Frank Sinatra: A Complicated Life (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] this is Francis Albert Sinatra he was more than December the 12th 1915 and Hoboken New Jersey Frank Sinatra will become one of the most influential performers of the 20th century he has sold over 150 million records worldwide and appeared in over 50 films Frank was an only child belonging to antonio martino Sinatra call Marty Marty emigrated with his family from Palermo Sicily when he was 11 years old Marty started his career as a boxer he used the name Marty O'Brien as Italians were unwelcome in boxing after some 30 professional fights as a bantamweight his boxing career ended after breaking his wrist his wife Dahlia had helped him get a job as a fireman and he'll eventually rise to the rank of captain with a Hoboken fire department Frank's mother was nan Ling Gary Bunty she was given a nickname of Dolly at a very young age her family said that she looked like a little doll she immigrated with her family from Genoa Italy when dolly was only a few months old she later become involved in democratic politics and become one of a few women ever awarded as ward leader in Hoboken when Frank Sinatra was born the doctor was called to the Sinatra's apartment Frank weighed 13 and a half pounds and the doctor had to use forceps for the delivery in the course of the delivery the left side of his face was severely scarred years later he would use makeup to cover the scars and one eardrum was damaged affecting him for life even registered in him as 4f during World War two the baby Sinatra was born blue and not breathing the doctor believed that he was stillborn and set him aside to attend to the mother is not until the grandmother slept the baby's back and run him under Co water did he begin to breathe as the family began making more money they moved a few blocks away to a more affluent neighborhood 703 Park Avenue when Frank was 12 years old and at the same time his parents opened a Tavern at 333 Jefferson they named it Marty O'Brien's for Marty's boxing days dolly had become influential in Hoboken politics and made the most of it during Prohibition their tavern stayed open and it was said by the blessing of the mob and city officials now dolly doted on Frankie buying him expensive clothes but beating him when she lost her temper young Frank would do his schoolwork sitting on a barstool he would sing while setting on a tavern piano and with someone give him a nickel he thought that was great On January the 28th 1931 Frank entered dimmer sit High School in Hoboken and during junior high the kids had made fun of him and called him Scarface from his birth scars causing him not to like school he was soon expelled from high school for general rowdiness and teachers said that he was lazy and had no ambition in order to not disappoint his mother he enrolled at the Drake business school but he dropped out after 11 months his parents said in order to keep him from becoming a bum they had found him a regular job as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper where his Godfather Frank Gehry worked dolly also helped her son get singing jobs at different clubs and events in 1935 dolly persuaded a local singing group called the three flashes to let him join they said they took him on the road because he's the only one who had a car so notcher dragged the group to let him join the act would he learn that they was going to audition for the major Bowes amateur hour they changed their name to the hobo looking for they won a six months contract to perform across the country on stage and radio Frank quickly become the lead singer the group became jealous and they began having conflicts resulting in fifth spots Frank quit halfway through the tour said he was just tired of fighting in 1938 Frank was working as a singing waiter at the Roadhouse named the rustic cabin in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey for $15 a week at times the rustic cabin would broadcast dances over wne W a radio station in New York City Sinatra would wait on tables and then you'd pull off his apron step on the stage and sang with the bill Henry Orchestra he was popular with the girls and it sometimes got him into trouble one night in November of 1938 while in the back seat of an automobile in the parking lot of the club with a married woman the police knocked on the window and the woman began to holler raped afraid of what her husband might think Frank was arrested in this mug shot was taken he spent sixteen hours in jail before the lady dropped the charges and his Frank woods saying later and that's why the lady is a while still working at the rustic cabin on February the 4th 1939 Frank Sinatra marries Natalie or Nancy Rose Barbado in her hometown of Jersey City New Jersey Frank had met Nancy back in 1934 when he was 19 and she was 17 he was spending the summer with her st. Josie in Long Beach on the Jersey Shore and Nancy was vacationing with her family and a big house across the road from him Frank come over with his ukulele when he's seen her sitting on the porch they stayed in touch and