Andrew Howick - Sinatra: The Photographs

By Andrew H owick F orew ord by Barbara Sina tra Abrams, N ew Y ork

ANDREW HOWI CK BARBARA SINA TRA

Capitol R ecords recording session, 1958. PHO T O B Y SID A VER Y F or ew or d

r ank Sinatr a would ha ve so enjoyed re aching one hun - dred ye ars of age . He d ha ve found it highly amusing to ha ve deed the odds and lived so long . The man rightly dubbed the Entertainer of the C entury touched the lives of so man y people over the ye ars , and the music he made has become the sound - tr ack to the lives of gener ation after gener ation. An actor , director , conductor , produc er , songwriter , and, as he lik ed to sa y , saloon singer , F r ank w as one of the bestselling artists of all time , with more than million records sold worldwide . He brok e bo x oc e and Billboar d records well into old age , as the hunger for the special br and of magic he possessed never diminished. Hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world rst le arned to spe ak English listening to F r ank Sinatr a tunes . Whenever he visited those far-ung countries and took to the stage , he w as alw a ys moved to te ars by the throng of voic es that rose as one to join him in a song . Amazingly , F r ank continues to re ach people in this c entury too , and on the c entenary of his birth that s something he would ha ve been enormously humbled by . And oh, what a party he d ha ve thrown to mark the oc casion! Nobody could throw a party quite lik e F r ank. There would ha ve been Jack Daniel s whisk ey , marti - nis , and champagne owing, all served by white-gloved w aiters , with the nest Italian food, the best pizzas and pastas , followed by cheesecak e from New Y ork. W e aring an apron, he d ha ve stood at the stove and made his mother Dolly s special tomato gr a vy for the pasta ( holding the garlic), and ensured that every - one s glass w as permanently topped up . He d ha ve made sure there w as wonderful music, of course , a full orchestr a rehe arsed to perfection by the perfectionist, andassuming his friends had made it that far toothere might ha ve been Samm y Cahn or Jimm y V an Heusen on the piano while the lik es of T on y B ennett, R osemary Clooney , or Samm y Da vis Jr . sang along . F r ank loved to laugh, so comedians would ha ve been there in forc epeople lik e P at Henry , Don Rick - les , T om Dreesen, and De an Martin, perhaps the gre at - est natur al comic of them all. Our de ar friends such as Gregory P eck, Cary Gr ant, Gr ac e K elly , Da vid Niven, Kirk Douglas , Henry Kissinger , and R onald R e agan would ha ve been guests of honor , along with family and other friends . F r ank considered presidents and statesmen his buddies , as much as his golng partners or childhood friends were . A more dispar ate group of people you could never ha ve met lounging around the pool or pla ying with F r ank s model r ailw a y set in his cabana. Smelling he a venly of la vender soap and alw a ys in the Barbara and F rank Sina tra, Beverly Hills, 1990. PHO T O B Y HARR Y LANGDON

nest tailored suits and custom-made shoes , the in vet - er ate romantic who d married me in a mist of white or - chids in 1976 would ha ve found me some thoughtful gifteven though it w as his birthda y , not mine . Generous to a fault, he loved to give and w as never that comfortable rec eiving unless you presented him with a dog, of course . F r ank adored all animals , but especially our beloved dogs . What else do you give the man who had everything? As Don Rickles onc e said, F r ank gets up in the morn - ing and God throws money on him. Im not sure about that, but I do know he work ed tirelessly his whole life and that he spent what he e arnedmostly on others . He couldnt care less about money , and I honestly think he planned on spending every dime he ever madetypically , on people who needed it more than he did. His tipping w as legendary , as were his anon y - mous donations to charities and individuals as well as the benet conc erts that he d throw at his own e x - pensefor virtually an y worth y cause . Most of all he w as generous with his love , and boy , did I rec eive that in buck et loads! It r anged from la vish gifts to the romantic little billets-doux he d le a ve me around the house , usually signed Y our Italian Lover . And how he loved to mark special oc casions in some wonderful w a ybirthda ys , anniversaries , V al - entine s Da y , and landmark dates known only to us . Mr . R omantic w as quite a guy to be around. Twenty- four ye ars after we d rst started dating, we were still together , still in love . Ours w as a deep and lasting love , full of trust and loy alty . There is no den ying that F r ancis Albert Sinatr a stole into m y he art and changed m y life . Over the ne xt three decades , he ew me to the moon and back. W as he e asy to live with, or to work with? Not alw a ys . F r ank could be quite a handful. W as he calm? Rarely . Those of us around him never knew what dr ama e ach da y might bring . But w as it fun? Oh yesa thousand times yes . I w as c ertainly never bored, and probably the br a v - est thing I ever did during m y marriage w as to orga - nize a surprise sixty-fth birthda y party for F r ank. The man who so enjoyed springing surprises on those he loved did not enjoy being surprised in return. In the months le ading up to the big da y , I ask ed him if he could ha ve an ything in the world, what it would be . After much cajoling, he eventually said he d lik e a fantastic jazz orchestr a pla ying just for him. I decided to mak e that the nale to a party thrown in his honor , knowing there w as alw a ys the risk that he d w alk out. He ne arly did, but the sight of all our friends dressed up at a W estern-style cook out on our r anch amused him enough to persuade him to sta y . I never made that mistak e again, though. No , F r ank s one hundredth birthda y party would ha ve been meticulously planned and organized by Ol Blue Eyes himself , Im c ertain. He d ha ve made sure that others were the c enter of attention. He would c er - tainly ha ve turned it into a charity event, which would ha ve included the Barbar a Sinatr a Children s C enter for V ictims of A buse , an organization for which we brok e ground in Rancho Mir age , California, on his seventieth birthda y . Five ye ars later , F r ank c elebr ated his seventy-fth birthda y by performing at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East R utherford, New Jersey . After the show , I threw a party for him at the W aldorf Astoria in New Y ork City , with a hundred people attending from all over the world. It w as quite the aair . Picking up m y glass of champagne in a toast, I told him from the he art, F r ank, darling, to the world youve given your music, but to me you ha ve given the world. F or F r ank s eightieth birthda y , the Empire State Building in New Y ork w as bathed in blue light, and he w as the subject of an all-star televised tribute , 80 Y e ars My W ay , which, of course , he insisted be in aid of char - ity . When he rec eived a standing ov ation on his arriv al, he jok ed that he d never before rec eived a round of ap - plause just for being alive . Although he died almost twenty ye ars ago , F r ank will alw a ys live on in people s he arts . Each ye ar , I visit his desert gr a ve site on his birthda y , and I am alw a ys touched by the gifts left by his devoted following, in - cluding tin y bottles of Jack Daniel s , packs of his fa - vorite Camel cigarettes , candies , posies of owers , and tin y American ags ne xt to his simple gr anite mark er , which re ads , The B est Is Y et to C ome . He d ha ve loved that. The man with the electrifying personality said onc e that he w anted to be remembered as someone who had a wonderful time living life . W ell, I am among man y thousands who can vouch that he did just that. When he rst retired from performing in 1971, be - fore his triumphant later comeback, he thought long and hard about what song he d lik e to go out on. He chose Angel Eyes . A man who loved words , he selected it for the lyrics , which seem ever more appropriate as we mark the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. The message he so lik ed in this song ga ve him a chanc e to tell his fans to enjoy their lives and ha ve fun, as the drinks and the jok es were on him. Happy birthda y , F r ank. Sleep w arm.