[sinatraphiles] Re: Frank in Cuba

From: "Margriet57" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("margriet57")
To: "sinatraphiles@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <sinatraphiles@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2022 22:12:31 +0100

Frank Sinatra's room in Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Van: cara
Verzonden: zondag 13 februari 2022 21:32
Aan: sinatraphiles@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: [sinatraphiles] Frank in Cuba

Frank Sinatra in Havana
Photo of the Day: Frank Sinatra in Cuba
November 24, 2019 by Alberto de la Cruz
Frank Sinatra visits Cuba before Fidel Castro and socialism destroyed the
nation and turned it into an island prison.

Frank Sinatra (center) with US Joe and Rocco Fischetti in Havana's Sloppy Joe's
bar.

Francis Albert Sinatra (Frank) “the voice”, the tone color and the atmosphere
of the North American music, one of the more polemical artists of the modern
times was the most heard singer for many generations. He survived different
rhythms like rock and roll, mambo, chá, pop, beat, the symphonic rock music,
pachanga and salsa.
The centenary of Sinatra’s birth was celebrated last year (December 12, 1915-
May 14, 1998). He came to Havana twice, in 1946 and in 1951. The first visit
had to do with the meeting of the main heads of the organized crime syndicate.
The formal reason for such an important meeting of such importance was
Sinatra’s trip as the guest of an Italian millionaire to receive a tribute in
the exquisite halls of Havana’s Hotel Nacional.
A group of the famous singer’s admirers attended such meeting. Lucky Luciano
said: “If anyone had asked, there was actually an apparent reason for such
meeting. It had to do with a celebration to honor an Italian boy from New
Jersey called Frank Sinatra, the singer that had become an idol for the teens
of our country. He had flown to Havana with his friends, the Fischetti, to meet
his friend Charlie Luciano and during the week it was scheduled a gala to honor
Sinatra (…) Frank was a good guy and we all were proud of him, and the way he
had become a star.”[1]
The meeting—known as The Havana Conference of 1946—at Hotel Nacional de Cuba
concluded almost on New Year’s Eve with a stylish celebration. The Parisien
Casino was booked, with free good food and drinks—from French champagne to
outstanding Scotch whisky and Cuban rum. One of the most famous orchestras from
the Cuban capital city played in the show with ballerinas and others included
in the payroll of the most famous Havana’s cabarets such as Tropicana, Sans
Soucí and Montmartre.
Suddenly, an unexpected and pleasant surprise; close to midnight, the lights
turned off, a little stage lit up and, before approving murmurs and a
thunderous applause, appeared the most promising rising star in the firmament
of the American song: Sinatra.
“I sang as I can do it only when I am among my friends… until I grew hoarse,
said later the Italian-American singer.[2]
Jorge Miguel Jorge—a 22-year-old man in 1946—was one of the waiters that served
Sinatra and other members of the Mob at the Hotel Nacional in that occasion.
During an interview in his apartment, in El Vedado neighborhood, he revealed to
Granma International that Sinatra did not check in at the hotel in order to be
secure. He was in room 214 and he got in touch with the other Mob members
through the suites 213 to 211. He asked not to be disturbed.
“Sinatra drank a lot of good-quality whisky, Cutysarky Smuggler. They ate many
canapé or snack—bread with anchovy, creams with caviar—, American beefsteak,
with salads and Russian dressing. The hotel also prepared other dishes to
select: flamingo breasts, stews of tortoise, roast beefs of tortoise, king
prawns from Cojímar[3], large oysters of Sagua[4], deer chops”.
During their time at Havana’s Hotel Nacional nobody knew what was really
happening there. They were considered businessmen. There were no rooms
available; everybody came with their own bodyguards. Sinatra didn’t even
checked- in as it was said before. So, when he returned to the United States,
an American magazine spread the word the singer had eaten with the Mob in
Havana. Sinatra sued it for fifty thousand dollars and won the dispute, because
there was neither a photographic proof nor a testimony.
Cuban musician and composer Senén Suárez, who worked at Tropicana since 1948 to
1958, told this reporter that Sinatra visited this cabaret in 1951, but when he
was discovered, he left quickly.
Certainly, there are not many photos of Sinatra’s visits; there is one of
Sinatra with the news reporter Don Galaor, from Bohemia magazine and the other
one, which we present in this chronicle, at the mythical bar Sloppy Joe´s in
Havana.
In 1951, Sinatra married Ava Gardner; they went to Miami on their honeymoon and
from there they flew to Havana, and the Hotel Nacional welcomed the artist once
again. Jorge Miguel Jorge catered for Sinatra again and he was amazed with the
beautiful woman that accompanied the singer.
Octavio Benedino Sánchez Oñaguirre (Cotán), natural troubadour, sang in
Floridita bar to Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. “I played for them, also for
Libertad Lamarque (Argentinian actress) and Lauren Bacall. I believe that Ava
Gardner was a little bit prettier than Libertad Lamarque was. They all were
Papa Hemingway’s friend and paid tribute to him”.[5]
Frank Sinatra was to be considered a successful man. In 1958, he owned a film
company, and he meant to transmit television programs to the United States from
Havana’s Montecarlo Hotel weekly. Nevertheless, everything remained there.
History was totally different.
Translation: Mercedes Carballo (Cubarte)
Notes:

[1] Enrique Cirules, The Empire of Havana, Casa de las Americas, Havana, 1993
pp. 68-69).
[2] Oscar Pino Santos, Complot. Nuestro Tiempo, S.A., 1992, p. 181
[3] Cojímar: Town of Eastern Havana.
[4] Sagua la Grande: Town in the North of the central region of Cuba.
[5] Víctor Manuel Valdés and José Antonio Más: “Un acorde llamado Cotán”, La
Gaceta de Cuba, Havana, March-April 2003, p. 53.

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- [sinatraphiles] Frank in Cuba
  - From: cara

[sinatraphiles] Re: Frank in Cuba

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