begin dating after their marriage they set up housekeeping at 1:37 virgin Avenue Jersey City while Frank sang it to Rusty cabin nights he went to work as a secretary according to their daughter Nancy in her book Frank Sinatra and American legend her mother took a 15 dollar advance so that Frank could make publicity pictures and send a bandleader Harry James when he heard Sinatra on the radio he already knew what he looked like Frank was offered $75 per week with his first performance at the Baltimore Hippodrome Nate soon went on tour with Frank and the band in the fall of 1939 and cooked spaghetti for everyone when a club owner didn't pay James for the gig they had to scrape up enough money to buy groceries according to their daughter Nate's his book it was the happiest days of the marriage On June 8 1940 Frank and Nate's his first child was born Nancy Sandra Sinatra at the Marguerite Haig hospital in Jersey City Nancy will stay in New Jersey with her daughter and Frank will continue on tour sometime during this period Willy mulready underboss of the Genovese crime family heard Sinatra sang and took an interest in his career there's been all kinds of rumors about Sinatra's connection with the mom it was reported that one of Nate's his cousins had been a soldier or a captain under more ad it was common knowledge that the mob controlled most of the clubs in New Jersey and New York you couldn't find a singing job without some kind of contact with club owners that was a front for organized crime Willie would see that Frank could sing at the best places and in the crime world more ad soon became known as Frank Sinatra's Godfather our protector in 1941 the Tommy Dorsey band was in a movie called Las Vegas nights Frank appeared briefly with the band singing I'll never smile again the next year in 1942 again the Tommy Dorsey band will appear in another movie free MGM is called ships ahoy with Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell it is chiefly remembered for Frank Sinatra's unaccredited role as the Dorsey Orchestra singer in 1943 Frank was saying as himself credited in revelry was Beverly starring Ian Miller at the same time Columbia Records to assign him to a recording contract also the draft board would classify Sinatra as for EF because of his perforated eardrum his files will also contain concerns about his psychological viewpoint Tommy Dorsey had signed Frank to a long-term contract getting a higher percentage of all the future earnings as a performer before he would let him sing in his band not at all as gracious as Harry James was when Frank asked to leave him to go with Tommy Dorsey Harry even wished him well Sinatra said that he offered to buy his contract for $60,000 but Dorsey refused it was reported that Witte more eddie and some of his boys came out to California and bought Sinatra's contract from Dorsey for $1 the Sinatra's bought this house at 11:21 Beverly Drive Beverly Hills now that he was making money in the early part of 1944 On January the 10th Frank and Nancy will have their second child Frank Wayne Sinatra he'll grow up to be a singer he looked like an almost double of his father also in 1944 Sinatra would be cast in a movie with Jack Haley and Michelle Morgan called higher and higher for the first time in America on Columbus Day 1944 thirty thousand teenagers were right outside of New York's Paramount Theatre because they couldn't get in to see Frank Sinatra the next year in 1945 Frank was star along with Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson here he is with director George Sidney discussing the scene 19:46 will be one of Frank Sinatra's biggest years first he'll do a 10-minute documentary entitled the house Lila event about the discrimination against a Jewish boy Frank will receive an honorary Oscar for this film he will also produce his debut album entitled the voice of Frank Sinatra he will appear in as clouds roll by with dozens of singers singing drunkards songs whom the story was about on December the 22nd 1946 mob leader Charles Lucky Luciano who had been exiled to Italy in February by the US government call for one of the largest mob gatherings in US history the meeting was to be held at one of the best hotels in Havana Cuba some 20 hit mobsters from Chicago to New York and New Orleans to Temple will call to Cuba for a five-day comforts on how to extend their holdings there was Joseph Bonanno Frank Costello Vito Genovese of New York Meyer Lansky I already had his hand in Cuba under its dictator Batista the mob discussed expanding casino controls in Cuba and how to spit up narcotics territories in the United States and as a sad issue of what to do with Bugsy Siegel in Los Angeles the Mafia agreed to finance bugs his idea for a casino in Las Vegas for 1 million dollars Bugsy had already run up the bill for the Flamingo 2 6 million and they suspected that him and girlfriend Virginia Hill was skimming money off the top and Virginia our flamingo a pet name that Bugsy gave her was depositing money in a foreign bank account Bugsy was a close friend of Frank Sinatra's so it must have been awkward for