80–81 Riobamba: (“for kids”) Wilson, Sinatra, 43; (business down) Newsday, Nov. 15, 1991; ( Jarwood changed mind) Wilson, Sinatra, 43; (FS fretted) Shaw, Sinatra, 43; (packed them in) New York Journal-American, Feb. 27, 1956, Wilson, Sinatra, 42; (“We could hardly”) ibid. 46; (critic drunk?) Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946; (“wondrous”) Wilson, Sinatra, 44–; (“most cosmopolitan ”) Cahn, 132; (“Three times”) Life, May 3, 1943; (Barrett and O’Keefe dropped) New York Journal-American, Feb. 27, 1956; (“When I came”) Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 24, 1946.
81–82 progress 1943/1944: (back to Paramount) Metronome, May 1943, Dwiggins, 46; (orchestras) Shaw, Sinatra, 55, NYT, Aug. 4, 1943, Life, Aug. 23, 1943, Dwiggins, 58–, Wilson, Sinatra, 52, Kahn, 61, “Special Concert for the Benefit of the National Symphony,” program, Jul. 25, 1943; (Los Angeles) LAT, Aug. 1, 4, 12, 16, Metronome, Sep. 1943, Movie Stars, Jul. 1966; (“swing-shift Caruso”) Dwiggins, 59; (Higher and Higher) O’Brien, 12–, Ridgway, pt. 3, 4—the successor movie would be Step Lively; (Waldorf) Wilson, Sinatra, 49, 53–, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965.
82 Your Hit Parade: Shaw, Sinatra, 87–, Kahn, 111–, Friedwald, 127–. Sinatra’s first appearance on Your Hit Parade was on February 27, 1943. While working on Hit Parade, Sinatra began his first radio series, The Broadway Bandbox. Other radio shows to feature Sinatra in this period were The Frank Sinatra Program, The Frank Sinatra Show, Songs by Sinatra (Ridgway, pt. 1, 6–).
82 Anchors Aweigh: (described) O’Brien, 20–; (“I couldn’t walk”) eds. Sheila and J. P. Cantillon, Sinatra: His Life and Loves Decade by Decade, collector’s edition, Los Angeles: LFP, 1990, 50;
82–83 October 11 opening: (general) Shaw, Sinatra, 45–, NYT, Oct. 13, New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944, Motion Picture Herald, Oct. 21, 1944; (“I ventured down”) Wilson, Sinatra, 59–; (until nightfall) Sinatra, Legend, 54; (Chicago, etc.) Shaw, Sinatra, 47.
83–84 swooners: (reportedly) Wilson, Show Business Nobody Knows, 325, Time, Aug. 29, 1955, Kahn, 63, 103; (“A girl in the twelfth row”) William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, Boston: Little, Brown, 1973, 307; (“appeared at the theater”) Dwiggins, 46–; (“These dames”) Chicago’s American, Sep. 25, 1966; (“slump”) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (“I fell”) Kahn, 50; (“We loved”) NYT, Oct. 13, 1974; (“The whole sobbing business”) int. Celeste Holm, BBC Radio, All or Nothing at All; (Rubin) Dwiggins, 45–, Wilson, Sinatra, 47.
84 Evans: (represented) Shaw, Sinatra, 54, int. Phil Evans, Quirk and Schoell, 77–, Tosches, 149; (“certain things”/$5,000) Kahn, 67, and see Liberty, Feb. 12, 1944; (“I like to keep”) Time, Jul. 5, 1943; Gehman, 194, Dwiggins, 46; (lipstick)Shaw, Sinatra, 54; (basement) Wilson, Sinatra, 41; (“had someone throw”) M/G int. of Nick Sevano; (clothes torn) New Yorker, Oct. 26, 1946, Deutsch, 103; (“breakaway suits”) Shaw, Sinatra, 55.
