We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
I my chances alongside every other guy my age who wanted to become a singer.
He got up and sang
“So I just sauntered over to one of the i bandleaders and told him I’d like to try a song or two with the group. He looked at me oddly. I guess he was amused. “He asked me if I had any background, j I said I had lots of background. Then he wanted to know what made me think I I could sing.
“I told him that I wouldn’t be making f the request if I thought I was going to r make a fool of myself or the group.
“Well . . .” he hesitated, but finally he i said okay.
“It was pretty informal all the way, but ■ I got through the song fine.”
Actually, Frankie did well and got a tremendous hand when he finished.
The leader said, “Hey, what’s your name?”
Frankie laughed and started to say it. But he didn’t have to. One of the musicians, an old Tommy Dorsey bandsman, hollered out, “That’s Frank Sinatra, Jr.!”
“It was great,” he said. “I had sweated ( 1 out the whole bit on my own, just like
I anyone else. I didn’t care then that they knew who I was. The important thing was they didn’t know until I finished.”
The bandleader later called Frankie back for an all-Dorsey show, a week later. Young Sinatra couldn’t have been more pleased. He’d had his professional baptism.
Then he appeared on a couple of Los Angeles TV shows and finally a star spot with Jack Benny, who assured all concerned that he was using Junior for his talent and not for his name.
Sinatra, Sr., on learning of the turn of events, grinned like a kid. “I always said that son of mine was full of surprises.”
Frankie’s mother is not convinced that show business is the best bet for him.
“She is a wonderful mother to us,” Frankie explains. “But she’s seen an awful lot of the heartache that goes with being an entertainer.
“Still, I think I’m old enough now to take a few lumps, as Dad says. I understand now that most disappointments are just a part of your education for life.”
We asked Frankie why he hadn’t changed his name. Wouldn’t it have been easier.
“No, I thought about that,” he said. “But how long could I go on without facing it? That would be worse.”
He laughed. “Can you imagine how the billing would look if I took a name like A1 Stanley and underneath, in large print, it said, ‘Son of Frank Sinatra?’
“There were other reasons. I’m proud of my name. I’m proud of my father. People will never know what a wonderful parent he’s been to us. So I’m proud to be Frank Sinatra, Jr. I want people to know that. My father gave me my name. And the best way I know of to show my gratitude is to earn the right to use it and, maybe, someday do enough good things to make him proud of me.
“It’s something every son should do for his father. I like it that way.”
He thought for a moment, “That’s why I’m not afraid anymore,” he said. “I’ve got the whole world ahead of me.”
— Alan Somers
MORE STARS . . . STORIES . . . NEWS-MAKING CLOSEUPS it MORE EXCITEMENT . . . EXCLUSIVES ...CELEBRITY PORTRAITS M MORE NATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMNISTS THAN ANY OTHER MAGAZINE! (WALTER WINCHELL...HEDDA HOPPER . . . SIDNEY SKOLSKY . . . CAL YORK . . . FRED ROBBINS) B UNIQUE CELEBRITY COVERAGE 8 AND NOW — “STAR-TESTED" RECIPES BY YOUR FAVORITE ENTERTAINERS a NEW... NEW... NEW IN EVERY ISSUE! READ
PHOTOPLAY
YOU'LL ENJOY IT MORE