I was there. It happened exactly that way.However It's always interesting to me that when an entertainer, painter,writer etc etc displays their talent on these formats. Almost immediately the comments come pouring in both positive and negative. The negative ones first start out with "I don't think he or she is funny." Then " I never thought he or she was funny" Then the hatred moves to their politics and gets really mean and ugly. Then if you defend the artist the haters attack you viciously. I was taught that great minds separate art and politics. I toured with Sammy Davis Jr and he had a sign in his dressing room that I loved. It said "I don't know the meaning of success but I do know the meaning of failure, It's when I try to make everyone love me".No one can.
I met Frank in 1980 in NYC outside the ABC Building. He was being dashed into a limo and I yelled "I LOVE YA, FRANKIE!", and he actually yelled back "Lovin' ya too, Pisan!" Forever burned into my soul.
“forever burned into my soul”. Jesus Christ. He doesn’t remember shouting back at you. He didn’t know you and you didn’t know him. Why would this mean something to you? It’s honestly pathetic how people trivialize their own lives. You should think about something meaningful that your father or your mother said to you. If I had the same experience I would tell people as a cool story. But it wouldn’t burn into my soul lmao. Maybe you’re an I-tal with a low I-Q and this was a precious memory. All I know is I’m glad you didn’t meet Frank bc he would’ve found you awkward and embarrassing.
@@robertc391 not a “vert nuce remark” you say? That’s probably true; mostly because your speaking unintelligible gibberish. Take an extra min before hitting send next time. I assume you were attempting to say “not very nuanced” or maybe “not very nice” but I’m grasping at misspelled straws
@@schizophrenic_AI dude you fuckin suck. Leave the person alone. Who gives a shit?? You’re one of those people who wouldn’t say anything in person because you’d get a hit in the mouth. Just keep picking your butthole with one hand and eating flamin hot Cheetos with the other.
Sinatra to Dennis Miller's mother: "1952, Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh. Yeah, I remember that show... You were on the left side of the stage that night, baby... YOU LOOKED GOOD!!" Dennis' mother died 4 months later...how wonderful that she had that moment before she passed!!
@@raultennis5904 No, buddy, I'm sure he was just being nice to an elderly woman, who was clearly a big fan... That was a VERY grand gesture on his part, and it obviously meant a GREAT deal to Dennis' mother.
I saw Dennis at a comedy club in San Diego in the '80's. I was at the table right in front by the stage. I've never laughed so hard in my life. Such humor and intelligence.
My favorite "The night I met Frank Sinatra" story -- DENNIS MILLER The most beloved "newscaster" in Saturday Night Live history shared with an audience (seven years ago) about "My dinner with Frank Sinatra." Just about my favorite stand-up bit ever. The fact that it concerns an event most of us would die for, is icing on the cake! [Thanks for sharing, Joseph Stefanelli]
This IS the best/funniest Sinatra story I've heard. Dennis Miller is such a crafter of sentences...always funny. So touching that his mother received such a thrill towards the end of her life.
I am also from Pittsburgh, and I have heard Dennis tell this story many times. It never gets old! Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet traveled with Frank and have equally funny stories.
With my Mother getting older and her health going down,hearing how happy Dennis Miller's Mom was before she passed brought tears to my eyes..All Moms deserve a moment like that.
Don't know if my story belongs in the same category but here goes: A couple of years before her death my mother began her descent into Alzheimer's, and I wanted to do something for her to enjoy while she still had some of her faculties. So one Christmas season (I lived 3 states away and seldom got to visit) I had myself professionally recorded singing one of her favorite songs by her favorite singer, "I've Got You Under My Skin," one of Sinatra's signature tunes. Had it posted on RUclips, alerted my sister and aunts, so that on Christmas morning they went to my Mom's rest home, joined her in the community room with some of her fellow residents, sitting in front of a computer the nursing home facility had "power pointed" onto a larger screen, while I made my "small screen" debut. Sis said Mom sat there with smiling, tearful eyes, mouthing the words to the song as I sang them (experts say musical memory is one of the last to go in Alzheimer patients). I'm glad we made it happen. Mom died a few months later, remembering very little, and my sister joined her the following year.
@@broadcasttttable That’s a beautiful story..So touching..Thanks for sharing it..Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease.My wife’s Mother has it and doesn’t recognize her own husband now..So sad..I’m glad u had the moment with ur Mom..
Julie Ann Basile An unexpected moment, perfectly delivered to someone who got to take their mind away from their situation for a delightful reminiscence. Thanks go out to the Chairman of the Board!
Dennis Miller has been my favourite comedian since I first heard him on a cassette tape called The Off White Album back in the 80s. This is an exquisitely told anecdote, he even throws in a little Rickle's for us too. Never seen him live or his tv shows until the youtube but then again I am from London, England 🏴🇬🇧
I remember when I was a kid Dennis Miller used to be on a local show in Pittsburgh. He was as cool then as he is now. Dennis is a great storyteller. Thanks for posting this gem.
