Frank: The Voice (121 page)

10
“He just didn’t”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 131.

11
“He just can’t bear”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 127.

12
“They don’t quite get”:
Ibid., p. 126.

13
“M, N, O, P”:
Lyrics from “A—You’re Adorable,” words and music by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman (New York: Laurel Music, 1948).

14
“The voice is better at night”:
Frank Sinatra Jr., interview with Michael Bourne, WBGO, Nov. 5, 2009.

15
“The recording date”:
Granata,
Sessions with Sinatra
, p. 52.

16
“The sometimes unruly crooner”:
Newsweek
, vol. 34, 1949.

17
“On the island of Stromboli”:
Lyrics from “(On the Island of) Stromboli,” words and music by Ken Lane and Irving Taylor (1949).

18
“Check this”:
Columbia Records Archive, Sony Music Corporation.

19
“Dear Frank”:
Ibid.

20
“Deep down”:
Flamini,
Ava
, chapter 8.

21
“We met in the ladies’ room”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 222.

22
“October 30, 1949”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 91.

23
“The Swoon is real gone”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 125.

24
“Both Frank and I”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 226.

25
“All my life”:
Ibid.

26
“Bobby and I”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 154.

27
“She was like a Svengali”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 187.

28
“Quentin Reynolds and Heywood Broun’s”:
Walter Winchell on Broadway, syndicated column, Dec. 14, 1949.

29
“You’re the salt in my stew”:
Lyrics from “You’re the Cream in My Coffee,” words and music by Lew Brown, Buddy Gard DeSylva, and Ray Henderson (New York: DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson, 1928).

30
“I said that”:
1949: Lite Up Time Shows by Frank Sinatra
(Jazz Band, 1993). Compact disc.

  
1.
The motto of Metro’s production manager, J. J. Cohn: “A rock is a rock, a tree is a tree, shoot it in Griffith Park” (Silverman,
Dancing on the Ceiling
, p. 104).

  
2.
A man destined to be one of history’s footnotes, Clark (né Samuel Goldberg) had been one of Columbia’s biggest recording stars until his untimely death in an airplane crash the previous October. “He was a real rival to Crosby,” recalled the Columbia producer George Avakian. “But he also had the handicap of not being able to appeal to people visually because he wasn’t good-looking. He was a slightly overweight, slightly undersized person of very drab appearance. Everything was drab about him. So the quality of his voice was terrific, but nothing else happened. He would have been a disaster in the television era, because he looked like your father’s younger brother” (Avakian, in discussion with the author, Oct. 2006).

  
3.
A remarkable booking, given Sinatra’s odor at the moment. The Copa was the crème de la crème of nightclubs, and bookings for even the biggest stars were usually four weeks. How to explain? As tempting as it is to look for organized crime behind every potted plant in Sinatra’s life, the Mob really does seem to have stuck with him through the roughest patches in his career, and Frank Costello owned the Copa.

  
4.
Later the author of
The Manchurian Candidate
, which of course became a movie starring Sinatra.

  
5
“Never before has”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 130.

  
6
“I’m quite sure”:
Ed Sullivan, Little Old New York, syndicated column, Feb. 1, 1950.

  
7
“She arrived late”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 182.

  
8
“Frank Sinatra squired”:
United Press, Feb. 7, 1950.

  
9
“a major mistake”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 133.

10
“I am very much”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 157.

11
“Ava Gardner’s current travels”:
Sheilah Graham, Hollywood Today, syndicated column, Feb. 10, 1950.

12
“FRANK SINATRA’S WIFE”:
Los Angeles Times
, Feb. 15, 1950.

13
“the shit really hit the fan”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 225.

14
“I am very glad”:
Louella Parsons, International News Service, syndicated column, Feb. 24, 1950.

15
“romantic episode”:
Los Angeles Times
, Feb. 15, 1950.

16
“I have here”:
Herman,
Joseph McCarthy
, p. 99.

17
“Ava Gardner’s lines”:
Erskine Johnson, In Hollywood, syndicated column, March 10, 1950.

18
“apostle of degradation”:
See Spoto,
Notorious
, p. 296.

19
“Items-We-Doubt”:
Walter Winchell on Broadway, syndicated column, March 14, 1950.

20
“I found myself”:
Summers and Swan,
Sinatra
, p. 155.

21
“Every single night”:
Ibid., p. 157.

22
“Someone told Sinatra”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 160.

23
“Sam, Frank”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 183.

24
“I’m adored, I’m adored”:
Lyrics from “I Am Loved,” words and music by Cole Porter (New York: Hal Leonard, 1950).

25
“My voice was”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 160.

26
“After the opening”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 183.

27
“Whether temporarily”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 135.

28
“Frank was nervous”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 228.

29
“Did you have to sing”:
Wayne,
Ava’s Men
, p. 119.

