The Sinatra Files (15 page)

An informant advised, exact date not reported, that Sam Falcone, identified as a Communist Party member and Chairman of the Legislative Committee of UE Local 301, proposed that a UE campaign committee have Frank Sinatra come to Schenectady to put on a program inasmuch as Sinatra was an old member of the Young Communist League and would come for the Communist Party at a nominal rate.

The March, 1944, issue of “Spotlight,” monthly publication of the AYD, featured a statement issued by Frank Sinatra which it claimed was issued by him in response to their request. The statement answered a charge which this magazine said had been made in April, 1944, by Artur Rodzinski, Conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, that “jive” was responsible for juvenile delinquency and that Sinatra was as responsible as anything or anyone for delinquency among the younger generation.

In this regard, it was reported that Artur Rodzinski’s charge that jazz contributed to juvenile delinquency resulted in a running debate
in the public press and that the “New York Evening Sun,” date not given, ran a three-column front page article on the Sinatra-Rodzinski feud.

The program for the Second Annual AYD dinner, which was held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on December 16, 1945, reflected that Frank Sinatra received an award which was presented to him by a Rabbi Max Nussbaum. An informant who attended the dinner reported, however, that Sinatra was not present and the award was made to him through Mrs. Sinatra.

Robert W. Kenny, former California State Attorney General, appeared as a defense witness at the trial of Harry Bridges on January 31, 1950. During his testimony, Kenny admitted sponsoring an AYD dinner in Los Angeles during December, 1945, and added that he had attended same with Frank Sinatra.

It was learned on May 23, 1946, that one of the AYD members had interviewed Frank Sinatra when he was in Chicago and had asked him about “red-baiting” in the AYD. Sinatra reportedly replied that he had received a letter from one of the AYD members in the Tom Paine Club asking him if it were true that the AYD was a “Red” organization. Sinatra said he had not answered the letter. The AYD member, in explaining this to other club members, expressed confidence that Sinatra would answer the letter in the right way.

On May 16, 1946, a group of Detroit Youth Clubs, including the AYD, held an Inter-Cultural Rally at the Jewish Community Center, Woodward and Holbrook Streets, Detroit, to honor Frank Sinatra, who was then playing an engagement at a downtown theater in Detroit. Erma Henderson, AYD President, acted as Chairman of the
rally which was attended by about 250 people. Sinatra was presented with a scroll of appreciation for his contributions to the youth of America.

On May 5, 1946, Philip Schatz, AYD Executive Secretary, said that the rally honoring Frank Sinatra represented a good opportunity for them to set up a permanent organization of which the AYD would be a part and that through such an organization the AYD could gain a great deal of prestige.

On April 1, 1948, AYD members at Chicago, mentioned that Frank Sinatra had gone to Italy and that he would do more for Italian Communists than anybody else could do.

According to the “Daily Worker” of March 17, 1945, Frank Sinatra accepted an invitation to address the World Youth Week Rally at Carnegie Hall, New York City on March 21, 1945. This rally was sponsored by the American Youth for a Free World with the cooperation of various racial groups. A report concerning the March 21, 1945 meeting, however, does not make any reference to Frank Sinatra being present.

The program for a dinner held on May 9, 1946, at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York City, which had been sponsored by the Action Committee to Free Spain Now, the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the American Committee for Spanish Freedom, listed Frank Sinatra as a speaker. Sinatra did not attend this dinner, but did send a telegram of support and expression of regret for being unable to be there.