84 “hired to scream”: John Lahr, “Sinatra’s Song,” www.sinatra-ms.com, LAHE, May 15, 1975. Keller became a celebrated press agent in his own right. Jerry Lewis, who would soon become his client, described him as having “an astonishing intellect . . . as close a friend as I would ever hope to have.” He was in at the inception of Lewis’s campaign to help those suffering from muscular dystrophy (Jerry Lewis with Herb Gluck, Jerry Lewis, in Person, London: Robson, 1983, 161, 214, and see LAHE, May 15, 1975); (“98% synthetic”) Chicago’s American, Sep. 26, 1966; (“It was kind of comical”) Quirk and Schoell, 26.
84 FS and fans: (surprise?) Life, Apr. 23, 1965, FS int. by Zion, Suzy Visits; (dislikedshrieking) Friedwald, 134; (“I was the boy”) NYT, May 16, 1998; (stare/tongue/“I never saw”) Kahn, 51, 77.
84–85 reason for hysteria?: (general) Kahn, 48–, Manchester, 309, New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (“a sort of melodic”) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944; (“To femmes of fifteen”) Freedland, 88; (“The young Sinatra”) Atlantic Monthly, Sep. 1998; (“The sex element”) Down Beat, May 12, 1960; (“What yo-yos!”) NYT, Oct. 13, 1974; (“What is it?”) Movieland, Aug. 15, 1946.
85 FS made a star: (rushed into a studio) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; (Seventeen songs) Ridgway, pt. 2, 27–; ($20,000) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944, and see SaturdayEvening Post, Aug. 24, 1946.
85 $1.5 million income: Kahn, 2, Movieland, Aug. 15, 1946. These extraordinary figures are those that were accepted at the time by reputable sources. George Evans was quoted in 1944 as saying that his client was making about $1 million a year, most of which went in taxes. In her 1995 book Legend, Sinatra’s daughter Nancy suggested her father was paid as much as $25,000 a week as of early 1943, which does not square with other accounts (Stars and Stripes, Jul. 5, 1944, Sinatra, Legend, 51–); (“I couldn’t believe”) Louella Parsons, Tell It to Louella, New York: Putnam, 1961, 150—the remark was made to Parsons, probably in 1945; (“I now own”) New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946; (Barton Music) int. Joe Bushkin, Kahn, 41, Chicago’s American, Sep. 26, 1966, Shaw, Sinatra, 57–; (office building) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965; (booking agent) New Yorker, Nov. 9, 1946.
85–86 Stordahl and FS: Douglas-Home, 25–, FS int. by Tom Jones, Melbourne, Australia, 1955, audiotape in authors’ collection supplied by Alf Batchelder. Stordahl’s musical partnership with Sinatra would essentially last from the time of the break with Dorsey to the end of his tenure with Columbia Records in 1953. They also worked together at the start and end of Sinatra’s time at Capitol Records, which followed. The two men were long close personally, to the extent that Stordahl was best man at Sinatra’s wedding to Ava Gardner. His career was cut short, however, by his death at fifty in 1963 (Shaw, Sinatra, 153).
86 Cahn/Styne and FS: Cahn, 133–, FS int. by Arlene Francis, Oct. 1, 1977, WOR (NY), Theodore Taylor, Jule, New York: Random House, 1979, 4–, 95–, Modern Screen, Jul. 17, 1947. Sinatra’s relations with Cahn and Styne did not run smoothly. Relations with Cahn were to improve, after a rift. With Styne, however, there was a lasting chill (Cahn, 141–, int. Tita Cahn, Taylor, 125); (Sanicola)Douglas-Home, 25–, int. of FS by Helen Hover, undat. clip, MHL, Cahn, 141; (sonofabitch who “would go down”) Wilson, Sinatra, 36; (fired Sevano) int. Nick Sevano, Kelley, 80–.
