The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

CRAZY MIXED-UP KIDS Even today at so sophisticated an occasion as a Press conference people are still taken in by it. A psychologist trying to define his appeal to women once said it sprang "from one of the elemental instincts of womankind — the urge to feed the hungry". Whilst Frankie can keep that hungry look he will never be lacking in supporters — and will never need to go hungry. He has never gone hungry as far as I can ascertain, although his defenders often allude darkly to his childhood in the waterfront town of Hoboken, Jersey, and one is clearly meant to assume that he had a rough time. Frankie did not have a rough time. He was a spoilt child, and even in those days had more of the good things of life than the other kids with whom he roamed the streets looking for trouble. When he went to high school he had fourteen sports-jackets, and before he was twenty had owned five cars. The profession he chose for himself was one which could bring success more rapidly than any other. His mother was persuaded to give him sixty-five dollars for a public address system — he bought one with a rhinestone studded case — and Frankie became a singer. To begin with he did not make much money, but there is no evidence that he ever denied himself any thing he wanted badly enough. Then he was discovered by Harry James, and soon there was no need to deny himself anything at all. In 1943 he is reputed to have made more than 1,500,000 dollars. He spent his money lavishly and recklessly. It is recorded that he used to give away gold cigarette lighters costing £80 each by the gross, and that he once showered £30,000 worth of gifts on one actress in six months. Today he has £10,000 worth of cuff-links, a hundred suits, fifty pairs of shoes and at least twenty hats. He also has his own film company and five music companies, and shares in the Sands Hotel at Las Vegas 125