Dear Readers:
Frank Sinatra was a December baby, born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Although he left us in 1998 and on his simple gravestone are the words “The Best is Yet to Come”, his fans still miss him, because in the early days of his career he was like “family,” and for them it is hard to imagine “that the best is yet to come.”
I last saw Frank perform in 1988, when Dino, Sammy and Frank, the supergroup of the century, launched their 29-city tour and made their first commercial concert appearance at the Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. The concert was performed in-the-round, with the stage in the middle of the floor, center court to basketball fans.
They traveled with a 35-piece orchestra and another 30 in the stage crew. All 14,500 tickets at the Oakland Coliseum were pur- chased within hours of going on sale for $30-$40 each. Columnist Liz Smith reported the trio’s asking price for each show was $500,000, 1988 U.S. dollars. Although, the “Trio” had appeared together for private fundraisers, like the 1987 benefit for the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, this was their first commercial tour.
For the benefit of Sinatra’s old Bay Area fans let me focus on a few names you may remember… First there was Joe Memoli, who put together a “Sinatra Night” the last Saturday of every month for people in a room atop Clancy’s bar, his business establishment, near Jack London Square, where he also held a special “Sinatra Sunday” afternoons and shared his videocassettes of Sinatra concerts with local fans.
Joe Memoli also had all 2,600 tunes Sinatra recorded commercially, tapes of all of Frank’s radio shows and video- tapes of all his movies and TV specials. The former Marine and Purple Heart hero had so many tapes, records, and video discs of Sinatra that they filled the bedroom of his Oakland apartment and spilled Joe out into the dining room .
Radio stations throughout the country would phone Joe when they needed help to put on Sinatra radio specials. And he once supplied enough Sinatra music to KNEW to fill 91 hours of uninterrupted Sinatra songs for Bay Area listeners.
Another Bay Area Sinatra fan I really remember was Bob Chiappari, founder of San Francisco’s Sinatra Fan Club, who always wore Sinatra’s early trademark bowtie to all Sinatra Society events and managed to score good seats for any Sinatra event, public or private for his Bay Area Sinatra Society members.
I don’t remember the year, but I do remember attending a fund- raiser for then candidate for governor of California, later U.S. President, Ronald Reagan and also a Benefit for Abused Children in San Francisco with great seats, thanks to Bob Chiappari who seemed to have Sinatra related sources all over the state. Brian and Joyce Granville of Antioch, California, who met and married through a Los Angeles-based Sinatra fan club, could recite every one of Sinatra’s 1,200 songs, the date it was recorded, the label and the number of takes to record it.
For Joyce, it was a knowledge that began back in the ‘60s, when she formed her own club, “The Moonlight Sinatras,” with a friend who wore Sinatra’s name on her underwear.
Together they would travel to Sinatra’s recording studio, bringing him pizzas with “Happy Birthday” written in bell pepper slices, and Sinatra would sing right to them. He was so much more approachable back then. Although I was a Sinatra fan, I only had one, maybe two Sinatra album covers on display on the walls of my home, therefore, it was a real delight to visit the South San Francisco home of Neil and Milly Hoffmanfor the first time.
Their home had pictures of Sinatra smiling or singing from every wall and their bookcases were crammed with records, video tapes, and photos, many of them autographed. Milly also encouraged guests to pose with a life-sized Sinatra cut-out, giving him a big hug, when Ol’ Blue Eyes was not available in person.
Not to be outdone, Isabella Mazzellacovered her walls with Sinatra memorabilia and her “going to concert outfits” were covered with Sinatra buttons too. For years, Isabella arranged her vacation time to coincide with Sinatra’s appear- ance schedule as did her friend, Elena Griffing, a diehard Sinatra fan since the 1940’s.
Isabella and Elena’s friendship goes back to 1946, when Sinatra played the Golden Gate Theater. Back then he per- formed six shows a day. Admission was 50 cents for a day and included the movie “riverboat Rhythm” between sets. The days of 50-cent concerts are long gone, replaced by tick- et prices that now reach hundreds of dollars. The higher price did little to keep Sinatra fans away. Frank left us in 1998, but the music and memories linger on…
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In 1990, Sinatra fans, who wanted to decorate their “Wall Street” portfolios with a bit of Sinatra had the opportunity to do so, via a stock offering by ARTANIS Foods, that’s Sinatra spelled backwards. If you missed the opportuni- ty to get in on the Sinatra related stock offering, don’t feel bad.
It was dun attending the original stockholders meeting in San Francisco, but when the second annual stockholder meeting rolled around, it was scheduled for Denver, Colorado, far from the Bay Area. Astute observers predicted a fast financial fizzle. And they were right, but it was fun while it lasted, so I’ll share that scenario with you.
Frank Sinatra liked to cook whenever special friends came to call. He was especially proud of his spaghetti sauce, therefore it came to pass that through an intermediary, who knew Frank’s attorney, Micky Ruden, a Bay Area businessman was able to connect with Frank and a plan to market Sinatra’s Sauces to the public was hatched in late 1989.
By mid-1990, “Business Insider” columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Herb Greenberg, wrote about the Super Sinatra Sauce launching: Can Frank Sinatra oust Paul Newman as the king of celebrity pasta sauces? Investors willing to bet that he can are plunking down about 50 cents per share to buy stock in Armanino Foods of Distinction, a tiny South San Francisco based pasta-sauce maker – annual sales only $3 million – which is in partnership with Sinatra to market a line of sauces and other food items under the entertainer’s name.
The Sinatra sauce launched in Northern California earlier this year, is now being rolled out in Southern California, with plans to reach the East Coast this Fall. In addition, the company recently moved from the pink sheets to the NASDAQ bid/ask, where its ticker symbol is BLUE – as in Old Blue Eyes.
Since the company is too small to warrant research by major brokerage firms, there’s a void of information. Bill Armanino, who has been involved in the San Francisco area food industry for 35 years and sold one company - Armanino Foods of California – to McCormick & Co., the spice maker, is CEO and President of the new company.
Armanino’s board also includes Jack O’Connor, the former president of Granny Goose Foods, and Tino Barzie, who once managed Sinatra and now represents entertainer Pia Zadora. Zadora and her husband, raider/financier Meshulam Riklis owns an 8 percent stake, and Annette Funicello – who appears in company ads – owns 4.4 percent.
But all that big-name talent – even the Sinatra name – can’t guarantee shelf space. Frank Sinatra brand sauces, “Sugo da Tavola,” “sauce for the table,” were first available in select locations throughout the San Francisco and Sacramento Bay Areas. Product introduction in Southern California, Las Vegas, Reno, Arizona, Washington state, Oregon and the eastern markets of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts soon followed throughout 1990.
Frank said, “At home, when word gets out that ‘Frank’s cooking tonight,’ friends call and drop by. I love to watch our guests enjoy the meal…that’s the real joy of cooking.” The first three Frank Sinatra sauces introduced were Tomato-Basil with Parmesan; Milano style; and Marinara with mushrooms.
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