Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Valet of Fire

WEEKEND EDITION: June 22, 2003

George Jacobs was 26 when Frank Sinatra asked him to be his valet.

Actually, Jacobs wasn't so much asked as he was told.

And that's how their 15-year friendship began, a trusted relationship in which Jacobs was privy to the atmospheric highs and crater lows of Sinatra.

During that time, 1953-'68, it was first class all the way for the New Orleans native as he experienced a world of ultimate pleasures as part of Sinatra's inner circle.

But a single misstep with Sinatra's ex-wife, Mia Farrow, cost Jacobs his job, his lifestyle and his friendship.

After years of keeping silent on his life with Ol' Blue Eyes, who died in 1998, Jacobs worked with freelance writer Bill Stadiem to record his memories in the just-released tell-all book, "Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra" ($24.95, HarperCollins).

In a recent interview from his home in Palm Springs, Fla., the 76-year-old Jacobs discussed his feelings for his friend and employer, why he waited so long to tell his story and what Sinatra would think of the book.

Las Vegas Sun: What made you write the book?

George Jacobs: I spent a lot of years with Mr. Sinatra. And until after his death ... I figured might as well come out with the truth because everything that everybody do about him is a bunch of bull.

I love the man, and the ground he walks on. I didn't think he would ever have to leave us. I was very conscientious about it because it was all the truth, it was all from the inside. Everything you read about him is a bunch of baloney. They copy one book from another and nobody is telling the truth. That's what made me decide ... I might as well put mine on paper.

Sun: Why did you wait so long to write the book?

GJ: I tried once, and Mickey Rudin his lawyer, said if I ever tried it again ... I was nothing, if it wasn't for Frank Sinatra. I told Mickey off. I still have the letter. So I just waited until they were all gone. I'm 76 years old. What? I'm going to die with that on my mind? No way.

Sun: If Frank were still alive, what would he think of this book?

GJ: I think he got a big kick out of it because it's the truth. And one thing he insisted on was the truth. He would have got a big joke out it because I told it like it was. I did it my way.

Sun: Why do we have such a fascination with the Chairman?

GJ: He stood for what he was and he did it his way. This man was absolutely beautiful and immaculately dressed and he sang his butt off. He was a good entertainer. He was perfect in every way. He had a perfect pitch, until he got old and then things started coming apart. He was a swinger and everybody wanted to be like that. Kennedy had more fun when he was with Sinatra than he had in the White House.

Sun: There are some interesting revelations in "Mr. S" about many of Sinatra's close friends, perhaps none more so than John F. Kennedy snorting cocaine, which you claim in the book.

GJ: That thing about him doing cocaine, I didn't see him do it, I saw it on the table. And I used to rub his back because he suffered from sciatic (nerve). And I walked into the room and I was just checking the room and I saw him smiling. He looked up at me and said, "That's for my back, George. It takes the pain away." And I went out laughing. But if Sinatra had known they had that in the room, that would have been the end of it. Because he was definitely against narcotics. He dropped Sammy for a long time about that. He wouldn't talk to him. He said, "If you're going to stay with that bull----, get away from me, I don't need you. I don't want you around with that." He didn't do anything like that. And he would definitely preach against it all the time.

Sun: When Sinatra loved you, there was no one more loyal. But if you crossed him or even just upset him, he permanently cast you out of his life.

GJ: I made the mistake of dancing with Mia. It upset him because it was the day of his divorce, the papers had gone through in Mexico. He was home glumming about it, I guess, and it hit the paper. Several columnists wrote about it and it got to him in Palm Springs. I had gone to L.A. to take Ava Gardner to see Count Bassie, he had sent me in there to escort her to see Bassie. I stopped in a candy store to pick up my date. And Mia was dancing ... they were all dancing around on the dance floor. And she reached out and said, "Dance with me." So I made one or two steps and went about my business.

I wasn't in there to see Mia Farrow. I had shoes older than her. I didn't want nothing to do with her.

Sun: But why didn't he believe you when you explained what happened?

GJ: Think if it had happened to you and I went in there and danced with your wife while you were divorcing her, what would you think? You'd think I was jumping on her. Don't you think he has the right to think that? And it upset him. Years after that I saw him down here (in Florida) a couple of times. And he apologized and I apologized and we hugged and kissed and I went about my business. I was hurt pretty badly about that.

Sun: In the book you said that he didn't seem as affected when you two ran into each other years later at a Palm Springs, Fla., restaurant.

GJ: I have no idea how he felt. I didn't hang around. I went back to L.A. and then I would come down here on weekends to play golf. And people around him, I would see them all the time and nothing was mentioned about it afterwards.

Sun: Did you hope that Sinatra would invite you over to his home. Maybe not to hire you again, but to just make amends?

GJ: No, no, no, that's not his style. Once he dropped you and it's over. What is he going to have to you back for? If he dropped you, that was it. He didn't want to have nothing to do with you. He dropped Lawford, he dropped a lot of people and he never had anything else to do with them.

Sun: So why is it that you were able to stick around as long as you did?

GJ: Because I did what I had to do and I did it right. And if you did what you were paid for, you would be there. But if you got flippant in any way or did something out of line, goodbye.

I did my job and I didn't say anything to nobody. I followed the orders that I was given. You do your job and you'll be around. I must've been doing it good because I stayed around that long.

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