30
“We took a plain”:
Artie Shaw, interview with Ted Panken, April 2, 2002.

31
“Artie solved”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 230.

32
“It was Frank”:
Ibid., p. 231.

33
“It’s like being”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 267.

34
“Every artist is a woman”:
Richardson,
A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917–1932
, p. 341.

  
1
“As you know”:
Columbia Records Archive, Sony Music Corporation.

  
2
“Mitch, we’ve got”:
Ibid.

  
3
“What makes you”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 78.

  
4
“Daisy is darling”:
Lyrics from “American Beauty Rose,” words and music by Arthur Altman, Hal David, and Redd Evans (1950).

  
5
“irresistible”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 179.

  
6
“Oh, God”:
Gardner, Ava, p. 220.

  
7
“extreme cruelty”:
Associated Press, April 27, 1950.

  
8
“neither of us”:
International News Service, April 27, 1950.

  
9
“Frank Sinatra, cast loose”:
“Sinatra Breaks with M-G-M; Will Free-Lance,”
Long Beach (Calif.) Independent
, April 29, 1950.

10
“Hey, did you”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 87.

11
“I hear you”:
Ibid.

12
“Listen, Sinatra had”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 187.

13
“I can say this now”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 95.

14
“You couldn’t do that”:
Lee Herschberg, in discussion with the author, May 2006.

15
“he would send off”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 187.

16
“was tragic and terrifying”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 137.

17
“BALI TOO H’AI”:
International News Service, May 4, 1950.

18
“Yes, I’ll probably see”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 166.

19
“I remember one time”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 197.

20
“A very, very wild spirit”:
Ibid., p. 201.

21
“ ‘Ava,’ Bappie said”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 241.

22
“thought she was the most”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 197.

23
“Someone had passed”:
Gardner,
Ava
, p. 246.

24
“it just got into her blood”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 187.

25
“Oh, what a lovely surprise”:
Ibid., p. 205.

26
“Of course, I knew”:
Ibid., p. 207.

27
“They can’t make this”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 139.

28
“This bullfighter is nothing”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 207.

29
“Eiffel Tower and stuff”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 139.

  
1.
The incident rhymes strangely with the 1970 visit by Elvis Presley to President Richard M. Nixon, in which Presley volunteered to be a “Federal Agent-at-Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Like Sinatra, Presley cited his ability to mix with undesirables—in this case, hippies. And like Sinatra, Elvis got the brush-off—though in a nicer way (for one thing, Nixon took the meeting).

  
2
“It takes real courage”:
Richmond,
Fever
, p. 177.

  
3
“Sinatra, astoundingly thin”:
Ibid.

  
4
“If TV is his oyster”:
Havers,
Sinatra
, p. 148.

  
5
“Sipping tea on stage”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 96.

  
6
“I watched mass hysteria”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 141.

  
7
“Bless me, he’s GOOD”:
Ibid.

  
8
“People who simply put”:
Ibid.

  
9
“pleasant throwaways”:
George Avakian, in discussion with the author, Oct. 2006.

10
“a cute little novelty”:
Frank Sinatra, interview with Ben Heller, WMID, Atlantic City, N.J., Sept. 4, 1950.

11
“There’s no sign of life”:
Wilson,
Sinatra
, p. 94.

12
“I don’t think Frank”:
Nancy Sinatra,
American Legend
, p. 97.

13
“Bright, with good”:
Friedwald,
Sinatra!
p. 185.

14
“DATE: SEPTEMBER 7, 1950”:
Kuntz and Kuntz,
Sinatra Files
, p. 67.

15
“the Hollywood–Los Angeles underworld”:
Dixon (Ill.) Evening Telegraph
, May 29, 1950.

16
“Sinatra’s decline”:
Ibid.

17
“heard the whispered”:
Server,
Ava Gardner
, p. 215.

18
“a tear or so”:
“Frank Sinatras Legally Parted by Court Action,”
Los Angeles Times
, Sept. 29, 1950.

19
“I don’t feel much”:
Ibid.

20
“I would see her faint”:
Nancy Sinatra,
My Father
, p. 74.

21
“Frank Sinatra walked off”:
Shaw,
Twentieth-Century Romantic
, p. 144.

22
“a surprisingly good actor”:
Ibid.

23
“bad pacing, bad scripting”:
Ibid.

24
“Frank was always late”:
Kelley,
His Way
, p. 171.

25
“Frank was always washing”:
Ibid.

26
“Frank was insanely jealous”:
Ibid., p. 170.

  
1.
There are some who claim that it was Frank himself who came up with the idea to do a record with Dagmar: he was always a willful, often shrewd, manager of his own career—though sometimes he was more headstrong than wise. In any case, desperate times call for desperate measures, and if the duet was Frank’s idea, we should probably applaud him for his audacity, if not his perspicacity.