So, when he tips a waiter or valet, it's always a C note. He even folds Kleenex individually to avoid unseemly lines in his pockets. Sinatra carries a gold money clip with $100 bills because he doesn't like the way a wallet bulges in his slacks. He invites her to a party at his compound and seats her at a table of legends, including Douglas, Milton Berle and Burt Lancaster.īut the Trinidad waiters are bugging Sinatra tonight. But she knows not to address Sinatra until he waves her over, like Johnny Carson inviting a comic to his couch on "The Tonight Show." Sinatra has heard about her divorce and is consoling. She's known Sinatra for years, having shared the family status all Vegas entertainers felt in the 1960s from attending each other's shows. One night, Roberta Linn, Lawrence Welk's original "champagne lady," is dining at the Trinidad after fellow Las Vegas performer Freddie Bell divorced her. The locals know not to approach Sinatra while he's having dinner. He'd eventually work for Sinatra at his Rancho Mirage compound.Įverybody in the Trinidad gets excited when Sinatra walks in with an entourage, which in the '70s often included movie stars Gregory Peck and his wife, Veronique, Roger Moore (James Bond at the time) and his wife, Luisa Mattioli, and Kirk Douglas and his wife, Anne. He makes Italian food the way Sinatra likes it – linguini with clams, and crablegs on ice with a shrimp for an appetizer. Costa also cooked at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where Sinatra performed and had a small ownership stake. Johnny Costa, who speaks a broken Italian-accented English, like Sinatra's father, is a chef for Tony Riccio, who previously managed Costa at Sinatra's hangouts in Hollywood, the Villa Capri and Martony's. But once he gets it off his chest, it's over and done with and he gets on with his life and you can get on with yours."įade in to 1975 at a restaurant in the Trinidad Hotel, Palm Springs. He can be a hothead – like a child sometimes. My father is tolerant and patient, but if you push it – or don't heed a warning – look out. You have to have the guts to face his dark side. "If you have a misunderstanding with Frank Sinatra," Nancy Sinatra says in her 1995 book, "Frank Sinatra: An American Legend," "you've got to confront him directly. All they can do is tell the stories that perpetuate through the ages. quotes his father's first influence, Bing Crosby, as saying before his death in 1977, "Sinatra is the only one of us who consistently gets through to all ages."Ĭrosby doesn't explain why. In Charles Pignone's new book, "Sinatra 100," Frank Sinatra Jr. Please, he said, don't let them put my face on a coffee mug.īut, while his paintings wound up on a collection of ties, Sinatra's legacy has been carried on by the quality of his music and movies, and a life that was his greatest art work of all. Before his death, Sinatra asked his three children not to let him be exploited like Elvis Presley. In his centennial year, that lyric seems more prophetic than anyone could have imagined. The Sinatra gravestone is marked simply, "Beloved husband & father" and "The Best Is Yet To Come," the title of a 1964 standard by Carolyn Leigh and Cy Coleman. Hovering in the background is the man who inspired his swingin' on a star lifestyle, composer Jimmy Van Heusen. By his side is Sinatra's last best friend, Jilly Rizzo. Besides his parents, "Marty" and "Dolly" Sinatra, there's Frank's Uncle Vincent Mazzola, who had lived with the Sinatras since Frank was a teen in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the 1930s. He's laid to rest around an entourage surrounding him in death as it had done in life. There are cherry Lifesavers, Tootsie Rolls, a pack of Camels, a Zippo lighter, stuffed animals, a dog biscuit, a bottle of Jack Daniels and the 10 dimes he always carried in his coat in case he needed to make a phone call. The coffin, covered with his favorite gardenias, is filled with sentimental items packed for him on this journey by his family. Frank Sinatra, the most enduring of all 20th century American entertainers, is taken to his final resting place at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City. The jet lands at Palm Springs International Airport on Saturday, May 16, 1998. Then comes the plaintive voice of an air traffic controller: The private jet transporting the body of Frank Sinatra is completing its 20-minute flight from Van Nuys Airport to Palm Springs. Sorted by Artist Lastname.His widow, Barbara Sinatra, sits silently with his first wife, Nancy, and daughters Tina and Nancy Jr., reflecting on the cathartic funeral at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills.
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