Here's a paper I wrote on Frank Sinatra. Have fun.

Chris A. Hill Mrs. Pickle English 10 22 May 1999

Frank Sinatra: A Malcontent Heart

On December 12, 1915, in a bedroom in Hoboken, New Jersey, a mammoth 13½-pound baby, Francis Albert Sinatra, was born hanging on desperately for his own life. Eventually, the only child of Marty and Dolly Sinatra was in a healthy condition, but he still had a difficult childhood ahead of him. In his high school years, he was an accomplished singer among his peers but was never prolific academically. After passing a state test, he dropped out of school during his senior year with hopes of someday becoming a professional singer (Sinatra, American Legend 16-20).

Towards the start of the 1940's, Frank Sinatra came strongly and suddenly onto the music scene. He had a flowing voice as in an opera singer, but had no formal education, something which set him apart from the usual pop singers (Sinatra par 1). To perform with a swing band was practically the only way for a singer to rise to fame in his day, and, so, he created his first record on February 3, 1939, which was a rip off a classical tune and was sang with the Frank Manne Orchestra (Clarke 26, 28).

Sinatra was named, by his eldest daughter, Nancy (Jr.), the greatest entertainer of the twentieth century; he was even said to have had the longest and most diverse career of any singer (Sinatra, American Legend 1). Although Frank Sinatra had an abundance of fame and riches, he was never truly content with what he had, as can be seen through his many marriages, drastically immoral lifestyle, and music and acting careers.

Frank Sinatra's personal life reflected his intense desire for joy, his search for that one thing to make him truly content. In all, he had four marriages, along with two separate engagements. On February 4, 1939, while his job was singing at a nightclub by the name of "The Rustic Cabin," he started his first marriage, in which he was wedded to Nancy Barbato at a church in Jersey City. After that, they moved into a three-room apartment which was barely affordable with even their combined paychecks (Sinatra, American Legend 32). About a year later, Nancy Sinatra, Jr. was born their first child (Sinatra, American Legend 43), and, within seven more years, Frank Jr. and Christina were born into existence (Sinatra, American Legend 85).

Through a series of unfaithful affairs, Frank and Nancy Sinatra were separated and finally divorced, which led to his marriage, two months later, to actress and then two-time wife Ava Gardner; it took place on November 7, 1951 at a suburban home in Philadelpia, Pennsylvania (Sinatra American 98, 100). Frank's relationship with Ava was the best when he was terribly discouraged and needy of her, but, most often, they were in fits of rage and hate because of conflicting careers (Clarke 118).

After the second marriage, Sinatra was married to a young lady less than half of his own age, Mia Farrow, but not before their "secret" engagement (Sinatra, American Legend 199). Even through his doubts, the two wedded in July of 1966. She was an actress in a hit film and a daytime soap-opera; Frank tried to deter and convince her to quit the jobs, but she refused. Because of all of that, the "holy matrimony" disintegrated (Clarke 196). He was again in his state of married bachelorhood.

When he had finished three marriages and thought he might be through, he fell to Barbara Ann Blakeley Marx, former Las Vegas dancer and beauty queen (Zehme 178). In May 1976, they were engaged, and, three months ahead of schedule, on July 11 of 1976, were married at a friend's estate (Sinatra, American Legend 244).

In his lifetime, there were also a couple spontaneous and brusque engagements in between his marriage "commitments." For example, in his search for love, he proposed to the widow Betty Bacall. Ultimately, it only lasted for a few days and was followed by hate letters and heartbreak. In January of 1962, he was engaged to a twenty-five-year-old South African-born dancer named Juliet Prouse. Because of their conflicting careers, the two split after only five weeks (Zehme 171-173).

It seemed as if Frank Sinatra finally realized the art of being a husband, but not until his fourth and final companion came to his side (Zehme 180). Bill Zehme expressed it well: "He was not good at marriage. . . He was restless, both in and out of wedlock. But a man, he believed, should be married" (171). His "restlessness" was shown in the fact that, between two marriages involving nineteen years, he was legally single for a mere eight days (Zehme 171).

