Frank: The Voice (123 page)

  
7
“What are you”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 99.

  
8
“I sold Fox”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 293.

  
9
“Cynthia, from Montparnasse”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 239.

10
“SINATRA SCRAMBLES TO RECOVER”:
Oakland Tribune
, March 20, 1952.

11
“I’ll always be”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 159.

12
“Nodding, he became”:
Ibid.

13
“As one of his”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 99.

14
“somewhat subdued”:
New York Times
, March 27, 1952.

15
“GONE ON FRANKIE”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 160.

16
“If your sweetheart sends”:
Lyrics from “Cry,” words and music by Churchill Kohlman (New York: Mellow Music, 1951).

17
“JOHNNIE’S GOLDEN RAYS”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 160.

18
“Do you folks suffer”:
Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Journal
, March 12, 1952.

19
“I’d like to tell you”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 99.

20
“These people have”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 161.

21
“What do you want”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 161.

22
“Frank didn’t want”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 187.

23
“was known for making”:
Granata,
Sessions with Sinatra
, p. 73.

24
“Today is our”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 165.

25
“I don’t know”:
Lethbridge (AB) Herald
, June 10, 1952.

26
“Under present conditions”:
Ibid.

27
“She is unwilling”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 163.

28
“Ava had a reckless look”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 77.

29
“Services of Frank Sinatra”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 194.

30
“the asshole of creation”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 243.

31
“Frankly Speaking”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 195.

32
“Well, there it is”:
Ibid.

33
“That should have”:
Ibid., p. 196.

34
“When I recently”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 104.

  
1.
Miller, Marden’s postwar successor as owner of the gorgeous nightclub atop the Jersey Palisades, was no relation to Sinatra’s pianist—but was the father of the controversial
New York Times
reporter Judith Miller.

  
2.
Lana would soon have Lamas fired from
Latin Lovers
(to be replaced by Ricardo Montalban) and would take up with Lex Barker—whom she would marry a year later, and whom Turner’s daughter Cheryl Crane would later accuse of having sexually abused her when she was ten.

  
3
“Ava Gardner, upon”:
Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Sept. 8, 1952.

  
4
“After all”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 200.

  
5
“Whatever Sinatra ever”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 163.

  
6
“He sang onstage”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 198.

  
7
“I’ll never come back”:
Ibid.

  
8
“There were twenty thousand”:
Cannon,
Grabtown Girl
, p. 99.

  
9
“Don’t you remember”:
Lyrics from “Why Try to Change Me Now,” words and music by Cy Coleman (New York: Hal Leonard, 1952).

10
“That’s it, Frank”:
Granata,
Sessions with Sinatra
, p. 76.

11
“Well! What whorehouse”:
Cannon,
Grabtown Girl
, p. 100.

12
“Breakfast with the Sinatras”:
On Broadway with Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 19, 1952.

13
“The battles between”:
Newspaper Enterprise Association, Aug. 1, 1952.

14
“You’re all that I desire”:
Lyrics from “Love Me,” words and music by Victor Young and Ned Washington (New York: Helene Blue Musique). First recorded by Jack Teagarden, 1933.

15
“nearly broke”:
Cannon,
Grabtown Girl
, p. 101.

16
“a crackup of their marriage”:
Associated Press, Oct. 7, 1952.

17
“We’re having oral battles”:
Ibid.

18
“Harry, I want”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 108.

19
“You must be out”:
Ibid.

20
“About the money”:
Ibid.

21
“God, Ava”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 203.

22
“I want you to get Harry”:
Ibid., p. 185.

23
“You know who’s right”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 96.

24
“We bumped into Frank”:
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 17, 1952.

25
“By the time”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 192.

26
“I want to have”:
Aline Mosby, United Press, Oct. 3, 1952.

27
“a hollow success”:
Lana Turner,
Lana
, p. 158.

28
“to catch Frank”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 305.

29
“looking lovely as ever”:
Ibid., p. 306.

30
“Everybody wants to”:
Eliot,
Cary Grant
, p. 1.

31
“It is true”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 105.

32
“Ah, Frank”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 195.

33
“We did what we could”:
Lana Turner,
Lana
, p. 168.

34
“Frank seemed to approve”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 309.

35
“For God’s sake”:
Ibid., p. 310.

36
“NOT CONFIRMED”:
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 21, 1952.

37
“the Palm Springs police”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 101.

38
“COLUMNIST SAYS SINATRA”:
Associated Press, Oct. 21, 1952.

39
“Frank’s in the bathroom throwing up”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 102.

40
“The problems were never in bed”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 175.

41
“FRANKIE READY TO SURRENDER”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 165.

