[mrustow]

It used to irritate me to no end, when that jerk, Phil Hartman (may he rest in peace!), would do his Frank Sinatra impression on Saturday Night Live. He would make Sinatra sound like a dumb (read: racist, etc.) mob enforcer. The reality, of course, was that whereas Phil Hartman was repression's best friend, and never did spit to fight racism, no one in all of Hollywood had done as much to fight racism than Frank Sinatra.

I'm posting this for the sake of other (particularly younger) FReepers, since you know the score. During the 1950s, Las Vegas' mob-controlled Hotel-casinos initially refused to engage Sammy Davis Jr. to perform, in spite of Davis' reputation as the world's greatest live entertainer. Sinatra let it be known, that if the hoteliers wouldn't hire Davis, they couldn't have him, either. And so it came to pass, that Sammy Davis Jr. headlined in Vegas.

[mrustow]

FYI

[Doctor Stochastic]

Rumor also has it that the Mob squelched Sammy's impending marriage to Kim Novak.

[dennisw]

Frank sang "The Street I Live On" which was an anti racial prejudice song. And he does it very well.

[cyborg]

Yes and when Sammy was yucking it up and posing for a pic next to Kim Novak, he sat next to Kim Novak to save Sammy's career. That may sound ridiculous, but back then that would have spelled DOOM for Sammy's career. I hate it whenever someone messes around with the rat pack ESP. Frank Sinatra.

[dennisw]

It used to irritate me to no end, when that jerk, Phil Hartman (may he rest in peace!), would do his Frank Sinatra impression on Saturday Night Live. He would make Sinatra sound like a dumb (read: racist, etc.) mob enforcer.

I wish I had a copy of the shows where Joe Piscopo does Frank. The best ones are where he's singing a medley of contemporary songs. Such as "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Also the one where he's arguing over who "calls the shots" when Frank and Dean and Sammy are out on the town.

I liked the Phil Hartman one too.

[Peter Porcupine]

Better Joe Piscopo's Sinatra. In the perfect send-up of Paul McCartney's well-intended (the best that can be said about it) "Ebony and Ivory," Piscopo-as-Frank, in a duet with Eddie Murphy doing his patented Stevie Wonder impersonation, utters the line "That was groovy thinkin', Lincoln, when you set them fre-e-e-e-e-e..." There. An appropriate nod to a Republican president and a wholly righteous sentiment.