If he had stayed with his first girl whom he married in 1939, Nancy, he would have had all he sought in a spouse, but at the beginning (Zehme 174). Unfortunately, his central purpose in wedding her was to have someone "around his neck" as a popularity rose (Clarke 27). He "lived in a candy store world where he could not suppress his cravings. None would come before Nancy, but they came during and certainly after" (Zehme 176). In his early years, and partly because of his immaturity, Sinatra wanted no disapprobations about his lifestyle from anyone. He spent his money, made records, and had affairs; trouble in paradise would come (Clarke 89).

Even outside of all of his marriages, Frank Sinatra lived a terribly immoral lifestyle. One of the factors confirming it was his drinking habits. He was known for his excessive alcohol consumption, paying no attention to the habit or disease. "The Leader's" idea of a good time was drinking alcohol; he was not worried but simply wanted "the perfect gasser." Dean Martin, a fellow singer and close friend of Sinatra, once wrote and sang, "He's the boy who prints all the manuals / On the joy of consuming Daniel's" (Zehme 87).

On top of the drinking, Sinatra seemed to always be involved in some kind of an adulterous affair. Even while he was yet dating Nancy Barbato, he had an affair with Toni Franke, got her pregnant, and was arrested twice by her on counts of moral charges (Clarke 25-26). While on a private vacation with his daughter Nancy, he was found to be seeing numerous women in a short period of three weeks (Sinatra, My Father 127-129). He always wanted more girls, lest he should be self-conscious because of a missing part of his social status. He used to say, "You can't live on Jack Daniel's alone, pally" (Zehme 141).

Aside from all of his personal life, Frank Sinatra was a professional and skilled singer and actor. He started off extremely well for a man of his age. His first major band was with the talented trumpeteer and his swing band, the Harry James Band. He joined them in 1939 and started his rise to fame (Huntington par 1). After brief stint with that, in the early 1940's, he left James's band, which he loved (McDonough par 3), for a chance at more fame and fortune with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, led by Tommy Dorsey (Clarke 37); they had their first show at the Aster Hotel in New York.

The time after those bands were when he was most successful. Although he started well in his music career at a young age, it was not until he hit middle age and lost some hair did he strike his stride as a singer or actor. For about fifteen years in the 1950's and 1960's, Sinatra stole music off the market -- and people loved it (Davis par 2-3). One of his biggest albums was I Remember Tommy, a tribute to Tommy Dorsey, who choked to death in 1956. There were most than 200,000 advance orders on it (Clarke 179).

More than a singer, Frank Sinatra was also an accomplished actor. He started with a musical, Las Vegas Nights, in 1941 and went all the way through 1983 with Cannonball Run II (Sinatra, American Legend 330, 359). Statistically, his finest role was that of a detective in From Here to Eternity, which won seven academy awards. Sinatra himself won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Sinatra, American Legend 338). His daughter Nancy quotes, "Perhaps the real key to his success in films was his ability to translate what he knew about expressing emotion in song to dialogue" (Sinatra, American Legend 329).

It seemed as if Frank Sinatra could do nothing small; he wanted everything more than before (Zehme, Bill. Introduction. np). Donald Clarke put it nicely: "His obsessiveness, his bad temper, and his awful relationships with women were simply clues to the fact that no matter how big a star he was, he could never get enough attention." On the same note, he was characterized as a man with a lack of self-control (Clarke 89, 217).

Frank Sinatra's personal life, as well as the moral side of his show business life, was nothing to be proud of. As was pointed out before, Sinatra lived a very immoral lifestyle. He once said, "Women -- I don't know what. . . to make of them. . . Maybe that's what it's all about. Maybe all that happens is you get older and you know less" (Zehme 141). On the business side of things, Donald Clarke again notes on his discontentness, "In retrospect, it is remarkable how often Frank Sinatra was to be found at the center of things. The sort of fame of seemed to want was incompatible with privacy, anyway, but his image often dovetailed neatly with what was going down in the realm of popular culture (Clarke 66)."

