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Continuing excerpts from Sammy’s first autobiography ‘Yes I Can’ this article features Frank Sinatra’s constant support through the years. This segment centers around Frank’s visit to the hospital after Sammy’s accident.
As Dr Hull neared the door to leave, a nurse came skidding into the room and collided with him. “Oh! Excuse me, doctor!” She was looking past him to me. “It’s Frank Sinatra! He’s on his way up!”
I could hear the excitement in the halls accelerating until it was almost a roar. Nurses were running from room to room gasping, “He’s here in the hospital! Frank Sinatra! They were going out of their minds, with dropping thermometers and grabbing for lipsticks...
Frank was standing in the doorway, smiling. “Hi’ya, Charley.” He came in, flipped his hat onto a chair and looked at me, carefully. “you’re going to be alright.” He said it emphatically, like he’d just gotten the word from upstairs. He embraced my father and Will. The nurse was rooted to the floor, staring at him, so flustered that she didn’t think to give him a chair. He smiled at her.”Hi’ya, honey”. She nodded like a drunk, with the grin and the glazed eyes.
He pulled up a chair and straddled it, arms resting against its back. “well, what’s happening with the eye”.
“I’ll have to wear a patch until the socket heels, then I get a new eye.” I shook a cigarette out of a pack and held up my lighter, but the flame missed the end of the cigarette.
When I finally got it lit Frank smiled. “You’re full of party tricks, Charley”.
“Stick around. For an encore I light my nose.” He’d lit a cigarette, too, and was holding it cupped in the palm of his hand. “How long do the Docs figure it will take you to straighten out.”
“They say maybe three months, but they’re not sure.”
“have you still got the place in the Sunset Colonial?”
“Yeah. I’ve been keeping it.”
“Well we’ve got to get you out of there. That’s for openers. You can’t live there anymore. You should have a house.” “You’ll have a house in the hills where you can get some quiet and still not be in the Yukon.” He looked over at my father. “I’ll be in touch with you on it.” He turned back to me. “We’ll get you something small, a rental until you know exactly what you want. You should have a couple of guys living with you until you’re on your feet. Do you know when you’re leaving here?”
“A few days, I think.”
“Why don’t you come out to my place in the Springs and spend a couple of weeks with me? Hey, what the hell are you crying about?”
“Frank...I can’t tell you what it means to me for you to come here...I thought maybe the magazine thing...”
“So what else is new?”
“Forget it Charley. You don’t even have to mention it. Have you decided where you want to open?”
“Well, that Vegas money looks awfully good, but I’ve got a funny kind of feeling about our first date. Herman Hover can only give us 5 thousand and though I hate to go for the short money, well, I’ve been thinking maybe we should go back to Ciro’s where it all began for us.”
You’re definitely right. The important thing is to start strong, and in LA you’ll be home where you know you have friends around you. The Vegas money’ll still be there.” He looked across the room, Will nodded. “Meanwhile, Charley, get your health back. Rest, don’t rush.”
“I wish it was that simple. Let’s say it takes three months. By then, all this fantastic publicity I’m getting won’t mean beans-I’ll have blown all this momentum. On the other hand, obviously I can’t come back too early, coming on like I’m stumbling around for sympathy.”
First of all you have no choice. You wait until you’re ready! Secondly, don’t worry about momentum. They’ll wait for you. The day you go back you’ll be as hot as you are today.”
“I wish I could believe that”
He raised an eyebrow and half-smiled. “you want to talk about comebacks.”
He stood up and picked up his hat. “I’ll see you at the Springs.” He walked over to the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. “Relax. You’re going to be bigger than ever, Charley. Bigger than ever.”
Flash bulbs were popping all over the room and a guy with a newsreel camera was walking in close to the bed. I turned slightly so he’d get a good shot of the patch, and gave him a Charley Brave smile.
“Hey, is that the mornings mail, Sammy?” He was pointing to the three tables of letters in the corner of the room. “I hope you at least got some money in all those letters.”
“Have you read them all?”
“Hey fellas, I’ve got one eye remember?” It got a laugh.
“Sammy is it true that Jeff Chandler offered his eye?”
“Yes. Jeff offered a cornea transplant, and I understand that I’ve had nine other offers since then.”
“Why do you think Chandler offered to give you his eye?”
He’s my friend, and that’s just the kind of man he is.”
“Sammy tell us your side of the story on you and Ava Gardner.” He winked. “ I mean confidentially.”
Everybody laughed. “there’s nothing to tell. It’s totally false. The guy who wrote it should win a prize for fiction. Like ten years in jail.”
“You mean there’s nothing to it?”
“Baby, will you please take another look at this kisser of mine? Now you know I ain’t gonna get that lucky!”
“Isn’t Frank Sinatra a friend of yours? How’d he feel about it? I mean with her being his ex-wife?”
“He came to visit me yesterday.”
“Did he mention the story?”
“no. I brought it up but he wouldn’t even discuss it.”
“Isn’t that kinda strange?”
“No. To discuss it would be like saying there was a possibility it was true and that would conflict with his belief that if you have a friend and you believe in him and that’s it. If he’d thought about me to the contrary he just wouldn’t have shown.” |
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Click here to hear an mp3 of Sinatra on Sammy's passing
Click here to hear an mp3 of Sammy talking about their relationship |
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