Lady Blue Eyes_ My Life With Frank - Barbara Sinatra [93]
Barry Manilow performed a wonderful song for Frank called “Here’s to the Man,” which was a fine tribute. The lyrics to the song he co-wrote with Bruce Sussman were
Here’s to you who wrote the book from your biggest fan
Here’s to old blue eyes, no need for goodbyes
This one’s for you
Here’s to the man
It was another song entitled “Here’s to the Band,” written by Sharman Howe, Alfred Nittoli, and Arthur Schroeck, that I also persuaded Frank to record. Because of his love of music and lyrics and his great respect for the members of his orchestra, I thought it would be the perfect song for him. It was autobiographical as well as a tribute to the band members, who did such a great job in his shows. One memorable stanza goes
To start at the ground and reach for the top
To have such a wonderful career, I just gotta stop
Stop and turn around to thank everyone that sits on the stand
’Cause I wouldn’t have made it without them, here’s to the band!
As the century approached its ninth decade, Frank celebrated a remarkable forty years in show business. To mark the event, and his sixty-fourth birthday, he was invited to take center stage in a glittering televised tribute.
Recorded at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for a two-hour special on NBC, the thousand-ticket show entitled Sinatra: The First Forty Years was sold out months in advance. Frank and I sat at a horseshoe-shaped table decked with white flowers as the actor Glenn Ford opened the proceedings and one great entertainer after another stepped onto the stage and said nice things about Frank. Telegrams of congratulations were read out from around the world, including those from Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, the Israeli and Egyptian leaders we’d met on our trips to the Middle East.
With Bobby on my right, I sat next to my husband of three years and laughed with him at comics like Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Rich Little, Milton Berle, Pat Henry, and Charlie Callas. Gene Kelly, Dean Martin, Harry James, and Cary Grant all spoke warmly and humorously about their friend. Tony Bennett sang “(Frank’s) Kind of Town,” and Sammy Davis, Jr., announced, “I love you, Barb,” before singing two numbers. Paul Anka did a funny take on “My Way,” and the tenor Robert Merrill sang the entire list of Frank’s fifty movie titles before thanking him for raising $1 million for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at a benefit at the Metropolitan Opera House. Frank then performed five terrific numbers, including “New York, New York,” and ended with “I’ve Got the World on a String,” which he said summed up how he felt about his life.
The songwriter Jule Styne presented Frank with the prestigious Pied Piper Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; Caesars Palace donated $100,000 in his name to the cancer foundation set up in memory of his friend John Wayne, who’d recently passed away. Dean presented Frank with an honorary diploma from his Hoboken high school before leading him in his first prom dance, because he’d missed the original. It was a hilarious end to a great night. As I sat at the top table, wearing an exquisite pearl choker Frank had bought me, dressed in a strapless fuchsia gown by Arnold Scaasi, I felt like a million dollars. My delight and pride as Frank’s wife must have been evident to every green-eyed female in the place.
Wherever Frank went, women threw themselves at him. Young and old, they’d scream his name and lay flowers at his feet. I only had to gaze at the sea of upturned faces during one of his performances and feel the adoration coming from the audience like a heat wave. It was unbelievable. No wonder he never wanted to quit that business.
I’d had several years of on-the-road training, so I fully accepted that women would always be part of the deal with Frank. Not only was he sexy, powerful, and charismatic but much of his charm was his flirtatiousness, and his female fans expected