The Bible could have been very relevant to his life (as it is to anybody's). Unfortunately, Frank was once quoted,

I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything that I can see or that there is anything there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I don't believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or a natural on the next roll of dice. I'm not unmindful of man's seeming need for faith; I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayers, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels. (Sinata, American Legend 185)

In the Bible, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Surely, if Sinatra had listened to those words and accepted the fact that "a personal God" could fill his empty void which provided for his own discontented heart, his life and music would have been extremely different. But, still, through all of his fame and riches, he was never a genuinely happy man; his marriages, immoral lifestyle, and careers confirmed it.

This is a literary criticism essay I did on the same subject.

Chris A. Hill

Mrs. Pickle

English 10

22 May 1999

A Man Too Full for God

In the beginning, God created and was recognized by one and all, be it rocks, fields, and men. Early in the days of time, men were not atheists, but many were plainly rebels; they worshipped not the one and completely sovereign God but "exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. (Romans 1:25)" Around 6,000 years beyond Creation, an extremely gifted and wealthy singer by the name of Francis Albert Sinatra rolled along; he was a pantheist, one who believed that God lived in all things, as can be proved by his quote, "I have a respect for life in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is anything there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God." Even with all of his friends and riches, he depended so much on his lifestyle and relationships that he had no room for the personal God.

Frank Sinatra's lifestyle showed a need for something to fill his void and hunger. He was constantly touring or recording, making huge amounts of money, from his boom in the early 1940's until his death in 1998.

He also searched for God in the form of relationships and love. Frank was married four times, plus two ulterior, abrupt engagements; most of them crumbled. During all of that time, he was involved in a large number of extramarital affairs, which provided only instant gratification and not unconditional love.

Sinatra's song lyrics also reflected his lack of God, his attempt to fill his life. The song "My Way" is supporting: "I've lived a life that's full. I've traveled each and ev'ry highway; But more, much more than this, I did it my way."

The Bible has much to say about a man like Frank Sinatra, one who tries to find his own way to God. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). And again, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12). From the beginning of the world, God has had a plan for each human being to have a personal relationship with Him, to submit and to be in constant communion with God, who is metaphorically the Father of all. Unfortunately, Sinatra had never found that relationship. "But I don't believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or a natural on the next roll of dice. I'm not unmindful of man's seeming need for faith; I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayers, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels."

Works Cited

Alkyer, Frank. "Everybody's Sinatra." Downbeat. v 65, n 8, p 8 (August 1998): 1 p. Online. Available: Gen'l Ref Ctr Gold. 15 April 1999.

Clarke, Donald. All or Nothing at All. New York: Fromm International, 1997.

Davis, Francis. "Missing from much of the recent commentary on Frank Sinatra, oddly, was one pertinent topic: what he meant for music." The Atlantic Monthly. p 120 (Sept. 1, 1998): 1 p. Online. Available: Gen'l Ref Ctr Gold. 15 April 1999.

Huntington, Tom. "Thoughts on History." American History. v 33, n 4, p 2 (Oct 1998): 1 p. Online. Available: Gen'l Ref Ctr Gold. 15 April 1999.

McDonough, John. "Vaults of Sinatra." Down Beat. v 65, n 8, p 38 (August 1998): 1 p. Online. Available: Gen'l Ref Ctr Gold. 15 April 1999.

"Sinatra, Frank." Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia. 1997. CD-ROM. Grolier Interactive, Inc., 1996.

Sinatra, Nancy. Frank Sinatra - An American Legend. Santa Monica: General Publishing Group, Inc., 1995.

Sinatra, Nancy. Frank Sinatra, My Father. Garden City: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1985.

Student Bible, The. NIV. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.

Zehme, Bill. Introduction. The Way You Wear Your Hat. By Zehme. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997. n.p.

Zehme, Bill. The Way You Wear Your Hat. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.