SINATRA AND ME in the wee small hours

 Old blue eyes life told in a refreshing way by his manager, producer, drinking buddy (Jack Daniels and water), and best friend. This is not Frank’s life story, although the blanks get filled in along the way. It’s a composite of thousands of conversations with Frank, his friends, and his family as told by Tony Oppedisano, his Sicilian confidant, manager, fellow singer, and writer of this book. Being Sicilian is one of the reasons Frank was always assumed to be mafioso by the press, who had a vendetta for most of old blue eye's career. The other reason was Frank’s presumed ties with all the big NYC clubs and later Las Vegas. The fact that all those clubs and early Las Vegas were mobbed-owned didn’t seem to mean anything to the American press. Sinatra’s trouble with the press started when Frank decked New York Mirror’s Lee Mortimer after Mortimer linked Frank to Lucky Luciano with no evidence. Frank's verbal attacks on columnist Dorothy Kilgallen were started when he called her “the chinless wonder.” Frank also had a long press battle with Maxine Cheshire, who also linked him to the mafioso. Anyway, the slightly built Sinatra was always able to stand up to anybody. If he liked you, you were his friend for life. If he disliked you, it’s not true that he didn’t apologize. “ Hey, I’m sorry. Sometimes I’m a schmuck. Help me get my foot out of my mouth. Frank could be extraordinarily generous with his fans. If people were polite one good turn deserves another. And one bad turn deserves another.” 

Frank’s taste for women was always in the spotlight. “When Frank married actress Mia Farrow in 1966, he became the butt of a lot of jokes. Jackie Mason was one of the most vocal. He used to talk about Frank’s buying Mia a box of crayons for her birthday, or Frank’s being asked to leave the bar because Mia’s rattle was making too much noise. As everyone knows, Frank was still married to Nancy Sr. when he met Ava Gardner. Ava was the total opposite of Nancy, Sr., which was part of the attraction. If Nancy was the angel on one of Frank’s shoulders, Ava was the devil on the other. Nancy was the devoted Italian wife and mother, every inch a ‘good girl.’ Ava was a two-fisted drinker, and like his mother, Dolly, Ava had a mouth as bad as Frank’s. Frank told me, she could have a mouth like a truck driver. She drank as well as I did or better. Ava was also stunningly beautiful, the Angelina Jolie of her day.” Frank and Marilyn (Monroe) were very close and he idolized her. “She was beautiful and funny and charismatic and radiated sexuality. She was also as fragile as a troubled child, always looking for a man to take care of her and make her feel safe. Frank knew her for years, and they had a romance of sorts. Contrary to widespread belief, however, Frank never slept with her. He told me he badly wanted to, that he was terribly attracted to her, but always stopped short. He just couldn’t get rid of the feeling that sex with her would be taking advantage of a woman who’d already had been used by so many men.”

Sinatra’s mom, Dolly, was a five-foot ninety-pound leader, who was a domineering and sometimes aggressive mother. She was a political force in Hoboken, NJ, getting a letter of commendation from Calvin Coolidge, congratulating her on her great work for the Democratic Party. “Dolly had a mouth like a sailor. Her profanity was legendary.” She was known for grabbing Frank by the ear and dragging him home when caught playing hooky. “Dolly wanted him to enroll in the Stevens Institute and become an architect.” Even though Frank had a pretty high IQ and was fascinated with geometric designs, his heart was set on being a singer. “The whole thing came to a head one night over dinner with his parents. They were eating when his father said, “So, did you enroll in the Stevens Institute?” Frank said no and that he could be a better singer than Bing Crosby. His angry father said, “Well, fine, If that’s your final answer, that’s your choice, but you are not going to do it on my dime. So pack your stuff and get out of here.” Young Frank packed his bag and left to continue his singing career on his own. He was going to have to do it, “My Way.” Haha. 

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Frank Sinatra died of a  heart attack on 5/14/1998 at the age of 82. Reportedly, his wife, Barbara was encouraging Frank to fight for his life when he said his final words,” I’m losing.”

In the Source Notes, his friend Tony Oppedisano, explains how he wrote this book: “Unlike most Sinatra biographers, I lived this book. It is almost entirely on direct personal experience and on thousands of conversations that occurred over decades with Frank, Jilly Rizzo, Nancy Sinatra Sr., and others close to Frank. I expect that I have been consulted on so many other Sinatra books because, in some cases, I have the only living memory of what occurred. I have become something of a keeper of the flame.