Displaying items by tag: The Rat Pack

Sammy received tap-dancing lessons courtesy of the great Bill "Bojangles" Robinson when he was a little older.

During the swinging sixties, Sinatra’s Mafia connections returned to haunt him, with regard to his friendship with Salvatore ‘Mooney Sam’ Giancana, head of the Chicago Mafia syndicate. During the 1960 presidential election, John F. Kennedy was running against the sitting Republican vice president, Richard Nixon.

When the forties ended, Sinatra’s career went into free fall and his popularity waned. As he moved into his thirties, his appeal to the teen audiences declined. He appeared on the Lucky Strike’s radio show ‘Hit Parade’, where he had to sing the top ten records of the day. During the late sixties, I picked up a couple of bootlegs of these shows, and one of the tunes he sang was ‘The Woody Woodpecker Song’, which was a big hit in 1948.

Francis Albert ‘Frank’ Sinatra (December 12, 1915 Hoboken, New Jersey - May 14, 1998 Los Angeles, California), was one of the greatest and most influential vocalist of the 20th century. As well as being a successful singer, who recorded over sixty albums, he was also a successful actor and starred in more than fifty motion pictures. Sinatra won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Supporting Actor, for his portrayal of Private Angelo Maggio in