86 FS pugnacious image: (cousin Frank) ints. Marilyn Sinatra—daughter, Rose Paldino, Rose Ellman Sinatra, National Enquirer, May 22, 1979; (Sanicola bodyguard)Look, Jun. 11, 1957; (“I’d like to see”) NYT, Dec. 18, 1943; (Tamburro) see earlier references, int. Rose Tamburro; (work out/Silvani) Newsweek, Mar. 22, 1943, Life, May 3, 1943, NYT, Oct. 20, 1984; Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Sports Illustrated, Feb. 14, 1972; (Silvani bodyguard) int. Gloria Cahn Franks; (“I was intimidated”) Granata, 32.
86 “He was my special nurse”: Peggy Lee, Miss Peggy Lee, New York: Donald Fine, 1989, 20.
86–87 FS largesse: (Anthony) Dwiggins, 32; (musician/snowstorm) Modern Screen, undat. article, 1946?, by George Evans, MHL; (three hundred lighters/cuff links/key chain/Navy crew) Kahn, 23–, New Yorker, Oct. 26, 1946; (Styne) Taylor, 95; (Ragland) Shaw, Sinatra, 100; (FS glittered) New Yorker, Oct. 26, 1946, Helen Hover int. of FS, undat. clip, MHL, Newsweek, Mar. 22, 1943.
87 FS clothes: (general) Wilson, 49, Life, May 3, 1943, Kahn, 26–, Movie Stars Parade, Jun. 4, 1947; (shirts) M/G int. of Nick Sevano, Wilson, Sinatra, 47; (fifty suits, etc.) Kahn, 25.
87 Hasbrouck Heights: Newsweek, Mar. 22, 1943, Dwiggins, 54.
87–88 Toluca Lake: (MGM contract) American Weekly, Jul. 20, 1952; (described) Movieland, Jun. 11, 1945, Eleanor Harris, “If You Were a House Guest of the Frank Sinatras,” undat. 1945? MHL, Shaw, Sinatra, 71; (Lakeside Country Club) Woman’s Home Companion, Jun. 1956, Cahn, 119, and see Sinatra, Legend, 63; (Warm Valley) Dwiggins, 83; (Lanza) LAT, Jun. 4, 1951, Strait and Robinson, 14–; (home entertainment) Taylor, 111; (the Swooners) Rockwell, 69, Sinatra, Legend, 81–, photo following Cahn, 91, but see Hollywood Citizen-News, Aug. 20, 1945—re team called “Cleffs”; (cards on raft) Sinatra, Legend, 61; (gin rummy) int. Gloria Cahn Franks, Cahn, 119.
88–89 state of marriage: (Evans anxious) Gehman, 199, Wilson, Sinatra, 80, Redbook,Oct. 1951; (schmaltzy stories) “If You Were a
House Guest of the Frank Sinatras,” Photoplay, Sep. 1945, Helen Hover int. of FS, Movieland, Aug. 15, 1946, New York Journal-American, Feb. 27, 1956, Junior Miss, Sep. 1944, ed. Yarwood, 119; (Frank Jr. birth) Jersey Observer, Jan. 11, 1944, int. Adeline Biondy Yacenda; (naming) Sinatra, My Father, 53; (cement?/“Little by little”) American Weekly, Jul. 20, 1952; (fan mail) Chicago’s American, Sep. 26, 1966, Sinatra, Legend, 52; (handle the money) Wilson, Sinatra, 48; (siege) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944, Bergen (NJ) Record, May 16, 1998, Los Angeles Examiner, Aug. 5, 1945, Woman’s Home Companion, May 1956; (Frank’s boxers) Bergen (NJ) Record, May 17, 1998, Wilson, Sinatra, 78; (kidnap?) Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, Jun. 13, 1944, Los Angeles Examiner, Aug. 5, 1945, and see memo to file, March 1, 1955, FBI 100-41713-4; (“People tried”) int. Gloria Cahn Franks, Shaw, Sinatra, 71; (Nancy’s family) Look, May 14, 1957, Gehman, 199; Sinatra, My Father, 58; (“I was on edge”) American Weekly, Jul. 20, 1952; (parties on his own) Cosmopolitan, May 1956; (drink) Woman’s Home Companion, Jun. 1956, int. Brad Dexter; (“I began to drink”) FS int., unid. French article supplied to authors by Peggy Connelly.
