His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [312]
“Frank was so enthused about meeting Mickey Cohen, the bigshot of the underworld,” said Garcia. A few weeks later, Sinatra told Garcia that Mickey Cohen wanted another $5,000 for his magazine, but Garcia advised him not to lend the money. “They are going to keep five-thousanding you to death, you stupid son of a bitch,” he told Frank. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll tear up your marker if you quit gambling. Sinatra said, ‘Can you do that?’ I said, ‘Never mind.’ I got his markers and I tore them up. Frank quit gambling in the joint from then on.”
In addition, the author interviewed Mel Tormé, Mrs. Lee J. Cobb on April 28, 1984, Mitch Miller, Lor-Ann Land, Beans Ponedel on July 15, 1983, Mrs. Ralph Greenson on April 27, 1984, and Charlotte Austin on March 20, 21, 28, 1984.
CHAPTER 17
In obtaining information about Sinatra’s film career in the 1960s, the author interviewed a number of people, including Sam Spiegel on November 4, 1983, Jim Byron on October 8, 1985, Mitch Miller, Richard Condon on April 10, 1984, Beans Ponedel, Ketti Frings, Sam Shaw on April 3, 1984, Jeannie Sakol on December 12, 1984, Ronnie Cowan on June 23, July 13, 25, 1983, Jacqueline Park on May 8, 20, 1983, March 15, April 6, and May 20, 1985, and an assistant to Stanley Kramer who requested anonymity on December 13, 1984.
In an interview with Paul Chandler on April 10, 1984, Chandler, who once worked for Sinatra, told the author that “Swifty Lazar, one of Frank’s houseguests, would not get out of bed without a towel on the floor.”
In an interview with a friend of Sam Spiegel’s on September 25, 1983, the author was told of this incident:
On March 27, 1958, the night before the Academy Awards, Spiegel and his wife, Betty, walked into Romanoff’s in Hollywood with Billy and Audrey Wilder and Rita Hayworth and Jim Hill. Sitting on a banquette, Frank said hello to the group. Spiegel looked over. “Hello there,” he said. A few minutes later, according to one of the Spiegel party, Sinatra said, “Hey, Sam.”
“Yeah,” said Spiegel.
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Sam.”
“Yes, Frank?”
“You are going to sweep the boards.” [Spiegel’s film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, was nominated for and won the award for best movie of the year.]
“Thanks, Frank.”
“Hey, Sam.”
“Yes, Frank,” said Spiegel, growing increasingly irritated.
“You deserve ’em. Bridge was a great film.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Hey, let me tell you something, pal. My name is Frank. Frank Sinatra. And when you see me, you say, ‘Hello, Frank’ or ‘Hello, Mr. Sinatra.’ You just don’t say, ‘Hello there.’ ”
“Under the circumstance, you are lucky that I even bothered to speak to you at all,” said the producer.
“Let me tell you something, you wise guy. The day you don’t speak to me is the day you get your fucking teeth knocked in.”
“Mr. Sinatra, if you don’t mind, we are in the middle of dinner and you are disturbing my wife.”
Frank glared at Betty Spiegel. “Look, doll,” he said. “You got a pretty puss. You want to keep it that way and shut up.”
“Frank, you were not invited and you are disturbing us,” said Betty Spiegel.
“Well, you’re stuck with him,” said Frank. Turning to Spiegel, he yelled, “Hey, fat man.”
Rita Hayworth sprung toward Sinatra. “Let me at him. Let me at him,” she said. Audrey Wilder said, “Hey, Frank. Hey, Frank.” Spiegel tried to restrain his rage. “Frank, if you have the guts to join me outside without your bodyguards, let’s go.”
Everyone waited for Frank to lunge, but he got up and left the restaurant without saying another word.
The author consulted articles in the New York Post, as well as several books, including Graham Payne and Sheridan Morley’s The Noel Coward Diaries, New York: Little Brown and Co., 1982; Lauren Bacall’s By Myself, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979; Ezra Goodman’s The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961; and Gerald Frank’s Judy, New York: Harper & Row, 1975.