A swingin' 99th birthday party for Ol' Blue Eyes
Dec. 12, 1915, Hoboken, New Jersey … “Chairman of the Board” to be, Francis Albert Sinatra, was born to Italian immigrants. The wiry, blue-eyed kid with a huge smile loved to sing and at the tender age of 8, when he sang publicly for the first time.
His father, Antonio, a lightweight boxer and Hoboken Fire Department captain, propped him up on the bar in a local saloon to entertain his fellow firefighters and “The Voice” was born.
Music was his passion — and school wasn't. He barely made it to high school before he decided to pack up his blue eyes to sing professionally. A real-life “Dead-End Kid,” Frank dropped out of high school after 47 days of rough-and-tough schoolyard antics.
His mother, Dolly, was a brash opportunist and entrepreneur who was the “politician” in the family. She convinced a local vocal group to give her son a chance … and so became the Hoboken Four. Not long after, Frank became a popular feature in the group. So much so that the group signed a six-month contract on a popular radio show, and Sinatra's star began to rise.
He moved on to big name, big bands of the time, including those led by Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Fortunately for us Chicago-area fans (and probably why Chicago was so near and dear to Frank's heart), a meeting with Dorsey that catapulted Sinatra's career happened in Chicago's famed Empire Room at The Palmer House. And his first concert with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1940 was at the Coronado Theatre in Rockford. Both events occurred between December and January, exactly 75 years ago. The rest is “do-be-do-be-do” history.
Growing up in an Italian-American household myself, I experienced two trinities … the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett. Both referenced God in different ways in my neighborhood. So when I had the chance to not only meet Sinatra, but also to be a part of one of his concerts, I was in a sense “ordained” into a very exclusive club, much like that one at The Vatican.
It was on May 8, 1984 (my 22nd birthday), when I had the privilege of being a part of a fundraising event with Frank. It was the first of five concerts he was to perform at the Arie Crown Theatre on Chicago's lakefront. Francis Albert generously donated the proceeds from this first show to the Villa Scalabrini Home for the Aged in Northlake, a charity with which I was very much personally involved.
I was in charge of distributing the commemorative key chains and paperweights to the various levels of sponsors and ticket buyers. Yep, without me that night, Frank would have been nuthin'!
It was then I first experienced the way his personality and mere presence filled a room. As he and his entourage made their way through the backstage area, it seemed as if one tightly packed entity gelled its way to the stage, much like the way a ball of Mercury comes together after being dropped on a table.
I was standing right near the curtains and he stopped and stood there about 4 feet from me! He repeatedly looked at his watch as his people all gazed at him just waiting for the order to go onstage. The order came from him, mind you … always. The last time he looked at his watch, his baby blues made their way beyond the watch and met mine. Probably one of the scariest things that ever happened to me!
I'm telling ya, this guy was intense! It was at that moment my body was taken over by some spirit as my hand uncontrollably raised and I handed him a keychain with his own picture on it. A poignant moment in his life, I am sure. He smiled and said, “Thanks kid.” I walked away with an immense sense of pride, feeling as if I had given him his microphone for the show and not some 25-cent souvenir. Again, without me, there would not have been a show!
Dec. 12, 2015, will mark Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday. There will be concerts and other presentations all over the world commemorating this historic occasion. I just couldn't wait, though! On Dec. 12, 2014, The Arcada Theatre will present a 99th birthday celebration featuring eight vocalists — a swingin' band with actual Sinatra song charts and a looping, onstage photographic exhibit of more than 300 never before seen photographs from the personal collection of Frank Sinatra.
Another little-known fact about Frank is that he had a passion for photography. He was the “official” photographer of the first Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier fight; boxing was another of his passions. The photos being shown that evening will be those of his personal family life as well as those from his professional escapades … very rare and shown publicly for the first time!
Sinatra, Elvis, James Dean, Michael Jackson — these guys defined musical generations. But arguably, Frank was the first.
And as we approach his 100th birthday, I can only imagine what it's like up there in that swingin' saloon in the sky. I gotta think that, because there are two heads on either side of the dinner table, God is sitting at one of them, and Frank is across passing him the pasta.
• Ron Onesti is president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.