Toasting No. 100 with Sinatra’s awestruck response to Pavarotti

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 | noon

In the flurry of tributes to Frank Sinatra honoring his 100th birthday, which has finally arrived today, I’ll recall this late-night hang the other night at the Italian American Club.

This was Nov. 29, a night after Bob Anderson closed his “Frank: The Man, The Music” production at Palazzo Theater. A group of friends gathered to present Anderson with a cake decorated with the familiar poster of him made up as Sinatra, with Anderson thoughtfully crooning next to the golden letters “FRANK.”

Anderson thanked the crowd, crammed closely against the club’s cozy, foot-tall stage. Anderson was saddened and, at times, maddened that the show closed two weeks before the Sinatra birthday celebration. But his comments at this fete were kind, grateful, conciliatory. “This show was the highlight of my career,” said the man who had performed for Sinatra himself several times over the years and once appeared on “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” alongside Bob Hope and Muhammad Ali.

Every night from the stage at Palazzo, Anderson-as-Sinatra plugged the Italian American Club. Sinatra was actually a member of the great Las Vegas supper club and live-music haunt upon its opening in 1966. Old photos of Ol’ Blue Eyes adorn the walls, joining other The Rat Pack-ian images of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. and such Las Vegas luminaries as longtime lounge icon Jerry Tiffe, who was on hand to pay homage to Anderson. So was a man Sinatra helped bring to Las Vegas, singer and radio-show host Dennis Bono and his wife, Lorraine Hunt-Bono. Dennis hosted a Sinatra tribute Thursday for a packed audience at South Point Showroom for his weekly "The Dennis Bono Show."

The scene at the Italian American Club was further enhanced by the presence of Sinatra’s former music director Vinnie Falcone, who has written a book about The Chairman, “"Frankly — Just Between Us: My Life Conducting Frank Sinatra's Music," issued a decade go. Falcone also is present on the new Jack Jones release honoring Sinatra, titled “Seriously Frank,” which closes with a Falcone composition, “The Singer.”

On this night, Falcone stood next to Anderson onstage, at the keyboards, playing a little mood music as Anderson closed his comments, noting once more, “There will never be another Frank Sinatra, and I was honored to perform this show.” The crew then filed into the private dining room. Wine flowed, an inevitability, and so did some great Sinatra stories.

From across the spacious dinner table, about as large as the lounge’s stage, Italian American Club co-proprietor Jimmy Girard called over to Falcone, “Hey Vinnie, tell the Pavarotti story!”

“Pavarotti!” Falcone said. “OK!”

From Vinnie: In September 1981, Sinatra was to appear with Luciano Pavarotti to headline a concert at Radio City Music Hall. Sinatra has asked Falcone, his music director in the waning years of Sinatra’s career, to write a medley of a half-dozen Neapolitan songs (Italian ballads) with “O Sole Mio” and “Santa Lucia” in the mix.

The two met at Sophia Loren’s apartment at the Essex House, where Pavarotti was staying on this trip to New York. Sinatra had noted that he was having vocal struggles, especially when finishing notes, and asked Pavarotti for advice. “Just-a close-a you mouth!” was the answer from the legendary tenor.

Sinatra and Falcone busted up, and the bond was thus forged. A rehearsal was for the next day onstage at Radio City. The two vocalists were to swap segments of the songs, and Sinatra opened the rehearsal with the first verse from “O Sole Mio.”

“Sinatra starts it in his way,” as Falcone recalled. “Beautiful, very romantic.”

Then it was Pavarotti’s turn to sing the refrain.

“We get to ‘O Sole Mio,’ and Luciano opens his mouth,” Falcone recalled. “I wanna tell you, it was like somebody turned off a transistor radio and turned on a 400-watt stereo. I will never forget, as long as I live, what I felt when I heard that. I get goose bumps now thinking about it.

“Well, Mr. Sinatra hears that, and he was stunned,” Falcone said, his voice rising. “He looked at me — and ladies, excuse me — he said to me, ‘What the (expletive) was that?!’ “

The room burst into laughter.

“He didn’t believe it,” Falcone said. “I about fell off my piano bench. It was the most astounding thing you could imagine in your life.”

Falcone then recited the oft-told story about the night when Don Rickles was trying to impress his dinner date and asked Sinatra to stop by his table and say hello. There are many variations of this aged yarn, the tale unspooling like a long game of Telephone. But Falcone has heard it from Sinatra and Rickles, and Sinatra himself recalled the moment on “The Tonight Show” in 1976.

“Don told me the story, and so did Mr. Sinatra different times,” Falcone said. “Before Don was married, he was having dinner in New York with a lady friend, and Frank was there with his entourage. Don goes over to Frank’s table and says, ‘Frank, when you finish, can you come over and say hello to my girlfriend? I’m trying to impress her, and she’s a big fan and would love to meet you.”

Sinatra consented and after his dinner walked over to Rickles’ table and said, “Hey, Don, how are you?”

And Rickles shot back, “Can’t you see I’m eating, Frank?”

The room erupted again, especially Anderson. Rickles and Sinatra were friends for many decades after Sinatra fell for that ruse.

Shortly after dinner, Anderson and Falcone would work together once more, in the lounge. Falcone played behind Anderson, singing a final song in his own voice in this Old Vegas club. The song chosen was “Here’s to Life.”

“To dreamers and their dreams, may all your storms be weathered, and all that’s good get better,” Anderson intoned. “Here's to life, here's to love, and here's to yooooou.”

The crowd raised their glasses high for a final toast. Somewhere, too, did the greatest saloon singer of them all.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.