 303–4.

  “He asked me if I’d turned”: Torrence, discussion.

  Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler: Ibid.