His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [143]
“He just hated Spain,” said Ronnie Cowan, who started what she called a “little sexual number” with Frank on that trip to the United States that would be “an on and off thing” for almost twenty years. “He liked to make love lying on the floor listening to his own records. It was great!” she said.
Most women, married or single, made themselves readily available to Frank wherever he went, but he seemed to prefer the few who were indifferent to him. He spent weeks pursuing an actress whose dramatic dark beauty rivaled that of Ava Gardner’s.
“I wasn’t the least bit attracted to Frank and I hadn’t liked his singing either,” said this woman. “I thought he was a bum from the wrong side of the tracks, and I was quite a snob in those days. I was accustomed to monumental men with great style. Frank was not someone I wanted to be seen with, but after he works his charm on you for a while, he gets better.
“Swifty Lazar kept calling and calling me to go out with Frank, and I kept saying no. Swifty lived near Frank and was always getting him girls. He took the scraps that Frank did not want; he always said he liked the fallout. Swifty took me to Romanoff’s one night, and Frank was there. I’d seen him at the Bogarts’ party the week before, when he kept following me around the house. Literally following me. I had ignored him then, or at least tried to, but he kept following me, and Lauren Bacall kept following him. Finally, he turned to her and said, ‘She’s ignoring me.’ Bacall put her hands on her hips and said, ‘Yeah, she’s ignoring you right into the sack.’ She thought I was playing hard to get, and she knew that Frank was interested. She felt very threatened. At Romanoff’s, she was sitting in Frank’s lap, and her husband, Humphrey Bogart, was next to them. Frank kept asking me to dance, saying, ‘Why won’t you let me take you out? I think you are so beautiful. I want to be with you. Please.’ ”
Frank showered the beautiful actress with flowers and kept begging her to go out with him. After several pleading phone calls from Swifty Lazar, she finally agreed to accompany Frank to San Francisco, where he was making an appearance for the United Nations.
“He picked me up and drove to the airport,” she said. “I remember when I got in the car, the radio was playing one of his records, and he said, ‘That’s your boy.’ I forget which hotel we stayed in, but Frank had arranged for a room for me and one for him, which I found very considerate. I spent the night in his room, of course, but still thought it was very nice of him to arrange for two rooms. After checking into the hotel, we went to his suite and the phone was ringing as we walked in the door. Frank answered it and said, ‘Yes, Captain. Okay, General. Yes, boss. Uh-huh. Okay, boss. Bye-bye.’ It was Lauren Bacall. He shook his head, saying she was too pushy for words. I was quite surprised that she’d called him, knowing we were together, but I hadn’t realized the extent of their relationship at the time.”
When they returned to Los Angeles, Frank insisted that the actress come back to his apartment, where his houseboy was cooking a special pasta dinner with his favorite lemon meringue pie with criss-crosses on top.
“I just wanted to go home, take a shower, and relax, but Frank insisted that I have dinner with him. I finally agreed but said I would have to leave right after the lemon meringue pie. When we got to his apartment, his houseboy came out to get his bags. A few minutes later, I saw my bags coming in too. Frank said, ‘Take them to my room.’
“ ‘Oh, no,’ I said.
“ ‘Please. You must stay with me.’
“ ‘No, Frank. I can’t. I’ve had a wonderful time, but I do want to get home. I really insist. I must.’
“Suddenly, his face twisted and contorted like a prune and he dropped to the floor, put his face in my lap, and started crying. He sobbed like a baby. ‘Please don’t believe what you hear about me,’ he said. ‘Please stay with me. I won’t hurt you. Don’t be afraid. Please, please stay with me.’ It was quite unsettling, but I finally left.
“A few days later I agreed to go to Palm Springs