A Salute to the Golden Age of American Popular Music

We salute the music from Broadway, Hollywood, New Orleans, Tin Pan Alley and the "melody makers;" i.e. the bands and singers that brought the music to us via the radio, recordings and live events in the period from the 1920's to the 1960's. This is the golden period of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy Van Heusen, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, etc.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Was Frank Sinatra ever arrested?

Q. Was Frank Sinatra ever arrested?

A. Yes....and here is the story....
A YouTube video of Frank Sinatra singing "September Song" contains pictures of  mostly album covers, however, there is also a now infamous picture of Frank. What's the story? Proof of Frank's 'Mob" ties? Not really, it was taken by the Bergen County, New Jersey police . The picture haunted Frank for his entire career. It certainly, didn't help having the poster version on the wall at  TV Tony Soprano's Bada Bing Club.

In I938, Frank was singing at his first real professional gig at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, just up the road from the George Washington Bridge.
Even at that young age, the other band members reported that Frank was a big attraction to the ladies. One night, so the story goes, Frank was invited out to the parking lot for a "personal encounter."

Unfortunately, a policeman tapped on the car window sending the woman into a panic....she started screaming "rape." Frank was arrested, and these photos were taken. The next day, the woman, who was married, dropped the charges. Case dismissed. But, the pictures never went away.

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