89 list of women: Shaw, Sinatra, 73. Sources differ as to whether the supposed list was on the door during shooting of Anchors Aweigh or earlier, during Higher and Higher (Shaw, Sinatra, 71, Sciacca, Sinatra, 123); (Bau) int. Bau by Robert Slatzer, supplied to authors.
Chapter 9: Rejected for Service
90–91 Sinatra singing in war: (“When the Yanks”) int. Joe Bushkin, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Friedwald, 136, Ridgway, pt. 2, 258—the song was written by FS’s former Dorsey colleague, Joe Bushkin; (V-Discs) ibid., 257–; (The Voice painted/ Shivarg) Derek Jewell, Frank Sinatra: A Celebration, New York: Applause, 1999, 6, int. Alexander Shivarg; (Tokyo Rose) “Tokyo Rose” bio, www.fbi.gov, Freedland, 122; (“Some women”) Hamill, 128; (“said for the boys”) Lees, 93.
91 FS war support: (“As we listened”) Lana Turner, Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, New York: Dutton, 1982, 75, int. Joe Bushkin; (Command Performance)“AFRTS and Hollywood,” American Forces Radio and Television Service website; (rallies/shows) Movie Stars Parade, Jun. 4, 1947, Blue Ribbon, undat., 1943, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, ed. Leonard Mustazza, Sinatra: An Annotated Bibliography,Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999, 216, “Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years; The V-Discs,” Sep. 1994 press release, www.legacyrecordings .com, Kelley, 83, Sinatra, Legend, 55, 57, 59; (WAVES) Freedland, 90; (donate clothing) NYT, Apr. 6, 1945; (loan drive) Dwiggins, 63.
91–92 entertainers who served: int. Joe Bushkin, Simon, 173, 363–, 422, Kelley, 74, Levinson, September, 54, “Artanis Knarf,” undat. article by Bobby Burns, MHL, Shaw, Sinatra, 65, Sanford, 206, Dwiggins, 27, int. Jimmy Roselli, “The Stars Go to War,” http://history.sandiego.edu, “Celebrities in Uniform,” USAF Museum, “USO Recruits Support Troops,” www.defenselink.mil/news, Clive Hirschhorn, Gene Kelly, New York: St. Martin’s, 1974, 101, 107, 124–.
92–93 FS and military service: (flagpole/patriotism) Sinatra with Coplon, 144, Sinatra, My Father, 364; (controversy) “Classification History: Frank Albert Sinatra, Serial Number 2615, Order Number 204,” released to authors 2003, ints. and corr. Alyce Burton, Office of Public and Congressional Affairs, Selective Service System; (“first duty”) “Address to the Registrants under the Selective Service Law,” Oct. 16, 1940, Mt. Holyoke Library; (Italian-Americans) The Italians in America, TV documentary, supra.; (“a bunch of”) WP, Dec. 7, 2001; (coast guard) fingerprint record, FBI 3-734-610 in NY 166-3211, Sect. 1; (Evans/publicity) Dwiggins, 62–, NYT, Nov. 6, 1943, Shaw, Sinatra, 65, Wilson, Sinatra, 56; (physical) Memo to the Director, Feb. 10, 1944, “Frank Albert Sinatra,” FBI 25-244122; (height) ibid., “Registrar’s Report,” Oct. 16, 1940—supplied to authors by Selective Service Administration, “Biography of Frank Sinatra,” Solters & Roskin Public Relations, circa 1979; (rejected) NYT, Dec. 10, 1943, Dwiggins, 57, Shaw, Sinatra, 65; (“Sinatra has no more”) letter to Walter Winchell, Dec. 30, 1943, FBI 25-244122; (“How do you get”) Wilson, Sinatra, 57; (“draft dodger”) Hamill, 27; (“There’s a lot”) Dwiggins, 66, Shaw, Sinatra, 91, “Artanis Knarf,” unid. article by Bobby Burns, MHL; (egg) LAT, Oct. 15, Los Angeles Examiner, Oct. 16, 1944; (tomatoes) ibid., eds. Tom and Phil Kuntz, The Sinatra Files, New York: Three Rivers, 2000, photo section; (booed) “What Is Frank Sinatra Really Like?” unid. article by Jack Holland, 1943, MHL; (“It is not too much”) Manchester, 309.
