OT: Frank Sinatra's 100th anniversary on Dec. 12th

[leno...@yahoo.com]

I'm sure we all know by now. As well as we know about the connection between "From Here to Eternity" and "The Godfather."

(FHTE was not the only time he won an Oscar, by the way! See here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037792/reviews?ref_=tt_ql_8 )

In the meantime:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000069/

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=frank+sinatra+100th

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=frank+sinatra+100

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=frank+sinatra+100&tbm=nws

BTW, my grandmother was barely younger than he (both were born during WWI) and she could never stand his singing - she called it "sappy." She felt the same way about Bing Crosby; she preferred classical music.

But, then, how many fans did Sinatra ever have who were born before 1930, anyway?


Lenona.

[cathyc...@aol.com]

Actually there is no connection between From Here to Eternity and The Godfather. It's an urban legend.

[RH Draney]

On 12/10/2015 11:52 AM, leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> BTW, my grandmother was barely younger than he (both were born during WWI) and she could never stand his singing - she called it "sappy." She felt the same way about Bing Crosby; she preferred classical music.
>
> But, then, how many fans did Sinatra ever have who were born before 1930, anyway?

My stepfather was a big fan of Frankie, and he was born in 1923....r

[eeey...@aol.com]

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 1:52:26 PM UTC-5, leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
> I'm sure we all know by now. As well as we know about the connection between "From Here to Eternity" and "The Godfather."
>
> (FHTE was not the only time he won an Oscar, by the way! See here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037792/reviews?ref_=tt_ql_8 )

From Here To Eternity WAS the only time he won an Oscar. Honorary awards and Certificates of Achievement are not Oscars.

[eeey...@aol.com]

My dad was a huge fan also. Born in 1924.

[Topic Cop]

Frank Sinatra Junior is singing on Saturday. Wanna go?

[RH Draney]

"Suddenly", filmed in the town where I grew up, was the only film in
which he played an outright bad guy...plenty of roles where he was on
the wrong side of the law, or driven by circumstances to do bad things,
but only in this one picture did he play someone who had his own evil
reasons for doing evil stuff....r

[tr...@iwvisp.com]

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 10:52:26 AM UTC-8, leno...@yahoo.com wrote:

> But, then, how many fans did Sinatra ever have who were born before 1930, anyway?
>
>
> Lenona.

My mother was born in 1923 and she was a Bobbie-Soxer who saw Frank in concert several times in Philadelphia in the early/mid 1940's. I was happy to be able to take my parents to a Sinatra concert in 1986. He was in good voice and only lost his place in one song. In hindsight it probably was the beginning of the end. It was a great night for the folks and my Mom smiled for days.

Ray Arthur

[tr...@iwvisp.com]

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra on Saturday, the U S Postal Service today issued a new 'Frank Sinatra' Forever Stamp. You can purchase them in rolls of 102. That's 100 stamps, plus...
"One for my baby, and one more for the road!"

Ray Arthur

[Anglo Saxon]

:)

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

Sinatra and Dylan, the two most remarkable American musical careers ever.

But quite unlike Dylan, who has always been a hilariously inept actor, Francis Albert also strung together a decades-long series of compellingly convincing screen roles.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[cathyc...@aol.com]

Dylan isn't even in the top 100. He's not close to Fitzgerald, Crosby, Holliday, Astaire, Mitchell and on and on.

[tr...@iwvisp.com]

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 12:04:36 PM UTC-8, cathyc...@aol.com wrote:
> Actually there is no connection between From Here to Eternity and The Godfather. It's an urban legend.

Fun story in Friday's Variety...

To commemorate Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday, a look back at whether a key role in "The Godfather" was really based on him.

Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather received acclaim when released in 1969, but not everyone was a fan. Frank Sinatra was not pleased.

Sinatra would have turned 100 on Saturday. One of many tales intertwined with the legend's career is the persistent rumor that he was basis for singer (and Vito Corleone godson) Johnny Fontane -- the similarities were so striking, in fact, even Sinatra was convinced.

Sinatra was so mad about the apparent similarities, he berated Puzo one night in a Los Angeles hotspot, according to a August 1972 New York Magazine piece by The Godfather author.

The writer was busy working on the screenplay for his bestseller in Hollywood -- which would go on to be hailed as one of the greatest films of all time -- when he was invited by an unnamed "famous millionaire" friend to a dinner party at Chasen's -- a then celebrity hotspot near Beverly Hills, which opened in 1936 and closed in 1995, Puzo recounted in the magazine article.

Once there, the millionaire wanted to introduce the author to another friend: Sinatra.

" 'I'd like you to meet my good friend, Mario Puzo,' " said the millionaire friend, according to Puzo, to which Sinatra, not looking up from his plate, replied: " 'I don't think so. I don't want to meet him.' "

It had been rumored Sinatra had connections to organized crime which allowed to him make certain career moves, including allegedly breaking a contract through threat of violence. In Puzo's novel, Johnny Fontane's singing and acting career is helped thanks to his mafia connections. Singer Al Martino played Johnny Fontane in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part III. Martino died in 2009 at age 82.

In the director's commentary on Blu Ray for The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola briefly mentions Sinatra during Fontane's first appearance. "Obviously Johnny Fontane was inspired by a kind of Frank Sinatra character," Coppola said on the commentary track.

Sinatra, who won an Oscar for his performance in 1953's From Here to Eternity, was irate and disgusted when the two finally met in the restaurant, according to Puzo's article in New York.

The millionaire apologized to Sinatra for upsetting him; Puzo tried to tell Sinatra the introduction was not his idea.

" 'Who told you to put that in the book, your publisher?' " Sinatra asked Puzo, he wrote.

Then, Sinatra "started to shout abuse," at Puzo, according to the author.
"I remember that, contrary to his reputation, he did not use foul language at all. The worst thing he called me was a pimp, which rather flattered me since I've never been able to get girlfriend to squeeze blackheads out of my back, much less hustle for me," Puzo wrote in '72.

While letting him have it, Sinatra also told Puzo "that if it wasn't that I was so much older than he, he would beat the hell out of me." That really got to Puzo, he wrote, but not because he was scared of getting injured.

"What hurt was that here he was, a northern Italian, threatening me, a southern Italian, with physical violence," Puzzo wrote in New York. "This was roughly equivalent to Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone. It just wasn't done. Northern Italians never mess with Southern Italians except to get them put in jail or get them deported to some desert island."

Sinatra, again not looking up from his plate, continued to scold Puzo while the author just stared at the crooner, he wrote.

"Finally, I walked away and out of the restaurant. My humiliation must have showed because he yelled after me, 'Choke. Go ahead and choke.' "


Ray Arthur

[tr...@iwvisp.com]

On Friday, December 11, 2015 at 3:02:23 PM UTC-8, cathyc...@aol.com wrote:
> Dylan isn't even in the top 100. He's not close to Fitzgerald, Crosby, Holliday, Astaire, Mitchell and on and on.

I don't agree with you often but you are perfectly on target here. One could make a case for Dylan's songwriting abilities, although there are only a few of his songs that appeal to me and they're ALL song by other artists.

As a singer, however, he should have never been allowed in even the lobby of a recording studio.

Ray Arthur

[cathyc...@aol.com]

Interesting story in Variety but, of course, it has nothing to do with the casting of From Here to Eternity and doesn't mention it. As I stated, that part of the story is urban legend, myth.

And Sinatra's anger at Godfather had nothing to do with himself. It was very clear that he didn't like the portrayal of Italian-Americans. Period.