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Tuesday, March 5, 2024

In celebration and anticipation of Cornwell's Dinner Theatre's upcoming production of My Way, here are...

10 FACTS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT FRANK SINATRA

1. Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915, in Hoboken New Jersey, as the only child of his parents. Frank was delivered with the aid of forceps causing severe injuries to his left cheek, neck, and ears, the damage that remained for life.

2. Frank’s mother, Dolly Sinatra, was a big personality who had an extensive criminal record. She helped to fill the ballots for the corrupt Democrats who ruled local politics. She even carried out illegal abortions for free which made her famous as “Hatpin Dolly.”

3. During the days before he became an international superstar, Frank worked as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper and later as a riveter at the Tietjen & Lang shipyard.

4. Sinatra was a bit of a neat freak. He would sometimes bathe up to twelve times a day.

5. When Frank Sinatra Jr. was abducted 1963, the kidnappers demanded that he only call them using payphones. Though his son was rescued, Frank got into the habit of carrying a roll of dimes in his pocket. He was buried with them.

6. President John F. Kennedy and Sinatra were best of friends. Their friendship had a falling out due to Frank’s rumored acquaintance with gangsters and discussing his affair with Kennedy’s sister. When the friendship ended, Sinatra smashed the helipad he had built for the president to visit his home with a sledgehammer.

7. Sinatra wasn’t just popular with his fans, he was a huge hit with the FBI. He had a file that ran over 1300 pages. The first case in his name was “Adultery and Seduction” (a crime back then). Other potential crimes ranged from fighting, drinking, and womanizing to his ties with the mafia.

8. While there are many songs that are universally beloved by his fans, there are a couple songs that Frank himself hated to sing, including “Strangers in the Night” and (somewhat ironically for us) “My Way.”

9. Everyone knows that Frank Sinatra is a star, but did you know he is also an asteroid? “7934 Sinatra” was named in honor of Ol’ Blue Eyes.

10. Sinatra took a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a bottle of bourbon whiskey and the roll of ten dimes to his grave. His grave has engravings “The Best Is Yet To Come,” which coincidentally is the last song he sang in public when he was 79. He died at the age of 82.