Frank: The Voice (124 page)

  
6
“He was delighted”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 170.

  
7
“Frank Sinatra, needing”:
Earl Wilson on Broadway, syndicated column, Jan. 23, 1953.

  
8
“I wanted to tell”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 110.

  
9
“Pearl, they’ve offered”:
Levinson,
September in the Rain
, p. 111.

10
“Cohn hated Sinatra”:
Rappleye and Becker,
All American Mafioso
, p. 132.

11
“Now listen to me”:
The Godfather
(Paramount Pictures, 1972).

12
“Frank Sinatra and Harry Cohn”:
Thomas,
King Cohn
, p. 305.

13
“It was the first time”:
Ibid., p. 306.

14
“He doesn’t look”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 210.

15
“Frank Sinatra has been”:
International News Service, Feb. 3, 1953.

16
“Talked to Frank Sinatra”:
International News Service, Feb. 4, 1953.

17
“Chums say Frankie”:
Dorothy Kilgallen, The Voice of Broadway, syndicated column, Feb. 20, 1953.

18
“I didn’t think”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 210.

19
“He never got over it”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 260.

20
“MONTGOMERY CLIFT”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 215.

21
“DEAR HARRY”:
Ibid.

22
“a kind of intensity”:
James Jones,
From Here to Eternity
, p. 776.

23
“Because I want”:
Bosworth,
Montgomery Clift
, p. 247.

24
“His scenes bristled”:
Ibid., p. 130.

25
“Good dialogue”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 217.

26
“We had a mutual”:
Santopietro,
Sinatra in Hollywood
, p. 137.

27
“Monty really coached”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 217.

28
“By his intensity”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 122.

29
“As a singer”:
Santopietro,
Sinatra in Hollywood
, p. 137.

30
“Sinatra here took”:
Santopietro,
Sinatra in Hollywood
, p. 137.

31
“This outfit”:
From Here to Eternity
(MGM, 1953).

32
“He was scared”:
Ernest Borgnine, in discussion with the author, Feb. 2009.

33
“The three of them”:
Bosworth,
Montgomery Clift
, p. 252.

34
“got so used to carrying”:
Buford,
Burt Lancaster
, p. 129.

35
“After we filmed”:
Ernest Borgnine, in discussion with the author, Dec. 2009.

36
“box office insurance”:
Wood Soanes, syndicated column, March 27, 1953.

37
“a smash success”:
Ibid.

38
“We concocted a little”:
Frank Morriss, syndicated column, March 26, 1953.

39
“Crooner Frank Sinatra”:
International News Service, April 7, 1953.

40
“I told him”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 216.

41
“Isn’t Frank Sinatra”:
Earl Wilson, syndicated column, March 2, 1953.

  
1.
Not to be confused with Lucy’s El Adobe Café, which opened just a few doors away on Melrose, years after the original Lucey’s closed.

  
2.
A decade later, Dexter would go on to another form of infamy when, as head of the label’s Capitol of the World division, he turned down the Beatles—twice—as Capitol artists.

  
3
“Alan, we’ve just”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 206.

  
4
“Really?”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 171.

  
5
“He was meek”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
, p. 207.

  
6
“Frank Sinatra was signed”:
Associated Press, March 14, 1953.

  
7
“We had every salesman”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 207.

  
8
“All hair restorers”:
Newspaper Enterprise Association, March 16, 1953.

  
9
“Salient factors”:
Harold Heffernan, syndicated column, April 2, 1953.

10
“It was late”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 174.

11
“Could they have been”:
Hedda Hopper, syndicated column, April 2, 1953.

12
“Sinatra appears”:
Hal Humphrey, syndicated column, April 15, 1953.

13
“The singer said”:
Associated Press, April 15, 1953.

14
“Deborah Kerr and me”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 109.

15
“Sinatra was at his best”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 124.

16
“Frank was very”:
Wagner,
Pieces of My Heart
, p. 123.

17
“Every night, after work”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 97.

18
“Frank Sinatra, who tossed”:
Dorothy Kilgallen, The Voice of Hollywood, syndicated column, April 24, 1953.

19
“He was very, very good”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 130.

20
“Frank and Monty”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 218.

21
“His fervor, his anger”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 112.

22
“I was on the sidelines”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 218.

23
“Sinatra delivered”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 130.

24
“I can’t blame him”:
Ibid. 616
“got the string”:
Lyrics from “I’ve Got the World on a String,” words by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen (1932).

25
“Who wrote that”:
Levinson,
September in the Rain
, p. 113.

26
“He couldn’t help”:
Ibid., p. 24.

27
“Riddle was still”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 216.

