Tony Bennett on Frank Sinatra
Tony Bennett writes on Frank Sinatra in Vanity Fair. Here’s a bit — read the whole thing here.
I remember an evening in the early 1970s when I was appearing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and I got a phone call from one of Sinatra’s closest musician friends, saxophonist Vido Musso. He said Frank wanted to invite me to join him and Vido (who was a superb Italian cook) for dinner after my show, adding, “And bring your pianist, Ralph Sharon.” He gave me an address, which turned out to be a small restaurant way off the Vegas Strip, that would offer privacy. It was just the four of us, and the meal and conversation were memorable. Frank reflected on his life … the ups and downs … the amazing path he’d traveled from that evening with the Hoboken Four in 1935 to becoming “King” of the entertainment world. Toward the end of the evening Sinatra said, “Before we go, I’d really enjoy it if you and Ralph could perform a song.” And in this small room, late in the evening, with Frank Sinatra sitting only a couple feet away, and inspired by our time together that night, I sang a Jerome Kern song. It was a moment I will never forget: “Yesterdays / Yesterdays / Days I knew as sweet / Sequestered days.… Sad am I / Glad am I / For today I’m dreaming / Of yesterdays.”
He started out as Frankie, then became Frank, then the Chairman of the Board and, of course, Ol’ Blue Eyes—but he remained true to himself and his friends … and he was a best friend to me. One of Frank’s favorite toasts: “May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.”
I’ve always been a huge Sinatra fan and one of the things I’ve always most admired about the man is his absolute unwavering loyalty to friends. He’d have been a great guy to know.
V… if you haven’t yet you should listen to our Tom Dreesen interview on Radio 3D. He opened for Sinatra and we’ve got some good Sinatra stuff on there.
I’ll definitely take a listen Floyd. If you or anyone else want a really great easy read on Sinatra I suggest picking up “The Way You Wear Your Hat” which is just a collection of stories from his friends about him. The highlight was where he nearly had Woody Allen killed but Mia Farrow begged him not to so he called it off.
Tom’s book with Tim Reid also worth your time. A few decent Sinatra stories, especially the one involving Sammy Davis Jr.
Veruckt,you got a campaign website yet?
Frank and Tony both had a strong respect for those who made their art possible, not only the composers, but the arrangers and musicians also. Notice the name check on Ralph Sharon? Frank had his guy, too, Bill Miller (think of the opening piano solo on “One For My Baby”). And in concert, both of these guys would always mention the name of the songwriters of the tunes they were singing. Frank even always made sure we knew whose charts the band was performing.
Even so, loving both these guys as much as I do, I can’t help a vague feeling of “command performance” in this story that Tony tells of this meeting over pasta and gravy and Jack Daniels. It’s Frank’s world, baby, and we’re just livin’ in it. So before you go, make wid da pipes for his nibs. Dean woulda told Frank to get stuffed.
I don’t want to make too big a deal of that observation, I’m just sayin’ is all.
And I suppose one should mention for fairness’ sake that if you ever did get on Frank’s bad side, be prepared for the Big Freeze, buddy.
Will Friedwald has written wonderfully on the art of Frank’s singing. Is there a similar book on Tony?
BTW, one of the most interesting and juiciest books I’ve read in a long time on Frank is this one by Frank’s longtime valet. Great dirt, dished out straight up. Dietrich and Garbo skinny dipping and making out in Frank’s pool? Peggy Lee living next door and calling up Frank for a mercy-[roll in the hay]? Judy Garland enjoying a particular activity that I am embarrassed to write about explicitly here (although Bill Clinton told us all that didn’t qualify as “sexual relations”)??? Eep!
Jack, Dietrich and Garbo met once. Dietrich made a complete ass of herself because she was starstruck and Garbo just left the party. I have a book called The Blue Angel about Dietrich that you might want to read. The Valet told a funny story but its most likely not true.
Steph, that Blue Angel book doesn’t sound accurate because Dietrich and Garbo were both in a German movie together called, The Joyless Street in 1925. It was Garbo’s last movie there before she came to America. So they had to have met more than once and knew each other. They’ve both also claimed never to have met at all. Seems like they couldn’t get their stories straight and figured that no one would be watching that movie nearly a century later.
justjack, if I remember correctly, Garland lived on Blowmont Street.
Sprey but check imdb. Garbo was in that movie but Dietrich was not.
I know that the story is titilating for guys but history and the facts prove
Dietrich did not meet Garbo till after WW2. This kind annoys me because D’s
letters talked about her having always wanting to meet Garbo. The truth
is Sinatra did date D for a while. If you don’t believe me look
on IMDB yourself. M was not in that movie. She isn’t listed anywhere.
TCM has Dietrich in that movie, but with a little further digging I found that the woman in the movie was Hertha von Walther who is often mistaken for Dietrich.
Yep. THats what I discovered. Good job Matt.
Scott,
Not yet. I won’t put up anything official until January 4th of 2010 which is the official beginning of the “petitioning” portion of the campaign, that’s according to the state the first day you are eligible to be officially in the race. The way I’m interpretting the regulations I’m not allowed to collect campaign donations or conduct campaign business until then. Honestly I need an attorney to help me make sense of all the campaign rules…any volunteers?
Ahh my alltime favorite Sinatra songs are One for My Baby, Without You (He wrote the song for Ava Gardner), Thats Life, The Way You Look Tonight…….
I’m not that familiar with Frank Sinatra’s work. Didn’t he sing, I Left My Heart in El Segundo?
No. He sang I Left My Heart in Sam Frank’s Disco.
Say, Matt Helm, how do you make a fruit cordial?
Just be nice to him.