93 2-A(F) classification: The Selective Service record released to the authors states that the 2-A(F) reclassification applied as of May 9, 1944. Confused contemporary press reports suggested this designation applied only as of the start of March 1945. In fact, early March marked the restoration of his 4-F status (New York Sun, Mar. 3, 1945, Jersey Observer, Mar. 5, 1945, Kelley, 102); (“Is crooning?”) Freedland, 95; (summoned back) Washington Times-Herald, Feb. 2, New York Sun, Jan. 30, LAT, Feb. 4, 1945; (fans/Fort Jay) New York Sun, Feb. 8, 10, 13, 1945, Dwiggins, 63–, Shaw, Sinatra, 89–; (“for review”) New York Sun, Mar. 3, 1945; (“Frail Finch”) Jersey Observer, Mar. 5, 1945.
93 4-F again: At the time, both an initial official statement and press reports suggested that Sinatra was to remain 2-A(F) until September 1945, stating that this meant he was doing essential civilian work. The official Selective Service record, however, reflects the restoration of 4-F status, as Sinatra’s press agent George Evans made clear in an announcement ( New York Sun, Mar. 3, Jersey Observer, Mar. 5, Los Angeles Herald Express, Mar. 6, 1945, Kelley, 101, Wilson, Sinatra, 58).
93–94 controversy over FS and draft: (“Can you tell me?”) New York Sun, Mar. 1, 1945; (Sokolsky) ibid.; (Mortimer) (NY) Sunday Mirror, Jul. 15, 1945; (Pegler) Washington Times-Herald, Jan. 24, 1948; (“glad to serve”/“gunnery”) NYT, Nov. 6, 1943; (marines?) Wilson, Sinatra, 57; (“desperate”) Sinatra, Legend, 48, and see Kelley, 76, Los Angeles Examiner, Aug. 20, 1960, Modern Screen, undat. 1946, MHL; (“singing night and day”) Modern Screen, May 1947; (seven-week tour) Newsweek, Jul. 23, 1945, Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965, Kahn, 115; (“soldiers in greasepaint”) B.G. News, Feb. 5, 2003; (Jolson/Brown/Oberon) “The Great Entertainers,” www.dinesp.fsnet.co.uk, “The Friendly Log Cabin,” USO exhibit, University of Alaska, www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu, “1st Fighter Group History, 1944,” www.1stfighter.org; (Bing) “Bing Crosby Internet Museum,” www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us, Hamill, 26; (Hope) “The Stars Go to War,” http:// history.sandiego.edu; (Dietrich) Kahn, 115.
94 “the FBI denied”: Sinatra, My Father, 67, Freedland, 96. Press agent George Evans reportedly made a claim similar to Nancy’s (Freedland, 96); (Wayne) Garry Wills, John Wayne’s America, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997, 107–, 331n13; (Martin) William Schoell, Martini Man, Dallas: Taylor, 1999, 17, Michael Freedland, Dino: The Dean Martin Story, London: Comet, 1984, 22; (Lewis) Lewis with Gluck, 102–; (“another punctured”) NYT, Dec. 10, 1943.
94–95 ear ailment issue: (bribe?) letter to Walter Winchell, Dec. 30, 1943, FBI 25-244122.