Sinatra because guess who entertainment for the mob conference in Havana Frank Sinatra he arrived with two florida gangsters said to have been cousins of al capone the FBI file said that Sinatra was carrying a suitcase bleed to be mob money for Luciano when questioned about it Frank said that he just happened to have a gig in Havana at the same time and although he was pictured with gangsters he didn't realize who the were besides he said when he was introduced to someone he tries to be friendly and he'll often sat down with people for a little while within a year of the Havana comforts Bugsy Siegel was shot and killed in Virginia Hills home in Los Angeles Virginia returned the money to the mob the next year 1947 Frank was starred with Jimmy Durante and it happened in Brooklyn about a soldier coming back from the war and learn in Brooklyn was not as nice a place as he thought in 1948 he of star again with Kathryn Grayson in the kissing bandit were a son is forced by his family to go west and take the place of his father as leader of an outlaw gang when the son had rather kiss than fact still in 1948 Frank Sinatra Jerry Lewis Dean Martin and Milton Berle all performed at the wedding of Willie Moretti soos daughter and three years after his daughter's wedding Frank's Godfather Willie Moretti will be killed in a gangland slaying at Joe's elbow room on October the 4th 1951 at Cliffside Park New Jersey at the age of 57 Moretti had invited Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin to have dinner with him when Jerry came down with the mumps it was trying to call him to tell him why they couldn't come when they heard the news over the TV about the murder also in 1948 On June 20th Frank and Nancy had their third child Christina she'll be called Tina and become an actress by 1948 he had this house built in Palm Springs for a weekend getaway he named it twin poems and when he was there it was happy hour he would run up a Jack Daniel's flag for his friends to know that it was open house in 1949 Frank starred with Gene Kelly and Esther Williams then take me out to the ball game during his career Frank Sinatra recorded 59 albums 293 single recordings and around 60 movies way too much to cover them all on February the 14 1959 see Sinatra announced she was separating for Frank because he had become involved with actress Ava Gardner two months later on April 2 26 while performing on stage at the Copacabana he hemorrhaged his vocal chords and he'll be unable to sing for almost a year Franken Nights his divorce became final on October the 29th 1951 a week later he'll mayor Ava Gardner on November the 7th a night scene you that Frank was having affairs through the years but his public ones bothered her the most she never married again and she stayed true to his memory she continued living in the Beverly Hills home raising his kids through the years Frank would come by to see the kids and spend the night she was thankful for that time cooking his favorite meals he would sometimes call when he was worried or things wouldn't go and right he would talk to her for hours when Frank and Ava made they moved into his Twin Palms home in Palm Springs their marriage was rough and rocky from the start with constant fighting after two years on 29th October 1953 they separated Frank was devastated and blamed Peter Lawford for going with Garner and did not speak to him for years according to Kitty Keller's book she stated a friend of Frank found him in the elevator of his 57th street apartment in New York with his wrists slashed before leaving Abel used her influence to help improve Frank's saggin career by getting him a part in From Here to Eternity as soldier Angelo Maggio went in him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award in 1955 he produced the album in the wee small hours and he also starred in the movie man with the Golden Arm with Kim Novak his career was doing somewhat better he did five movies in 1955 including Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando and the tender trap with Davey Reynolds Sinatra did three movies in 1957 including pal Joey with Rita Hayworth on 18 October 1957 the Frank Sinatra show will premiere on ABC and be canceled eight months later on 27 June 1958 also in 57 is divorced with Ava Gardner was finalized despite his attempt to get her back along the end of the year his movie contract was cancelled and he was released from his agent all within a nine week period according to Frank's daughter Tina Ava Gardner was the love of his life and years later Ava will say that she regretted being a movie star and not having a normal life and raising kids and if she ever got married again it would be a redo with Frank Sinatra she never married again after Frank and in 1986 Ava was paralyzed with a stroke that affected her speech and left her bedridden Frank will pay medical bills some fifty thousand dollars worth he will pay for a private plane to have her brought from London to the United States to see specialists he will also attend to her funeral arrangements when she passed the way on the 25th of January 1990 from bronchopneumonia