Columnist Joe Delaney: LV set to remember Sinatra in a big way

FRANK SINATRA will be memorialized in grand style, Tuesday-May 31, with the Inaugural Frank Sinatra Las Vegas Celebrity Classic, a celebration that includes a weekend of celebrity golf, theme parties, and related activities through that Sunday. ... Proceeds will benefit the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center and LV's Opportunity Village. ... More than 50 celebrities have already confirmed their participation.

Wayne Newton will share co-host honors with Barbara Sinatra. ... Paul Anka, Angie Dickinson, Dennis Franz, Steve Guttenberg, Quincy Jones, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, Jack Lemmon, Dan Marino, Gregory Peck, Robert Stack, and Joe Theisman were early RSVPs.

The main event will be the May 30th "Thanks, Frank" Black Tie Gala in the MGM Grand's Conference Center's Grand Ballroom. ... Each performer will sing a classic Sinatra song, using his arrangements.

There's more

Coverage will be copious and deservedly so. ... We agree with Barbara Sinatra's decision that the events go on as planned despite her husband's passing last Thursday. ... It will be a fitting way for all concerned to express our appreciation for a man who did so much to make this city an international destination, particularly when we really needed it. ... Sinatra put us on the map in the 1955-1965 decade.

With your indulgence, I would like to share a few Sinatra song memories. ... Hopefully, it may stimulate a few of your own. ... My first Sinatra record purchase was "All Or Nothing At All," on Columbia, now Sony, with the Harry James Orchestra, back in 1939.

In 1940, with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, he recorded "I'll Never Smile Again." ... I was 18, in the hospital recovering from a savage beating, had the last rites; it was a six-month siege.

Continuing on

All you heard on the radio that summer or so it seemed to me, was "I'll Never Smile Again." ... To compound my physical anguish, my girlfriend and I had parted. ... The songwriter was Ruth Lowe, a Canadian pianist. ... It was her only recorded composition, one I shall always remember. ... Another 1940s favorite: "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)."

"Nancy" was written for Sinatra's daughter Nancy. ... Jimmy Van Heusen composed the music. ... Would you believe that Phil ("Sgt. Bilko") Silvers wrote the lyric? ... Van Heusen and Silvers gave the song's earnings to Nancy as a birthday gift.

Lyricist Carolyn Leigh used her advance payment for writing the lyrics for the stage and TV musical, "Peter Pan," starring Mary Martin, to get a copy of a new song to Sinatra for a Capitol label recording session, Dec. 9, 1953. ... The song, "Young At Heart," was his first 1950s hit.

He gets hot

Leigh also wrote the lyrics for "Witchcraft," another Sinatra favorite, sung as a duet with Anita Baker on Frank's "Duets" album, certified platinum and a Grammy Award winner. ... This columnist, just out of Tulane Law School, negotiated Leigh's "Peter Pan" deal and suggested she get her song to Sinatra, never dreaming she could do so.

"From Here To Eternity," with his Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor, led to more films, many of which were shot in and around Las Vegas with Frank, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, "The Summit," better known as The Rat Pack, a term used earlier to describe Humphrey Bogart and his friends.

His Columbia Records years, 1943-1952, were good but Sinatra really caught fire, record-wise, with his decade on the Capitol label, 1953-1962. ... We'll pick up at this point on Friday.

Star-policy rundown

It's Liza Minnelli through Sunday, dark Thursday (Bally's); Rosie O'Donnell, Friday through Sunday (Caesars); Debbie Reynolds (her hotel); Patsy Cline Tribute (Gold Coast); Gladys Knight (MGM Grand); Siegfried & Roy (Mirage); Lance Burton (Monte Carlo); Air Supply, Friday through Sunday (Orleans); and Danny Gans (Rio). ... Michael Crawford appears in concert, 8 p.m. Saturday, MGM Grand Garden Arena. ... See you Friday.

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