If Frank Sinatra were alive and in his prime, he would have loved joining us on a recent evening at the Marco Island home of Tony and Phyllis Gentile. We were there ostensibly to interview the Gentiles and their friend, Bob Farrell, about Sinatra, whose birthday anniversary is this coming Saturday, Dec. 12.

Tony’s family home when he was born was at 553 Monroe St. in Hoboken, N.J. Frank Sinatra’s address was 415 Monroe. Sinatra’s father Martin was a Hoboken fireman, a captain. So was Tony, who came up through the ranks there and retired as a captain before moving to Marco Island. To top it off, Tony Gentile’s grandparents were friends with Frank Sinatra’s parents.

With all that as background, we had a great evening listening to Sinatra-related stories and enjoying Phyllis’ terrific food, representing Italian dishes that Sinatra was known to love on his frequent visits to the famous Patsy’s restaurant in New York City. Our favorite story from those Hoboken days was this one, as related by Tony:

“The firehouse where Frank’s dad was captain was at 410 Grand St. My grandparents lived at 420 Grand. In the cellar there, grandpa used to make wine. My three uncles brought over grapes and helped press them and barrel the juice for wine.

“Frank’s father Martin would come over and sometimes get drunk on the homemade wine. My grandmother would yell at her husband to tell Dolly, Frank’s mother, to come get Martin. Usually, Frank would come over, pick up his dad and help him home.”

Clams and the chairman of the board

As we prompted Tony to keep going with the Sinatra yarns, Phyllis produced a platter of cold meats, cheeses, big olives and stuffed peppers – known to be Sinatra’s favorite antipasto.

Phyllis followed that with Frank’s favorite light appetizer, Clams Posillipo, which he ordered virtually every time he dined at Patsy’s.

“Once, when I was a fireman, Sinatra was appearing at Carnegie Hall. He sent word that any men who had served with his dad in the fire department were invited to be his guests at the concert. The only rule was they had to wear their uniforms.

“Six of his dad’s former colleagues and their wives were still around and went. He had great eats reserved for them up front. And he invited them back to his dressing room, swapping stories about his dad and those good old days in Hoboken.”

More Sinatra food and (true) fables

As we listened, Phyllis kept bringing out more food; great stuff, including that cheese she had brought home to Marco from a famous deli in Hoboken. The Gentiles and Farrell related examples of how Sinatra was loved and not so much loved in Hoboken.

“Some people there loved Frank and others hated him. Mostly, they were envious of his success or thought he had turned his back on their city,” Tony says. He could be a generous, gentle man, yet sometimes cruel and heartless.

Farrell says Sinatra was legendary for breaking down racial barriers for black entertainers. “He would refuse to perform in hotels that would not allow the black performers to stay overnight. In those days, stars like Billie Holiday and Lena Horne had to sing at a hotel and then go to the black section of town to sleep. Frank said if his friends couldn’t stay where he stayed, he wouldn’t sing there. The hotels relented.

“Another time, Frank and Lena Horne went to a high-class New York restaurant for dinner. The flustered maitre ’d told Sinatra he somehow couldn’t find his name on the list, and asked Frank who made the dinner reservation for him and Ms. Horne.

‘Abraham Lincoln,’ Sinatra answered. They were promptly seated.”

Sinatra versus the New York Yankees

Here’s another story, served to us along with Phyllis’ amazing veal.

One night, after the New York Yankees had won the World Series, manager Billy Martin took the whole team to a second-floor corner table at Patsy’s for a celebration. Sinatra arrived at Patsy’s with friends a short time later and asked for that table, as he usually did. The manager said it was in use by another party.

“Who?” Frank asked. “The Yankees, and Billy Martin has a temper,” said the manager. So Sinatra’s group took a nearby table.

A short time later, Billy Martin asked the manager to introduce him to Sinatra. “He doesn’t like that sort of thing,” the manager said, but Martin was relentless, so the manager asked Sinatra and he agreed to have Martin come over to say hello.

Martin then said to the team, “Come on guys, let’s go meet Frank Sinatra,” and they did, all of them. Frank was ticked off, but civil. After dinner, he and his friends left Patsy’s.

Then, when Billy Martin went to pay the Yankees’ dinner bill, he were told, “It’s taken care of.”

“By who?” Martin asked, puzzled.

“Mr. Sinatra,” the manager whispered. Even though he was a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan, Sinatra bought dinner for the World Series Champion New York Yankees.

Sinatra was arguably the best singer of his time, yet he was like most people – complicated. He would toss cherry bombs, literally, in public, just to watch people jump, and yet would leave $100 tips in his wake.

His life played host to the good and the bad, and many will raise a glass to him, or maybe an eyebrow, on Dec. 12, which would have been his 94th birthday.

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston. E-mail chris@chriscurle.com. Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV, in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Fridays in the Naples Daily News. E-mail: don@donfarmer.com.

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