at the age of 67 she's buried at the sunset Memorial Park Smithfield North Carolina by her family at the time AVO divorced Frank in 1957 he had moved out of his house twin palms at Palm Springs and purchased this house at 701 - oh it is now Frank Sinatra Drive number 25 in Rancho Mirage California it'll be known as the compound in 1958 Sinatra recorded come fly with me and by this time Frank had moved his operation to Las Vegas where he created the Rat Pack this picture was in 1962 of Sinatra Dean Martin Sammy Davis jr. Peter Lawford and Joey bishop the next year in 1959 he starred in the movie a hole in the head with Eleanor Parker in 1960 Frank produced and paid for the movie Ocean's eleven about war buddies who devised a plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos when Frank read the script he said he'll let's do this for real the Rat Pack will film by day and do their nightclub act at the sands by night in 1960 presidential candidate John F Kennedy will come to Las Vegas Frank introduced Sam Giancana to Kennedy who needed the gangsters help securing Union votes Sinatra also introduced Judith Exner to both men Kennedy stayed a couple of nights at Frank's compound and just Rancho Mirage home also in 1960 Frank bought a part of his casino called cal-neva because it was located on the California and Nevada State Land in 1963 FBI spotted Sam Giancana going in the back door of the casino and Frank lost his Nevada gambling his lessons won't be restored until Ronald Reagan becomes president and has a favor to Frank also Sinatra will record nice and easy in 1960 and leave Capitol Records and form his own label reprise records on February the 8th 1960 Frank Sinatra will receive three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one for motion pictures located at 1600 Vine Street one for television located at 6538 Hollywood Boulevard and one for recordings at 1637 Fame in 1962 Frank will give one of his best performances as The Manchurian Candidate with Janet Lee yes over the years become a gonna cult film in 1962 Frank fixed up his home in Reichle Mirage thinking that the male President Kennedy would be staying with him when he come West he installed a helicopter pad and when he was snubbed by the Kennedys because of his connections with the Mafia because they didn't think it would look good to the public Frank blamed Kennedy's brother-in-law Peter Lawford and never spoke to him again on December the 8th 1963 19 year old Frank Sinatra jr. was performing at the Harris club lodge in Lake Tahoe on the California and Nevada state land two 23-year old classmates from Los Angeles have been following Frank jr. for weeks waiting for the right moment around 9:00 p.m. Frank jr. was resting in his dressing room with a friend when Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler knocked on the door pretending to be delivery man they tied up the friend and took jr. by gunpoint to a waitin fan Frank's friend quickly got free and called authorities roadblocks actually stopped two kidnappers but they bluffed their way through John Erwin the third kidnapper called Frank's senior and demanded two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be delay by instructions over payphones Frank senior run out of money while talking to the kidnappers and thought that he might never see his son again it said that he carried a roll of Dimes for years after that the 250,000 was placed between these two buses in Selma Vado California while two kidnappers was picking up the money Erwin got nervous and freed Frank jr. he was found wandering a few miles in bel-air a security guard took him to his mother Nate's his home closeby gangster Sam Giancana called and offered his help to Frank's senior the Frank said thanks but the FBI has it under control with Frank juniors help and an informant the kidnappers were caught and prosecuted now this is the recovery money the entire episode took four days during the kidnapping Frank senior was FEMEN Robin and the seven hoods with Dean Martin Sammy Davis jr. and Bing Crosby Sinatra was so upset production on the film almost shut down in 1965 fraggle star and von Ryan's expressed with Trevor Howard it's about a world war two prison escape by capturing a train Frank will record one of his best songs that year September of my years also in 1965 he will perform in an Emmy award-winning TV show special it's called Frank Sinatra a man and his music this is Sinatra 1965 holding a drink before taking the stage at the sands while Sinatra was filming van Ryan's Express you met 19 year old Mia Farrow it was on the Peyton Place TV show filming close by the unlikely couple married in a small private ceremony in Las Vegas on July the 19th 1966 Mia was 21 years old and it was her first mage and Frank was 50 his third Frank wanted her to give up her film career she didn't want to in 1967 while still married to Mia Frank will play a tough Miami private detective hired to retrieve stolen jewelry from a millionaire's daughter played by Jill st. John within a year after Tony Rome was finished Frank and Mia Farrow were divorced in August