Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Mourned

As the weekend passed, plans unfolded for the funeral and legacy of
Frank Sinatra.

The leader and last living member of the famed Brat
Pack will be remembered at a private vigil Tuesday night
conducted by Cardinal Roger Mahony at the
Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills,
Calif. Funeral services will be held the following morning, with
eulogies given by Frank Sinatra Jr., Kirk Douglas
and others. Sinatra will be buried at the family plot in
Desert Memorial Park near Palm
Springs.

Frank Sinatra’s long and storied career is grafted inextricably
onto twentieth century American entertainment history. With a bad
boy reputation that almost transcended his six-decade-long film and
recording careers, Sinatra was a constant in a wildly varying world
that pre-dated the Red Scare and coasted nearly a decade beyond the
fall of the Berlin Wall.

“Sinatra has been the voice of popular music for more than half
a century, and his recorded legacy is the cornerstone of American
culture,” said Tommy Mottola, president/CEO of
Sony Records. In memory of the singer, Sony
subsidiary, Columbia/Legacy will issue a two-CD
set of previously unreleased radio cuts. Capitol
and Reprise, two of Sinatra’s other labels, report
that they will produce similar packages and reissues.

Although he was a rough-‘n-tumble guy, Sinatra was also
generous, as evidenced by the New York Post’s
report that Ol’ Blue Eyes bequeathed between $70 million and $150
million to children’s charities. Along the same lines, the Sinatra
family has asked that instead of flowers, mourners send donations
to Catholic Charities or the Barbara
Sinatra Children’s Center, Eisenhower Medical Center,
39000 Bob Hop Drive, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270.