Frank: The Voice (122 page)

  
2.
In fact, there is a famous list of some two hundred important popular songs that Sinatra never recorded, out of either sheer neglect or (far more likely) fear that they wouldn’t sell.

  
3.
Miller threatened to terminate Clooney’s contract if she didn’t record “Come On-a My House.” And as the producer Paul Weston, Jo Stafford’s husband, told Charles L. Granata, “You can’t believe the crap that he had Jo record, tunes like ‘Underneath the Overpass,’ stuff that just died. He would be very persuasive, and the artist didn’t have much choice. They’d say, ‘This is a piece of crap,’ and Mitch would say, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a hit,’ so they’d do it” (Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 193).

  
4
“We like Eddie Fisher”:
Ed O’Brien, in discussion with the author, March 2007.

  
5
“You had to”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 169.

  
6
“Singer Eddie Fisher”:
Fisher,
Been There, Done That
, p. 42.

  
7
“The cash customers”:
Ibid.

  
8
“I became the hottest”:
Ibid., p. 43.

  
9
“I almost fell off my chair”:
Philip Nobile, “Sinatra: Crooner or Canary?”
Gallery
, Sept. 1978.

  
10
“like a lost kitten”:
Ibid.

11
“Van Heusen was a wild man”:
James Kaplan, “The King of Ring-a-Ding-Ding,”
Movies Rock
(a supplemental publication of
Vanity Fair
), Dec. 2007.

12
“We have information”:
Nobile, “Sinatra.”

13
“He’s not going to admit any”:
Ibid.

14
“That’s a heartbreaking”:
George Avakian, in discussion with the author, Oct. 2006.

15
“That’s bullshit”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 192.

16
“when they played”:
Ibid., p. 191.

17
“A love that’s there for others too”:
Lyrics from “I’m a Fool to Want You,” words and music by Jack Wolf, Joel Herron, and Frank Sinatra. From
Where Are You?
(Capitol Records, 1957).

18
“Dolly showed me”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 267.

19
“quieter, withdrawn”:
Ibid.

20
“[looked] at me very carefully”:
Ibid., p. 269.

21
“Stagehands running in and out”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 225.

22
“Please nobody sit”:
Ibid., p. 227.

23
“The only autographs”:
Ibid., p. 225.

24
Featured on the stage”:
Bosley Crowther,
New York Times
, April 26, 1951.

25
“I growled and barked”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 80.

26
“Great stuff, Frank”:
O’Brien, discussion.

27
“She had a dark and roving”:
Lyrics from “Roving Kind,” words and music by Arnold Stanton, Jessie Cavanaugh, and James Cavanaugh (New York: Hollis Music, 1950).

28
“My heart
cries
for you”:
Lyrics from “My Heart Cries for You,” words and music by Percy Faith and Carl Sigman (New York: Massey Music, 1950).

29
“Frank looks at Miller”:
O’Brien, discussion.

30
“You’re a nice guy”:
Lawrence Staig, “Obituaries: Guy Mitchell,”
Independent
, July 5, 1999,
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-guy-mitchell-1104390.html
.

31
“the worst thing”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 76.

32
“You look so lovely”:
Lyrics from “Mama Will Bark,” words and music by Dick Manning (Columbia Records, 1951).

33
Friedwald points out:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 187.

  
1.
Pevney, a journeyman who would go on to direct Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in
3 Ring Circus
, was known for being organized, precise, and relaxed on set—qualities that both Sinatra and the feuding Martin and Lewis tested to the full.

  
2.
Fortunately, Sinatra would get over his distaste for the great song, recording memorable versions of it with Nelson Riddle in 1953 and Neal Hefti in 1962.

  
3
“If I can’t get a divorce”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 182.

  
4
“This is what Frank wants”:
Ibid.

  
5
“I don’t think a woman”:
Ibid.

  
6
“Frank Sinatra was the happiest”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 155.

  
7
“I too had sat”:
Winters,
Shelley
, p. 319.

  
8
“His children were”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 181.

  
9
“Frank was losing”:
Winters,
Shelley
, p. 320.

10
“I can’t remember what”:
Ibid.

11
“Mr. Sinatra is going”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 181.

12
“I’ll have a cup of coffee”:
Ibid., p. 182.

13
“Shelley, if Frank”:
Ibid.

14
“pleasantly tune-filled”:
New York Times
, March 27, 1952.

15
“GET THE FUCK”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 229.

16
“Crooner Frankie Sinatra”:
United Press, Aug. 3, 1951.

17
“The two movie queens”:
United Press, “Ava, Back Out of Seclusion, Gets Snub from Hedy Lamarr,” Aug. 5, 1951.

18
“If you don’t give”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 148.

19
“It was dark”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 271.

20
“Kill the light”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 148.

