His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [119]
Some who said Frank had Mafia help getting the role of Maggio figured it came through George Wood to Jimmy Blue Eyes to Harry Cohn, but those who were involved with the movie deny it emphatically.
“There was absolutely nothing to that horse’s head business,” said Joan Cohn Harvey. “Nothing. Frank didn’t get the part that way. Really.”
“Preposterous,” said Dan Taradash.
“Pure fiction, I assure you,” said Abe Lastfogel.
“There were no horses’ heads involved,” said Fred Zinnemann. “Frank lobbied for the part by sending Harry Cohn and myself telegrams and singing them ‘Maggio.’ … His test was good and I saw no reason why he shouldn’t do it. But there was no pressure. If I hadn’t wanted him, he wouldn’t have done it.”
“As for the horse’s head in Cohn’s bed, Harry never owned a racehorse in his life,” said Jonie Taps. “No one ever forced Harry Cohn to put Sinatra in From Here to Eternity. It just took a little needling … with a little help from Ava.”
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When Frank Finally received the cable informing him that Maggio was his at eight thousand dollars, he was exuberant. Pacing up and down the tent like a panther, he kept saying, “I’ll show those mothers. I’ll show them.”
This was the arrogant side of Frank that Ava detested, even more so now that she was undergoing her own personal crisis. She had decided to terminate her pregnancy and told her MGM publicist, Morgan Hudgins, that she wanted to fly to London for an abortion. Hudgins wrote to Ava’s agent saying that she needed a little time off and that he would contact MGM in Culver City to make the necessary arrangements. He followed his letter with an urgent cable: PLEASE KEEP CONFIDENTIAL GARDNER INFORMATION MY LETTER TWO DAYS AGO STOP APPRECIATE DON’T DISCUSS WITH FRONT OFFICE YET STOP WRITING NEW LETTER TODAY.
An MGM executive cabled director John Ford, saying: CONFIDENTIAL: UNDERSTAND GARDNER CABLED AGENT SHE UNSETTLED AND NOT WELL AND PLANNING BRIEF TRIP TO LONDON FEEL THIS VERY UNWISE FOR MANY OBVIOUS REASONS UNLESS YOU DECIDE IT NECESSARY OTHERWISE SUGGEST YOU USE YOUR PERSUASIVENESS AND HAVE LADY STAY PUT.
After conferring with Ava and her publicist, Ford cabled MGM: GARDNER GIVING SUPERB PERFORMANCE VERY CHARMING COOPERATIVE STOP HOWEVER REALLY QUITE ILL SINCE ARRIVAL AFRICA DEEM IT IMPERATIVE LONDON CONSULTATION OTHERWISE TRAGIC RESULTS STOP SHOULD NOT AFFECT SCHEDULE WEATHER HERE MISERABLE BUT WE’RE TRYING NO MOZEL BUT HARD WORK REPEAT BELIEVE TRIP IMPERATIVE.
On November 23, 1952, a few days after Frank had flown back to the United States, Ava flew from Nairobi to London with her publicist and the wife of Robert Surtees, the cameraman. She stayed at the Savoy Hotel and then was taken to a private nursing home in the evening. Her publicist told the press that she had a tropical infection and was suffering from a severe case of anemia. Years later, Ava came closer to the truth when she told writer Joe Hyams that she had a “miscarriage.”
“All of my life I had wanted a baby, and the news that I lost him (I’m sure that it was a boy) was the cruelest blow I had ever received,” she said. “Even though my marriage to Frank was getting shakier every day, I didn’t care. I wanted a baby by him.”
The cameraman recalled it differently. “That isn’t the way it was at all,” said Robert Surtees. “Ava hated Frank so intensely by this stage, she couldn’t stand the idea of having his baby. She went to London to have an abortion. I know, because my wife went to London to be at her side at all times through the operation and afterward, and to bring her back on the plane. She told my wife, ‘I hated Frankie so much. I wanted that baby to go unborn.’ ”
Frank flew back to Africa to spend Christmas with Ava. He had to borrow money to buy her his gifts, because she was still smarting over having to pay for her anniversary ring. She had been so angry about it, she complained to Robert Surtees. “You know what that son of a bitch did?” she said. “I got the bill for the ring!”
Frank and Ava flew to Paris for a few days of vacation in January, but their incessant fighting spun a poisonous