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Apropos of Frank

Frayed Knot Dec 12 2015 06:30 AM

DOO-BEE DOO-BEE DOO

Benjamin Grimm Dec 12 2015 06:40 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

One hundred years young!

d'Kong76 Dec 12 2015 08:18 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

Didn't get a lot of Frank growing up, more of a Dean guy.

themetfairy Dec 12 2015 08:58 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

I've heard this story told many times, including here. I could never like Sinatra after hearing it. But, in the meantime, we must return to Dunne and his party as they sit there enjoying their dinner. All of a sudden, Dunne feels a tap on his shoulder. He looks up. The maître d’ of the Daisy is looking down at him, “very nice guy called George, Italian, we all knew him, gave him Christmas presents, wonderful man.” George says, “Oh, Mr. Dunne, I’m so sorry about this, but Mr. Sinatra made me do it.” So saying, he leans back, clenches his fist, and hits Dunne smack in the face. “It wasn’t a hit to knock me out, but it was embarrassing,” recalls Dunne. The crowded restaurant falls silent. Dunne looks across at Sinatra, who is looking back at him with a smile on his face. Dunne and his wife leave the restaurant. As they wait for their car to be brought around by the concierge, George runs out. He is sobbing and afraid. “I’m sorry, so sorry. Mr. Sinatra made me do it,” he says. He tells the Dunnes that Sinatra tipped him $50. “It was the social talk of the town,” Dunne recalls. “I was the amusement for Sinatra. My humiliation was his fun.”

Frayed Knot Dec 12 2015 11:36 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

I forget which comedian used the line about how Frank saved his life one time: I was in a club getting beaten by some goons when Frank came by and said; "OK, That's enough".

Mets – Willets Point Dec 12 2015 12:14 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

Wonderful voice. Horrid human being.

Benjamin Grimm Dec 12 2015 02:08 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

From everything I've heard, that's probably very true.

Edgy MD Dec 12 2015 06:19 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

I've also heard plenty of warm and praising things sincerely said about him. The problem with being bigger than life is the stories are countless and some of them probably true, but it's hard to sort out which ones.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 12 2015 08:02 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

I've told this story before I think but the first time I saw Frank Sinatra on TV I honestly thought he was a comedy act: Some concert of his was on TV I would guess some time between '78 and 81, and my siblings and I were ROFLOLing at what a total cheeseball was on TV when my dad walked in asking what we were all laughing about. As I recall it today that part is even funnier than a tuxedoed Frank hamming up Beatles songs in front of an orchestra.

Edgy MD Dec 12 2015 08:10 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

You make the call! [youtube:2hnzguvf]gsTh_kCa7Rs[/youtube:2hnzguvf]

d'Kong76 Dec 12 2015 08:23 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

That was tough to get through, so I didn't.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 12 2015 08:47 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

You're asking me, will my love grow? I don't know, I don't know You stick around, Jack, it may show I don't know, I don't know Jack! Hilarious

Rockin' Doc Dec 12 2015 09:39 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

d'Kong76 wrote: That was tough to get through, so I didn't. I made it about 30 seconds and had to bail. Johnny Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: You're asking me, will my love grow? I don't know, I don't know You stick around, Jack, it may show I don't know, I don't know Jack! Hilarious Then I read this and got suckered into listening further. Damn, you Lunchbucket.

dgwphotography Dec 13 2015 02:06 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

I forget which comedian used the line about how Frank saved his life one time: I was in a club getting beaten by some goons when Frank came by and said; "OK, That's enough". That definitely sounds like Don Rickles.

MFS62 Dec 13 2015 08:06 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

Edgy MD wrote: I've also heard plenty of warm and praising things sincerely said about him. The problem with being bigger than life is the stories are countless and some of them probably true, but it's hard to sort out which ones. And that is exactly why I won't comment one way or another. I don't want to chance waking up with a horse's head in my bed. But we do turn on the Sinatra station when we work late. Not all him, but lots of singers of his kind of music - Frank, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Bouble. Very easy listening. Later

Frayed Knot Dec 13 2015 09:33 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

Frank definitely hit a time where, seemingly in an effort to stay hip and relevant, he strayed into a bunch of stuff he never should have tried to tackle. At some point -- see Eddie Murphy's movie career -- big stars reach a stage where there's no one around them nervy enough to tell them 'No', often to the star's detriment.

dgwphotography Dec 13 2015 10:37 AM Re: Apropos of Frank

I saw Frank when he toured with Sammy and Liza in the 80s. Yeah, he was cringe-worthy in his later years, but nobody was better than Frank during his Capital years.

Edgy MD Dec 13 2015 03:09 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

It's weird. The two things that were hard to believe after seeing square and hammy Sinatra and Bing on TV throughout my formative years is later learning that Sinatra once had lovely tenor and Bing once swung the jazz like nobody's business. Sinatra seemed to lose that voice pretty early (I'm not sure if he lost it or dropped it), switching to that swaggering cocky baritone that he became. He was initially old news and a square in the post-war years — women's music that war-hardened men didn't associate with — and he compensated by adopting an I'm-one-of-you-boys character that was largely copped from Bogart, I would guess. Rumpled trench coat, fedora, cigarette, and evening wear underneath that wrapped the broken package in just enough of an air of sophistication to always conflict with the out-for-himself cynic that hard luck and hard love had reduced Stage-Sinatra to. But the character became the bigger part of the package than the voice. And like Elvis and Jaggar later, playing up the character led to the singer descending from a perch of seeming authenticity into the worst sort of self-parody. He really wanted to be Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, and I love that he saw himself as the main of mystery and control, but the director saw him as the nervous shnook, and for all his famed I-call-the-shots attitude, he condescended to take the part.

Mets – Willets Point Dec 13 2015 04:17 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

Sinatra came of age in the era when a song was written and every vocalist had to put out their own recording of it to remain relevant. He and many others of his generation continued this practice well into the rock & roll singer/songwriter era which ended up sounding rather cringe-worthy to us, but they were just doing what they'd always done. It's the difference between an interpretation of a great song being a "standard" rather than a "cover." Speaking of which, seek out Mae West's version of "Light My Fire."

Ashie62 Dec 13 2015 05:42 PM Re: Apropos of Frank

He used to live in Hasbrouck Heights NJ just as he was breaking. Poor Frank put his intimates out on the line to dry and my aunt says they have aged well.