42
“I can’t do anything myself”:
Ibid.

43
“Hey, Ava”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 249.

44
“So, Frank”:
Ibid.

45
“Sinatra smelled like”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 188.

46
“Frank was very nice”:
Mary Edna Grimes, in discussion with the author, Nov. 2008.

47
“Goodbye, Dolly”:
United Press, Oct. 3, 1952.

  
1.
She’s also said to have won him over with another variant of her most famous remark: when Ford introduced Ava to the English governor of Kenya and the governor’s wife, the director is alleged to have said, “Ava, why don’t you tell the governor what you see in this one-hundred-twenty-pound runt you’re married to,” and Ava is alleged to have replied, “Well, there’s only ten pounds of Frank but there’s one hundred and ten pounds of cock!” “Ford wanted to kill her,” one Sinatra biographer wrote—but given the fact (according to Maureen O’Hara) that the director constantly doodled pictures of penises, he probably would’ve been more intrigued than upset (Kelley,
His Way
, p. 190).

  
2
“It was quite”:
Higham,
Ava
, p. 133.

  
3
“Clark’s the kind”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 253.

  
4
“on safari”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 316.

  
5
“The movie company”:
Ibid.

  
6
“once we settled”:
Ibid.

  
7
“Make the spaghetti”:
Bogdanovich,
Who the Hell’s in It
, p. 404.

  
8
“Why don’t you”:
Peter Bogdanovich, in discussion with the author, May 2009.

  
9
“I had the strongest”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 319.

10
“I often felt”:
Ibid.

11
“The truth is”:
Ibid.

12
“Let’s put it”:
Los Angeles Times
, Nov. 23, 1952.

13
“You’re damn good”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 324.

14
“For someone with”:
Ibid.

15
“Jack Ford tried”:
Ibid., p. 327.

16
“I don’t need this”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 170.

17
“He’s such a comical”:
James Jones,
From Here to Eternity
, p. 246.

18
“Frank had never”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 199.

19
“scared to death”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 170.

20
“The [screen] test”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 172.

21
“Since [Sinatra’s] was”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 170.

22
“CONFIDENTIAL”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 214.

23
“AVA GARDNER STRICKEN”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 259.

24
“Frank, give the earrings”:
Ibid., p. 260.

25
“When I was on my lecture tour”:
Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 4, 1952.

26
“Spent a pleasant”:
Edith Gwynn, Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 25, 1952.

27
“Where’s your wife”:
Hedda Hopper, In Hollywood, syndicated column, Oct. 26, 1952.

28
“At the end”:
Mark Rotella, “Simply Red,”
New York Times
, Aug. 10, 2003.

29
“A funny thing happened”:
Leonard Lyons, The Lyons Den, syndicated column, Dec. 3, 1952.

30
“Is he good”:
Hy Gardner, It Happened Last Night, syndicated column, Dec. 8, 1952.

31
“It’s pretty lonesome”:
Hy Gardner, It Happened Last Night, syndicated column, Dec. 4, 1952.

32
“It’s all right”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 257.

33
“Ava couldn’t be alone”:
Ibid., p. 258.

34
“he has a prior”:
Hy Gardner, It Happened Last Night, Dec. 8, 1952.

35
“was given a birthday cake”:
Zanesville (Ohio) Times Recorder
, Dec. 16, 1952.

36
“Frank came back”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 209.

37
“Then came the death wait”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 191.

38
“Fred Zinnemann … has gone”:
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood, syndicated column, Dec. 3, 1952.

39
“Frank’s still in there”:
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood, syndicated column, Dec. 10, 1952.

40
“When Frank Sinatra”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 108.

  
1.
Though for the average American family in 1953, $1,000 was over two months’ income.

  
2.
In the novel, Woltz’s racist rant is subtly different and less florid, to wit: “I don’t
care how many guinea Mafia goombahs come out of the woodwork.” (Period, not exclamation point.) Strikingly, the word “Mafia” never occurs once in the movie of
The Godfather
, due to an agreement struck between the producer Al Ruddy and the crime-family chief Joe Colombo, the figurehead of the Italian-American Civil Rights League.

  
3.
Appearing on
Texaco Star Theater
on February 3, Sinatra showed a horrified Uncle Miltie a shrunken head he had brought back from Africa. “It was Clark Gable,” Frank said. “Do you think I would leave him there with Ava?” (Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 406).

  
4.
Including the May 1952 miscarriage.

  
5.
Ironically, in his turn as Nathan Detroit in the 1955
Guys and Dolls
, Frank would find himself in a sense imitating himself imitating Maggio imitating Runyon’s original 1930s characters.