Posted on 05/15/2018 8:45:51 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Frank Sinatra died twenty years ago - May 14th 1998. We'll pick out a few musical moments later tonight, but first, as a curtain-raiser and as a Mark at the Movies Sunday bonus, here's a look at Sinatra's film career. He was a memorable actor - and, as Sammy Cahn liked to say, that isn't even what he does:
When he died in 1998, the Italians came out for Frank. Robert De Niro said not a day passed when he didn't listen to Sinatra, Martin Scorsese that Sinatra made it possible for all the rest of them - the guys with vowels. In the early years of the last century, when a scrappy cobbler's apprentice called Martin Sinatra was minded to try his hand at prize-fighting, he changed his name to "Marty O'Brien", a reinvention that tells you everything about which ethnic identities were commercially viable back then. As late as the late Forties, Dino Crocetti and Anthony Benedetto felt obliged to follow Marty's example and anglicize themselves to Dean Martin and Tony Bennett. Even the one arena of American life where being Italian was an asset - the mob - was reserved on screen for fellows with handles like Cagney and Bogart. The real fighter in the Sinatra family turned out to be Marty O'Brien's only child, and his first act of defiance was his determination to keep his name. It's because of Sinatra that Hollywood had stars called Pacino, Stallone and Travolta.
Beyond the vowel crowd, his prototypical non-pliant celebrity had a more pervasive influence on American screen acting than almost anyone else. He was the guy who disdained to fit in, no matter how much they wanted him to.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
WELCOME toMark Steyn subbing for El Rushbbo.
Sinatra was another mob goon. Read his FBI files.
Sinatra was a truly talented craftsman, but I like Dino’s style.
When I was getting my DMA in the mid 70s, fellow grad students and I would sit around debating esoteric musicological questions, but one day we got into a discussion as to who was the best male singer of the 20th century. All the usual classical candidates were offered, Caruso, Fischer-Dieskau, Pavarotti, Domingo. Then I spoke heresy: I said that for all their talent and training, I was convinced that the best male singer of the 20th century was Frank Sinatra, especially during the Nelson Riddle era of the 1950s. He could never sing the male equivalent of bel canto, but his vocal control, which came to him naturally when he finally stopped trying to sound like a young version of Bing Crosby, puts all other vocalists to shame, and 40+ years later, I am still convinced of this.
I always found Dino lazy as a singer. He sounds like he's barely awake sometimes. Also, he did not really push the voice with his diaphragm like Sinatra. Sinatra in his prime sang with the technique of an opera singer.
It's not Sinatra's fault so we shouldn't hold him responsible.
Suddenly (1954)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047542/
I spent a youthful summer in Wildwood, NJ. There was a small hole in the wall bar just off the beach that played nothing but Sinatra. Dark inside, A/C on chilly, Sinatra album covers on the walls, beer arrived in a frosty mug with a layer of foamy ice.
A great place to escape the outside heat...and life in general.
Never understood the adoration of Sinatra. Always saw him as a lounge singer from Hoboken who used his mob connections to gain fame far beyond what his talent deserved. Very limited vocal range, but built a Vegas persona of coolness which was a perfect fit for the 50’s that carried him through life.
Mark
Ping for later reading ... and wow, it’s hard to imagine the ‘stars’ who were in and past their prime when I was young, seeing them on the toob when they were once young. That has to have been an old, old movie.
You would think that a guy who smoked and drank as much as Sinatra did would have lost his vocal talent early on. But I suspect that the circular breathing technique that he learned from Tommy Dorsey helped tremendously. I’ll bet that Sinatra could hold a note longer than Pavarotti or Domingo ;o)
Being able to take a breath while singing a note sounds impossible but is not.
Sinatra worked hard on his technique, to be sure, but I find his works sterile and soulless. Dino’s voice had warmth and charm.
Frank sounded like he was striving for perfection; Dino sounded like he enjoyed singing.
Yeah, right. . . .
Long time ago my trumpet playing father told me Sinatra learned his vocal style breathing techniques from Tommy Dorsey. The great trombone player and band leader.
Dad never revered to Sinatra as a singer but as a “song stylist”
And that too.
Ping.
Yes and a friend of the Kennedy’s Joe winks.
Thank you for the thread. Almost posted one yesterday, but could not find a great article like this one.
Watch the ‘kings of music’ - we lost the best 20 and 40 years ago.
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