Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank by Barbara Sinatra

Author:Barbara Sinatra
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780307449948
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Published: 2009-01-02T10:00:00+00:00

On the road and off, Frank had a team of people looking after his every need, so my chief role was to get the social side of things organized. My husband still needed company after a show, so I’d arrange a dinner somewhere, order a menu of (usually) Italian food, make out a guest list, and figure out the seating plan. We had several secretaries and assistants in an entourage of around ten, so I had plenty of help. Once we arrived in a city, we’d take over an entire wing of a hotel; then I’d get to work finding out who was in town and available. Close friends would be sent our schedule and invited to join us if they could.

Knowing Frank’s love for having an eclectic mix of people around him, I’d try to find singers and sportsmen, actors and industrialists. I’d research who was new and hot and who was not. When we got to the restaurant, I’d tell everyone where to sit according to my seating plan and just hope I’d gotten the mix right as the wine was being poured and the antipasti served. I’d never sit Frank next to someone he didn’t know or might not like. I did that only once, by accident, in Australia, when he ended up having to make polite conversation with a country singer he didn’t take to at all. That’s when the Mr. Hyde in his character flared up, and boy, I never made that mistake again.

The responsibility for Frank’s social life wasn’t entirely on my shoulders. Quite often, people would throw dinners in his honor, and so we’d go straight to a party after a show. The one thing Frank would insist on, though, was to be shown the guest list first. We arrived in New York during one nationwide tour to find that our friend Henry Kissinger had gone to a great deal of trouble to organize a party for Frank the following night.

“How kind, Henry,” I said when he told me. “Thank you so much.”

But when I saw the guest list, my face fell. On it was the journalist Barbara Walters, and I knew that the minute Frank saw her name, he’d refuse to attend. He used to call her Barbara Wa-Wa because he said she had a speech impediment and she always made everyone she interviewed cry. During one of his acts, he called her “the ugliest broad on TV.” Sure enough, when Frank found out she’d be at the party, he said, “Cancel me.”

“Cancel you?” I repeated. “But Henry’s been planning this for weeks, and you’re his guest of honor!”

“I’m going to bed now,” Frank told me with a shrug. “If Henry calls, tell him I’m not available.”

So dear Henry Kissinger, the best negotiator in the world and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, suddenly found himself negotiating with me—the dummy who knew nothing. “Barbara!” he pleaded. “You’ve got to talk to Fraank. I’ve been planning this party forever. He can’t just cancel on me.

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