Hey guys, it's Looch, and
who wants to hear me talk about Frank Sinatra?
No one?
OK, here we go.
There is a documentary that had originally
aired on HBO a couple years ago but is now
on Netflix; it's called "Sinatra: All Or Nothing
At All."
It is the most comprehensive -- long -- documentary
covering Sinatra's entire life, career, everything.
Now, I think what I wanted to just focus on
a little bit was, first of all, his growing
up in Hoboken, N.J., son of Italian immigrants,
and at the time, Italians were treated less
than anybody, so even Frank's father, Marty,
had to assume an Irish name in order to be
a boxer, and so he was "Marty O'Brien," and
Dolly, Frank's mother, was kind of almost
like the unofficial mayor of the town. Really
interesting backstory.
Frank started off in New York City singing
in this gentle, crooning voice that is not
the voice of the ring-a-ding-ding, that Frank,
that he later sort of became.
The voice was sort of trying to emulate Bing
Crosby, his hero, and it was really the first
kind of Beatlemania.
I mean, there was no singer, just standing
there with an orchestra, that had young women
screaming, screaming bobby soxers, and it
was a phenomenon, and then he was more of
a song interpreter, and it was all about breathing,
and he took vocal lessons well into his career
and tried to mimic how a trumpet player can
hold a note and breathe out of the side of
their mouth.
Frank's been up, he's been down, he's been
over, he's been out. He's been through it
all. He had his super famous marriages. There's
a small part about when his son was kidnapped,
which his somewhat incomplete and frankly,
I think that he was kind of a creepo, so whatever.
But, you know, in a trunk of a car, Frank
Junior.
And then goes through his crazy affairs and
his hate of the press, and the Rat Pack era,
which is a little cringey, and for me to say
that is kind of huge because there was some
racial insensitivity, even though Frank himself
had been such a proponent of racial equality
with the bands that he toured with, with his
friend Sammy Davis Jr., but people like Harry
Belafonte said it was very disappointing when
Frank and Dean and those guys used to make
some really, really uncool jokes in Vegas.
The Vegas career is covered thoroughly, then
he gets the part in "From Here to Eternity,"
and for you "Godfather" fans, they acknowledge
all the things that supposedly are referential
to "The Godfather" and Frank, and dispel them.
He was friends with mobsters; he was friends
with Lucky Luciano, but just maybe because
it was like he reminded him of guys in his
neighborhood. I wouldn't think Frank wanted
to hang out with pimps and drug dealers, but
so be it.
Then of course, his relationship to Jack Kennedy,
helping him get elected, getting the teamsters
on board, and really helping him get elected,
and then Joe Kennedy Senior said, "You should
appoint Bobby as the Attorney General and
go after the mob." Bad idea! Don't do that
to Frank!
So that was not good, and then Frank kind
of turned his back and became a Republican,
and again, cringey, cringey, with him, like,
talking about Nixon and all of that, but anyway,
it's so extensive and such a comprehensive
documentary for any fan.
The touching part for me was when he recalled
his father, who he said was very soft-spoken;
never really hugely supportive of his career,
worked for the fire department in Hoboken,
and Frank just stopped in one day just for
a surprise visit. His dad was shaving at his
locker and slammed the door shut when he saw
Frank, but Frank had seen that all throughout
the inside of his locker were clippings and
postings of Frank's success, and it was very,
very touching.
It's called "All Or Nothing At All." It's
on Netflix.
