[Dixielandjazz] Frank Sinatra

[Robert Ringwald]

Why Frank Sinatra Will Always Be 'The Voice'
As the BBC quest to find 'The Voice' goes on, the original and the best singer given
that title was Frank Sinatra.
by Richard Havers
London Telegraph, April 13, 2012
Seventy years ago, on a November evening in 1942, Robert A. Weitman, one of the most
influential men in American entertainment had been persuaded to drive out from Manhattan
to Newark, New Jersey, to check out the singer who had recently left Tommy Dorsey's
band to go solo.
According to Weitman, who was the manager of the prestigious Paramount Theatre on
43rd Street and Broadway at Times Square in New York City, not since Rudy Vallee
had he seen a singer who induced so much squealing from young girls in an audience.
The singer was Frank Sinatra.
Weitman was impressed enough to offer Sinatra a booking at the Paramount on a show
to be headlined by Benny Goodman -- one of the most popular bandleaders in America.
They were booked into the theatre for four weeks from December 30th 1942 to play
the tried and tested formula of a 2 for 1 show that included a movie -- in this case,
'Star Spangled Rhythm' starring Victor Moore and Betty Hutton -- along with live
entertainment featuring 'the King of Swing', Benny Goodman and his famous Orchestra,
his young vocalist, Peggy Lee, and the Radio Rogues along with Moke and Poke providing
the laughs. Frank Sinatra, who had turned 27 a couple of weeks earlier was included
as an extra-added attraction and billed as, 'The Voice That Has Thrilled Millions'.
On the opening night, after Benny had worked his way through numbers including 'Taking
A Chance on Love', his theme song, 'Let's Dance' and Peggy had sung 'Why Don't You
Do Right' it was time for Frank. Benny Goodman's introduction could not have been
more low key, "and now, Frank Sinatra." Later Goodman suggested that Sinatra, "Weighed
120 pounds soaking wet -- 20 of which was hair."
As the years rolled by and Sinatra went from being plain ol' Frankie to the Chairman
of the Board just about everyone has suggested he was the archetypal overnight sensation.
Authors and cultural commentators have insisted that the Paramount was full to capacity
with 5,000 screaming fans all going nuts and chanting F.R.A.N.K.I.E. While there
is no doubting Frank's success at his first Manhattan engagement without the backing
of Tommy Dorsey's band it seems more likely that the hysteria was nothing like as
wild.
In reality it was largely George Evans, the man who had been hired as Sinatra's press
agent, who worked a little magic and spun the web of creative PR. While it was Evans's
efforts that were the impetus the speed with which Frank became SO popular was a
revelation to everyone, even to Frank who had a full tank of self-belief. Many people
have hypothesised as to why it happened. Psychiatrists have studied the phenomenon,
other performers have tried to repeat what he did, and a multiplicity of managers
have encouraged their rising stars to try to emulate 'the Voice'.
The truth is that Frank had learned well from his time with both the Harry James
and Tommy Dorsey bands. When you are not the one that people have come to see, yet
you want them to notice you, you try a little harder to get the audience's attention.
Frank had been developing his stagecraft, working on his little mannerisms and making
everything he did on stage count. People have talked about the way Frank seemed to
sing just to them, holding them with his blue eyes. There is no question that some
of it was gift, but an awful lot more of it was down to sheer hard work and determination.
It is PR man Evans who generally gets credited with naming Frank 'The Voice' but
there are some who insist that it was actually Harry Kilby, Frank's agent. It's true
that it was Kilby that added the strap line, "the Voice That Has Thrilled Millions"
to the Paramount billing -- so there's an element of truth on both sides. Kilby's
somewhat overblown statement definitely came first but it was Evans who had the savvy
to shorten it to 'The Voice'.
Critics were soon likening Sinatra's voice to "worn velveteen" or as another suggested,
"it was like being stroked by a hand covered in cold cream." Fans wondered whether
he tucked his voice under his armpit between numbers, another suggested he had musk
glands where his tonsils ought to be.
George Evans defied the first rule of PR -- there is no such thing as bad publicity
as long as they spell your name right. He crafted a whole new section of the dictionary
to describe the Sinatra effect. Besides dubbing him 'The Voice', and calling the
girls Sinatratics, he called Frank, Swoonatra. His was also the unsubtle linking
of the effect that Frank had on some of the girls that he called it 'Sinatrasm' --
no doubt some did.
It's just a pity Evans never wrote a book on image making; it would have been a best
seller. Much of what he did was simply old tricks of the trade. Inventing stories
about Frank's growing up, taking a few years off his age, running competitions with
radio stations under the guise of Frank Sinatra day, adding noughts to what Frankie
was being paid and playing up the happy family angle -- he never ever missed an opportunity
to get his 'boy's' name in the newspapers.
Evidence of Frank's popularity was everywhere, especially in the number of local
fan clubs that were formed. They grasped every titbit that George Evans fed them,
and of course they also bought Sinatra's records. With the passing of the years it
is difficult to unravel fact from fiction. Was there really a Frank Sinatra Fan and
Mahjong Club? A club at which a group of middle aged Jewish women got together to
play mahjong and listen to Frank's records?
Over the course of the next few years everyone wanted to say that they had been at
that first Paramount show, or at least been there during the first week. Over the
decades memories fade and a little embellishment goes an awful long way. Given the
fact that Frank played the Paramount a number of times in 1943 and '44 it is probable
that people adjusted their truth.
When the run, which had been extended by several weeks, finally came to an end on
February 20th Frank had become the Bobby Soxer's idol; within a year he was arguably,
the original pop idol. In wartime America Frankie was the main man to hundreds of
thousands of lovelorn women. He sang to them of love, loss, and longing; he provided
the soundtrack to their imaginary idyll. Frank was the Sultan of Swoon as the opening
chapters of his legend were written.
Soon after appearing at the Paramount Sinatra was in Tinsel Town featuring in movies,
he was also dodging the draft, according to some, to others, notably the FBI, he
was 'consorting with known criminals' and he was gaining a reputation as a ladies'
man being seen in Hollywood with Lana Turner and Marilyn Maxwell. Both of whom spent
more time than a single gal ought to with a married man -- a fact that some of Hollywood's
most vicious columnists would exploit to their advantage.
But no one could or can take away the fact that Frank Sinatra in being dubbed 'The
Voice' became the voice through which songwriters spoke to people all over America
and soon the world. His really is 'The Voice' that has thrilled millions and continues
to do so to this day. George Evans and Harry Kilby's creativity have inspired in
other ways; yet no matter how many contests and competitions there are, there will
never be anyone who can really compete with -- 'The Voice'.