Never disagree with Mark Steyn. :)
Frank Sinatra was hardly a pipsqueak. (Good boxer)
I think Steyn thinks the way he does about this because of Sinatra’s rendition of Soliloquy. Best version is on the “Concert Sinatra” album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ476jZrj14
Frank Sinatra’s height was 5ft 7.5in (171 cm).
“Frank Albert Sinatra is physically and/or mentally disqualified for military service by reason of: 1. chronic perforation [left] tympanum; 2. chronic mastoiditis. The form noted the examinee’s weight as one hundred and nineteen pounds (four pounds below the Army minimum for men of his stature) and his height as five feet seven and a half inches.” – Frank: The Making of a Legend by James Kaplan, 2010 Source: https://www.howtallis.org/frank-sinatra-height-weight-shoe-size/
If he was a boxer, he was a bantam weight, and barely taller than Shirley Jones. While he was a great singer, his register isn’t low enough for a proper Billy Bigelow.
Mark Steyn also loved “Guys and Dolls”, where Sinatra’s acting was not great (granted, better than McRae’s in Carousel), and Marlon Brando was horribly miscast in that second-rate musical. (Note: My father performed as both Billy Bigelow and Big Julie in local community theatre, so I am familiar with both soundtracks). Sinatra was not great in “High Society” either, though he suffers from being compared to Jimmy Stewart in the Philadelphia Story. He was ok in Manchurian Candidate, where he didn’t even get to sing.