Frank Sinatra Biography (1947)
At the beginning of 1947, with the help of his old friend Joe Fischetti, Frank Sinatra was given the opportunity to meet Lucky Luciano, the head of the Cosa Nostra, who was living in Havana. Fascinated by power in general, Sinatra couldn’t resist and flew to the Cuban capital, unaware that he would be both the guest of honor and a cover for a gathering of mobsters.
Any sensible man, upon realizing this, would have returned home without even unpacking his suitcase, but Sinatra decided to make the most of his trip, giving in to excess. The magic of the city, the intoxicating thrill of the forbidden, kept him from sensing the tremors and the roar of what was to come.
Journalist Lee Mortimer, who had already written bitter words about Frank Sinatra, was responsible for making every last detail of Sinatra’s Havana vacation known in the United States. Exaggerating real events and fabricating others, he cast a toxic shadow over the singer’s reputation that would haunt him for the rest of his life and beyond. Sinatra continued to send shivers down people’s spines, but not because of his art. The media portrayed him as an adulterer, violent, capricious, and a friend of communists and criminals.
The scandal affected his new film, It Happened in Brooklyn, in which he starred alongside Kathryn Grayson, Jimmy Durante, and Peter Lawford. Although the critics were kind to Sinatra, the film received a lukewarm reception, and its box office earnings failed to cover production costs.
In April, Frank became involved in an altercation with journalist Lee Mortimer after allegedly being insulted by him in public. The singer was arrested and forced to apologize publicly to the journalist and compensate him with $9,000.
In May, Frank performed at New York’s Capitol Theatre before a cold and half-empty audience—chilly in the stalls and outside the theater, where only a handful of devoted fans awaited him, along with the ghostly memory of his triumphant debut at the Paramount in 1945, when the siege of his fans had prevented him from leaving the theater for dinner.
On October 30, a warm and humble tribute sweetened the Voice’s grim year: Hoboken, his hometown, celebrated “Frank Sinatra Day.” The singer attended the event accompanied by his parents and received the key to the city from the mayor and the chief of police, with an inscription that read: “From the hearts of the citizens of the city of Hoboken.”
Article written by Mahnuel Muñoz. (Al mal Tiempo Frank Sinatra) https://www.facebook.com/groups/120950148274703
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