Miss Peggy Lee--An Autobiography by Peggy Lee

Author:Peggy Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Musician, Singer, Writer, Entertainment
Publisher: Peggy Lee Associates, LLC
Published: 2022-03-11T23:26:03+00:00

Eight

I WENT back to California and Kimridge Road. Love thy neighbor, the Bible says, and it’s easy—if your neighbor is Frank Sinatra. When I heard he was building a house near me, I was understandably delighted. First of all, I was his friend forever after the way he treated me at the Paramount Theatre.

There have been very few men in our business who have affected me so deeply that I can’t adequately express myself about them, and Frank is one of them. Cary Grant is another, Bing Crosby another. Yet we have been very close friends for many years in each case.

One year, during the time Frank and I were actual neighbors, I had to spend several months in bed, and Frank did something wonderful every day on his way down the hill to see Nancy and the children: lovely flowers, especially lilacs and roses; a book he found interesting; an album I would enjoy; an Aztec wood carving; telephone calls to see how I was feeling when he was away. A crew arrived and installed extra air conditioning in my bedroom because he heard the heat was bothering me. A truck pulled up with barbecues and flares or torches to stick in the ground when he personally barbecued for Murray Wolf and me. I mean, there were many other guests, but he personally served Murray and me because we were the “invalids.”

Frank invited me to his house many times for dinners or parties or movies in his theatre. The house is gated, and a sign on the gates reads: “If you ring this bell, you better have a damn good reason.” He had a lovely Asian-type house right on top of a hill. Frank was single at the time I’m writing about, and one evening I saw pal joey, his film with Kim Novak. His theatre has a bar in it, and there are deep chairs. In the living room is a lovely big fireplace. The house is always sparkling. Whoever chose his accessories had beautiful taste. This Los Angeles home is very sophisticated compared to his house in the Palm Springs compound, which he has since sold.

Our many quiet talks were on the subjects of life and music. Once, we planned a whole album together. It was his idea. He produced it, and it was first released on Frank’s Essex label, which was a subsidiary of Capitol Records, and later the album was released on Capitol. We were “the folk who live on the hill” (from the song of almost the same title). The album was called The Man I Love, and Frank thought of everything to the last detail, including putting menthol in my eyes so I’d have a misty look in the cover photograph. (I didn’t feel at all misty about the man I was holding, however.) Frank is a producer who thinks of everything.

The album was totally Frank’s concept. He brought me a long list of great songs to choose from, and Bill Miller came over and set all the keys with me.

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