His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [79]
The Hearst organization moved into action behind its columnist and gave the story headlines for five days in a row. Time magazine said that the space devoted to the episode was “almost fit for an attempted political assassination.”
MGM attorneys investigated the case and found that there was no basis to Frank’s assertions that Mortimer had called him “a dago,” or “a dirty dago” or “a dago son of a bitch,” as he had alleged on various occasions. Furthermore, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer was not about to tangle with the powerful Hearst organization, whose newspaper chain reached one out of every four readers in America. He demanded that the matter be settled at once. He told Frank to pay Lee Mortimer nine thousand dollars in damages, apologize publicly, and admit the truth. Jack Keller fought the decision.
“The MGM attorneys insisted that Hearst had gotten to the courts and that Frank was going to have to do thirty days in jail,” he said. “I pleaded with him not to settle. I told him to do the time in jail because he’d get so much more publicity, but MGM prevailed on him and he paid the nine thousand.”
Frank retained Pacht, Ross, Warner, and Bernhard, the law firm that represented Bugsy Siegel. Isaac Pacht and Siegel’s lawyer, N. Joseph Ross, drafted a statement: “Frank stated that the whole episode arose when acquaintances stopped at his table and claimed to have overheard Mortimer make a remark which aroused Frank’s anger and resentment. On further inquiry, Sinatra ascertained that Mortimer had made no remark and had not even known Sinatra was in the café and therefore that no provocation really existed for the subsequent occurrence.”
A few nights later, Frank attended a party at Charles Feldman’s house, where William Randolph Hearst, Jr., was a guest. “Young Bill,” as the newspaper heir was known, looked askance as Frank walked into the room with his bodyguards. An argument ensued, and Frank left the party. Years later Hearst said, “I resented Sinatra surrounding himself with hood types rather than becoming a gentleman.”
After the Mortimer fight, Frank received only negative press coverage from the Hearst papers. Since no star—not even Frank Sinatra—could survive a broadside from this behemoth chain and syndicate, George Evans flew to Hollywood to work on Louella Parsons, the Hearst columnist with forty million readers. He begged her to have lunch with Frank, but she refused. George kept calling. After five more invitations, she finally relented on condition that George pick her up at home and deliver her to the Beverly Hills Club, where Frank was to be sitting in a booth awaiting her arrival. Frank did as he was told and was there smiling as she walked in. He groveled.
“I know I did many things I shouldn’t have, things I’m now sorry for,” he said. He offered to escort the columnist to the Walter Winchell Tribute Dinner at the Mocambo a few weeks later.
Through the good offices of Marion Davies, Hearst’s mistress for thirty years, Frank got an appointment with the press lord, who was eighty-four years old and in failing health. John Hearst, Jr., was visiting his grandfather in Marion Davies’s pink stucco house at 1007 North Beverly Drive on the day that Frank arrived for his audience with William Randolph Hearst.
“He drove up by himself—no limousines, no bodyguards, no hangers-on. He was very contrite,” recalled John Hearst.
Miss Davies smoothed the way for Frank. Like him, she had always admired Eleanor Roosevelt, hated Westbrook Pegler, and didn’t have much use for Lee Mortimer. She had wanted to intercede for Frank, and so she had suggested that he come for tea with Hearst, knowing that he would be a charming visitor for the old man, who was too ill to see many people. Frank stayed at the Davies mansion for an hour; he got his pardon.
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