of 1968 after two years of marriage within five months of their divorce Frank's dead Marty Sinatra will pass away at a Houston hospital from a fatal heart attack On January the 24th 1969 marty was placed at the desert Memorial Park Cathedral City California he was 76 years old the next year in 1970 Frank would team up with George Kennedy in dirty dingus McGee sometimes they're friends and sometimes they're not sometimes one is the law and sometimes the other is all it just depended on the situation in 1971 Sinatra retired but within two years he came back out of retirement and resumed performing at Caesar's Palace now this is a picture of Frank Sinatra taken on the level of April 1976 after his appearance at the Westchester premier theater in Tarrytown New York with Carlos Gambino the most powerful crime boss in America on far-right and his underboss Paul Castellano on the left is Timmy the weasel Fantana West Coast crime boss or at least he was till he testified against the mob and was placed in the witness protection program after Carlos Gambino died of a heart attack his brother-in-law Paul Castellano had been appointed by Carlos to take his place Paul Castellano was executed at the sparks steakhouse and the upper side of New York in 1985 presume by John Gotti July 11th 1976 Frank Sinatra and Barbara and marks were married in Palm Springs Barbara had been married to Zeppo Marx youngest of the famous Marx Brothers comedy team she met zipper while she was working as a model and Las Vegas showgirl they lived in Palm Springs close to Sinatra and other actors Barbara had been divorced from Zeppo three years before she married Sinatra it was her third and final marriage and his fourth and final they were married almost twenty two years before his death six months after Frank's marriage to Barbara he was performing at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas when he sent his private jet to Southern California to pick up his mother dolly and a friend mrs. Anthony Carboni to fly them to Vegas to see a show and gamble which dolly loved to do Frank even set things up so that his mother would win when she played on January the 6th 1977 Frank Sinatra received word that the plane with his mother and friend along with pilots Donald where Gerald Foley crashed into a mountainside and there were no survivors dolly Sinatra was interred at the desert Memorial Park Cemetery in Cathedral City by her husband dolly Sinatra was 80 years old in 1980 Frank will record his most famous and successful song of all New York New York it's become the official song of the city of New York two years later in 1982 Sinatra was signed a 16 million dollar three-year contract at the Golden Nugget Casino in 1985 he was presented with the Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan by 1995 Frank's health was failing with bladder cancer heart and kidney disease they decided to sell their desert compound home and moved to 915 North Foothill Drive in Beverly Hills where it was closer to his family for them to visit I'll made the 14th 1998 82 year-old Francis Albert Sinatra conditions suddenly worsened and he was taken to the cedars-sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles the doctors called his wife Barbara immediately who had gone out to dinner at the time he was hospitalized according to Frank's youngest daughter Tina in her book and titled my father's daughter her dad was being worked on by doctors for one and a half hours before expiring at 10:50 p.m. from a heart attack no one called his children until after his death Frank Sinatra was buried at the desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City where both his parents are resting 18 years after his father's death Frank Sinatra jr. will pass away on the 16th of March 2016 from cardiac arrest Frank jr. was on tour Sinatra sings Sinatra at Daytona Beach Florida he was scheduled to give a concert at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach he was found in his hotel room when he missed rehearsal Frank Sinatra jr. was cremated and his remains was given to his family he was 72 years old only 17 months after Frank Sinatra jr. dead the last wife of Frank Sinatra Barbara Marx Sinatra would pass away from natural causes on the 25th of July 2017 at the age of 90 barbara was known for her much charity work in behalf of needy children she's buried at the desert Memorial Park Cemetery next to her husband Frank Sinatra Frank's first wife Nancy Barbados Sinatra will pass away on July the 13th 2018 at the age of a hundred and one nature was made only once in her lifetime although she married one of the most famous men in the world and lived for years in the Hollywood social scene she remained true to her only love by always being there when he needed her and when he didn't her main joy was looking after her children because she knew that when she took care of hers she was also taking care of his [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 239,108

Keywords: Frank Sinatra

Id: BQCvzXMY-lk

Length: 34min 33sec (2073 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 13 2019