21
“Next time I’ll kill you”:
Ibid.

22
“I hope I’m going”:
Ibid., p. 149.

23
“I’m sorry to”:
Ibid.

24
“Grossly exaggerated”:
Ibid.

25
“I honestly don’t know”:
Ibid.

26
“It doesn’t really”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 274.

27
“I suppose you wish”:
Ibid.

28
“It was about”:
Ibid., p. 275.

29
“Just a few”:
Ibid.

30
“Oh my God”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 99.

31
“I did not try”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 150.

32
“Tuesday night”:
Ibid.

33
“Ava was chatting”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 232.

34
“Every time I”:
Ibid.

35
“I like the way”:
Bill Miller, in discussion with the author, May 2006.

36
“Sinatra’s my pal”:
Ibid.

37
“Speaking of getting laid”:
Ibid.

  
1.
True to egocentric and vindictive form, for several weeks Frank ended every show by looking the camera straight in the eye and saying, not in a warm and fuzzy way, “I leave you with two words … SHELLEY WINTERS.” He continued the practice until Winters’s lawyer sent CBS and Sinatra’s lawyer a cease-and-desist letter threatening a large lawsuit (Winters,
Shelley
, p. 323).

  
2.
Of course in real life, Bing too was the anti-Crosby, but that, as they say, is another story.

  
3.
This seems as good a place as any to note that for whatever unknown reason, almost all Sinatra books, including some of the most trustworthy and authoritative, insistently misspell Sacks’s surname with an
h
instead of a
k
. The mistake is so widespread that during the course of my research I kept having to refer back to photocopies I had made of letters from Sacks to Sinatra, on the record executive’s stationery, with typed and handwritten signatures, to assure myself that the majority opinion, in this case at least, was wrong. The moral being that any and every convincing assertion about Frank Sinatra’s life should always be examined carefully.

  
4.
And still retains a weird charm after fifty-plus years.

  
5
“Everything is a racket”:
Associated Press, Dec. 14, 1950.

  
6
“spotty, taking full”:
Jim Davidson’s Classic TV Info,
www.classictvinfo.com/Sinatra/SinatraShow1.htm
.

  
7
“a very real”:
Jack Gould, “C.B.S. Presents Its No. 1 Competitor to Milton Berle in the Person of Frank Sinatra,”
New York Times
, Oct. 12, 1951.

  
8
“The wedding is off”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 284.

  
9
“Now the bedlam began”:
Ibid.

10
“They were giggly”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 96.

11
“How did those creeps”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 187.

12
“Frank was so angry”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 161.

13
“Wonderful designer”:
Ibid.

14
“Well, we finally”:
Ibid.

15
“This marriage is blessed”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 189.

16
“Who sent this”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 154.

17
“Look after him”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 190.

18
“All I had with me”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 286.

19
“It was a chilly day”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 154.

20
“Naturally a photographer”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 286.

21
“We drank a lot”:
Ibid., p. 287.

22
“Frank and I didn’t start”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 162.

23
“SNARLING FRANK”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 155.

24
“WHAT A BORE”:
Ibid.

25
“Frank Sinatra evidently”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 97.

26
“By every ordinary standard”:
Swan,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 158.

27
“Come on-a my house”:
Lyrics from “Come On-a My House,” words and music by Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan (1939).

28
“Chief beef hinges”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 196.

29
“Kidding each other’s”:
Jim Davidson’s Classic TV Info.

30
“Mr. Gardner”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 163.

31
“We’re going to redecorate”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 155.

32
“I lost control”:
Ibid., p. 157.

33
“Even the most”:
Bosley Crowther, “Six Newcomers on Holiday Fare,”
New York Times
, Dec. 26, 1951.

34
“a tiny curly-headed”:
James Jones,
From Here to Eternity
, p. 37.

35
“Cohn’s Folly”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 171.

36
“No wonder Sinatra”:
Santopietro,
Sinatra in Hollywood
, p. 138.

  
1.
The practice prevented a studio from losing money on a contract player temporarily lying fallow: when studio A had nothing going for a star, it would loan said star to studio B for one picture, at a rate above the salary it was paying the player, and pocket the difference.

  
2.
An intriguing parallel is Dean Martin, Ava’s male counterpart as a (platonic, of course) love object for Frank, who possessed many of these same qualities, and whose extreme masculine beauty was not dissimilar to hers.

  
3.
And who would drop dead of a heart attack eleven years later, at fifty-eight, just a couple of years too soon to see his daughter Mia become Frank Sinatra’s third wife.

  
4
“It was like”:
Gloria Delson Franks, in discussion with the author, May 2006.

  
5
“Neither gave an inch”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 192.

  
6
“Just so you know”:
Lyrics from “Walking in the Sunshine,” words and music by Bob Merrill (New York: Chappell, 1952).