95 FBI/Weintrob/Povalski/questionnaires: S. K. McKee Memos to the Director, “Frank Albert Sinatra, Selective Service,” Feb. 10, 17, 24, 1944, Weintrob to Surgeon General, Dec. 27, 1943, Weintrob to Commanding General, Dec. 28, 1943, Callan to Ladd, Feb. 26, 1944, FBI 25-244122, int. Beverly Weintrob. There is a reference to a mastoid operation in Kitty Kelley’s book His Way. And according to Al Certo, a former Hoboken tailor who knew him in the early days, he “had an operation for an abscess on the inner ear” in childhood. As mentioned earlier, another account has it that the eardrum was damaged when Sinatra was hit with a bicycle chain during a boyhood fight (Kelley, 17, Evanier, 49, Cosmopolitan, May 1956).
95–96 FS “psychiatric interview”: Weintrob to Commanding General, Dec. 28, 1943, FBI 25-244122-7. The FBI, which had a copy of the doctor’s report, secretly leaked the gist of the information in 1947, but it remained unpublished until after Sinatra’s death, when his FBI file was released. The full text related to his psychiatric condition is published here for the first time (Ruark to Pegler, Mar. 14, 1947, B
ox 72, Pegler Papers, Herbert Hoover Library, Memo to Tolson, May 12, 1947, FSFBI); (“should have gone”) int. Bob Neal.
96 just like any other: New York Sun, Jan. 30, 1945.
96 FS and politics in early 1940s: (“indoctrinated”) Giuliano audiotape; (electionrally) Kahn, 30; (“some kind of public”) PM, undat. 1945, MHL; (reading into night) Clarke, 43; (“He always had”) int. Peggy Connelly; (trains/four titles) PM, undat. 1945, MHL; (postwar interviewer) Movie Show, Jul. 31, 1947.
96 FS admiration for FDR: (FDR alienated) Gambino, 326; (Dolly) Kelley, 93; (“almost amounted”) Shaw, Sinatra, 91; (auction) Billboard, Nov. 20, 1965.
96 FDR photographs: Shaw, Sinatra, 91. Years later, he would proudly show Edward R. Murrow an autographed drawing of Roosevelt he had been given after the president’s death. It was, he told Murrow, “one of the last times [FDR] ever signed his signature to anything” ( Edward R. Murrow: The Best of Person to Person, CBS News video, Beverly Hills, CA: FoxVideo, 1992); (voted Democrat) Kelley, 93.
96–98 FS and 1944 campaign: (political George Evans) int. Phil Evans, Friedwald, 323; (offered his services) PM, undat. 1945, MHL; (“Mr. President”) PM, Oct. 2, 1944; (visit to White House) “Tea at the White House” guest list, Sep. 28, 1944, Frank Sinatra file, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Kahn, 31, Shaw, Sinatra, 77, WP, Sep. 29, New York Herald Tribune, Sep. 29, 1944, New York Journal-American, Sep. 12, 1947; (“When I neared him”) Movieland, Jun. 11, 1945; (“Imagine this guy”) Patricia Seaton Lawford with Ted Schwarz, The Peter LawfordStory, New York: Carroll and Graf, 1988, 72; (other occasion) Sinatra, My Father, 53, and see Movie Stars’ Parade, Jun. 4, 1947; (columnists) Kelley, 93–; (parody) Dwiggins, 71; ($7,500) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944, Kahn, 32; (Dewey) New Republic, Nov. 6, 1944, Time, Aug. 29, 1955; (buttons) New Yorker, Nov. 2, 1946; (flyer) “Correlation Summary,” Jun. 8, 1964, FSFBI; (Show business people) LAT, Oct. 3, 1944, Ronald Brownstein, The Power and the Glitter, New York: Pantheon, 1990, 93–, David Thomson, Rosebud, London: Little, Brown, 1996, 209, 257–; (Robinson) Ted Morgan, FDR: A Biography, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985, 726; (FS broadcasts) PM, Oct. 2, NYT, Oct. 28, Nov. 4, 1944; (Carnegie Hall) ed. Vare, 116, Kelley, 94; (Madison Square Garden) PM, undat. 1945, MHL.