Chapter 6 - Ethical Culture Fieldston School

“Mr. Sinatra Gets Rejected”
continue to haunt even those most intent on banishing them from the dominions
of fortune.
It had now been a decade since Sinatra went to that Crosby concert.
Reading about it in the space of a few minutes can obscure that it really was a
fairly long time, and there must have been long moments, especially in those
early years, when it would have been hard even for Sinatra himself to believe he
was going to get to that place he had never been but knew he wanted to go. At
some point he must have sensed that he had caught a wave, one that would carry
him from a sea of pure potential straight to the shore of recognized achievement
(and once there, he would just keep going). And while he might not be happy,
but he could at least ride out his personal demons. One thing was certain: there
was no going back.
“He kept saying, ‘My career is over. I’m fucking washed up, and now I
have to go out and face these people – the same goddamn people who aren’t
buying my records, who aren’t seeing my movies.’”
‐‐Sinatra bodyguard Jimmy Silvani,
quoting Sinatra backstage at the Copacabana, 1950 26
He couldn’t sing. Frank Sinatra was onstage for his third show of the
evening at the Copacabana in New York City on April 26, 1950 when he lost the
power to do what he did best. “No words would come out – absolutely nothing –
just dust,” he later told his daughter. “I was never so panic‐stricken in my whole
life. I remember looking at the audience, there was a blizzard outside, about
seventy people in the place – and they knew something serious had happened.
25 Quoted in Wilson, p. 117.
26 Taraborelli, p. 115.
American History for Cynical Beginners
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