28
“Now we have”:
Ibid., p. 217.

29
“ ‘South of the Border’—I thought”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 176.

30
“Jesus Christ”:
Levinson,
September in the Rain
, p. 113.

  
1.
The previous December, while she and the children were away, she’d received a visit of another kind: from a burglar, who took some $30,000 worth of her jewelry.

  
2.
Though some people were listening. “What are they talking about in Hollywood?” wrote Bob Thomas of the Associated Press, on July 18. “The amazing comeback of Frank Sinatra on his new records. He sings zingy like the old Frankie-boy.”

  
3.
One wonders if he was thinking, consciously or unconsciously, about the magic Sinatra had once worked at the Capitol with
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
.

  
4
“Sinatra was at his”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 218.

  
5
“Nelson was standing”:
Ibid.

  
6
“Crooner Frank Sinatra”:
Associated Press, May 4, 1953.

  
7
“Nancy Sinatra’s steadfast date”:
Walter Winchell, syndicated column, Nov. 4, 1953.

  
8
“There was no way”:
Jacobs and Stadiem,
Mr. S
, p. 50.

  
9
“I’d rather swim the Channel”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 222.

10
“Sinatra has been a flop”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 177.

11
“Agence France Presse”:
International News Service, May 31, 1953.

12
“FRANK SINATRA HAS COLLAPSE”:
United Press, June 1, 1953.

13
“We came back”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 336.

14
“Sinatra is still”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 176.

15
“Imagine”:
Friedrich,
City of Nets
, p. 90.

16
“Cohn had decided”:
Zinnemann,
Life in the Movies
, p. 131.

17
“came up from the lobby”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 111.

18
“Dialogue between Ava”:
Frank Morriss, syndicated column, Aug. 12, 1953.

19
“Looking through my”:
Jimmie Fidler, syndicated column, Aug. 19, 1953.

20
“For the first time”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 177.

21
“ACADEMY AWARD RACE”:
Lubbock (Tex.) Avalanche-Journal
, Aug. 30, 1953.

22
“Frank Sinatra has been receiving”:
Jimmie Fidler, syndicated column, Aug. 31, 1953.

23
“Those dark cheaters”:
Lee Mortimer, syndicated column, Aug. 31, 1953.

24
“Ava, honey, you do know”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 336.

25
“A close friend”:
United Press, Sept. 9, 1953.

26
“FRANKIE AND AVA FEUDING”:
United Press, Sept. 10, 1953.

27
“I saw a picture”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 224.

28
“You start with love”:
Ibid.

29
“Every big star”:
Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 11, 1953.

30
“Electrifying”:
Fisher,
Eddie
, p. 226.

31
“Frank let loose”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 182.

32
“Frank Sinatra’s intimates”:
Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, Sept. 16, 1953.

33
“As a Cupid”:
Earl Wilson, syndicated column, Sept. 12, 1953.

34
“She kissed me”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 224.

35
“The Voice unleashed a torrent”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 226.

  
1.
Humphrey Bogart had given Lazar the slightly needling nickname—which the agent hated—as a double-edged tribute to the rapidity with which Lazar executed his not always strictly kosher deals.

  
2.
The apartments have long since been razed.

  
3.
Although apparently the switch had been effected with the tacit cooperation of Lazar, the ultimate cynic when Sinatra was down and the ultimate sycophant when he rose again.

  
4.
Perhaps thinking or saying some variation of the Nevada senator Pat Geary’s speech to Michael Corleone in
The Godfather, Part II
: “I don’t like your kind of people. I don’t like to see you come out to this clean country in your oily hair, dressed up in those silk suits, and try to pass yourselves off as decent Americans.”

  
5
“Isn’t it a little late”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 225.

  
6
“When he was down”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 175.

  
7
“Almost since their marriage”:
Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, Sept. 30, 1953.

  
8
“devastating”:
Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated column, Oct. 1, 1953.

  
9
“Together again”:
Associated Press, Oct. 2, 1953.

10
“Don’t believe a word”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 267.

11
“They’re together”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 178.

12
“If Frankie goes”:
Harrison Carroll, syndicated column, Oct. 12, 1953.

13
“Two intimates of Frank Sinatra”:
Jimmie Fidler, syndicated column, Oct. 6, 1953.

14
“a footloose and fancy-free”:
Dunning,
Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
, p. 582.

15
“Hi, I don’t know”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 183.

16
“He was always”:
Jacobs and Stadiem,
Mr. S
, p. 90.

17
“For Chrissakes”:
Ibid., p. 53.

18
“Politics has nothing”:
Bosworth,
Marlon Brando
, p. 141.

19
“Frank Sinatra would”:
Ibid., p. 153.