In 1979 I was a young NYPD police officer and worked in a station house that was known to be a typical NYC police station interior. As a result, many movies and TV shows were filmed there. On one particular day I arrived at work to find that a movie was being produced there. It was The First Deady Sin. I moved along to get dressed in my uniform and stopped at the clerical office door where filming was going on. Suddenly, Mr. Sinatra stepped out of the office to where myself and other officers were standing and looks directly at me. He said, "can you believe I have to do this scene over and over, one take after another because they can't get the scene right. Each time having to take a swig of this swill (he had a wine bottle in his hand). It's enough to give you agita". As Dennis Miller would say, I was in low level shock. I knew I had to respond but, really didn't know what to say, so I said, Boy, Mr. Sinatra I didn't realize actors had such a difficult job. ( I know lame). Anyway, he said, "trust me officer you have a much tougher job than I do". He patted me on the shoulder and we shook hands. I'll never forget that day and today forty years later I remember it like it happened yesterday.
March 1994, the manager of Lemaire Restaurant at the Jefferson Hotel calls to tell me my hours are extended Saturday because the Sinatra party will be arriving at ten pm. At exactly ten o'clock Saturday night private security enters the restaurant and diners are given their checks. From my vantage point at the grand piano in the lounge I see a tuxedoed Frank Sinatra, framed by the lobby arch, admiring the statue of Thomas Jefferson. His entourage catches up with Mr.S. They enter the restaurant and are led to a private dining room. After dinner they settle in wing chairs around the piano. Sinatra leans over to his road manager Tony Oppedisano, motions towards me and says “Look, he’s playing with the soft pedal on, real mellow”. I’m playing “Autumn In New York” (a whole step higher than he recorded it) and he starts singing along. He's performed a one hour concert, eaten a dinner of steak and pasta, enjoyed a few Jack Daniels ("I even smoked a couple of cigarettes"). Sinatra is 78 years old and he sounds great. He sings along on a half dozen tunes over the next two hours. At one point he calls over to me and asks if I know “Everything Happens To Me”. Before I can say yes, he starts singing it a capella. With trust in my relative pitch, I join him in the right key, Eb. Frank’s opening act, comedian Tom Dreesen lays a $100 bill on the piano and asks me to play “Laura", Frank’s favorite song. I oblige. Thirty minutes later, Oppedisano lays a $100 bill on the piano and asks me play “Laura". I oblige again. It’s quarter to one and Mr. S asks Oppedisano if there’s a piano in his room. I know there’s a piano in the Presidential Suite, but I don’t speak up. The subject is forgotten and at one am they head upstairs. (I read later they stayed up until 6 am.) Dreesen and Sinatra are the last to leave and they stop by the piano to thank me. Frank looks at me and says “See you tomorrow night”. As soon as they are out of sight I leave a note on the host stand to say if Sinatra comes back Sunday night, call me. That won't happen. In the middle of his Sunday night show Frank Sinatra faints on stage at the Mosque. The concert is cut short and after being checked out at MCV, Sinatra flies back to Palm Springs. After a few more shows in '94 he permanently retires in February 1995. His evening at Lemaire is as surreal now as it was then.
Thanks for sharing that amazing story. He is/was the American Songbook and those songs, obviously were deep in his soul. So very cool that you got a chance to be part of it.
I've met Tom (Dreesen) I took a class with him. Great guy - will talk your ear off. A good friend, way back when, sold airplanes and went to lunch with Sinatra and his entourage of two other guys to talk over a potential sale. He tells me that after lunch, Frank walked up to every person who attended his table - busboys, the waiter, and the cooks in the kitchen, and tipped them all personally.
Wow. Frank Sinatra was cut from a different breed. He seemed like a REAL icon: lovable man, true blue. Dennis Miller was funny with this story. I didn't know he was such a funny guy!
+monymony68 actually jose jose, from mexico is talented singer wo frank sinatra admired them two together would of done some amazing music. if weren't for those contracts their record labels imposed on them
Saw Frank Sinatra once in Atlantic City around 1989 I was just 19 years old. My table was next to the stage And every time he looked over at us My girlfriend would grab my arm in excitement. Needless to say it was a great night for me thanks Frank.
What a great, GREAT story! Frank Sinatra could be a kind man when the spirit moved him I hear, and according to this story the spirit moved him that night.
Saw Dennis Miller at the tiny Chaplin's Comedy Club in Detroit, back in '88 before he really took off career-wise. It was FANTASTIC. Just like Kinison was in Detroit the same year. Something special about a lot of comedians before they hit it big...
The stories on this page remind me about my encounter with Sinatra. It was 1991 and I took my then two boys (had one more later) and my wife for the weekend to the Desert Springs Marriott. Unknown to me at the time, the Frank Sinatra Golf tournament was being held there that weekend. Saw a lot of old comedians , astronaut Alan Shepard, Pat Boone (in the elevator) etc.. That evening I went down stairs to buy the Desert Sun newspaper and got the last one. On my way out of the gift shop, a Marriott porter came in and asked for a Desert Sun, they informed him they were out. I walked back to the lobby area and Frank Sinatra was there waiting. The porter informed him they were out, I overheard the conversation and walked up and gave the paper to Frank. He pulled out a 100 dollar bill which I refused and said it was my pleasure and left. The next morning a knock came to the door with the most lavish breakfast (about 3 times the amount of food we could possibly eat along with a fruit gift basket and a card that said "Thanks for the paper, FS". How he got my name to deliver this I dont know to this day, but there it was. Very gracious. A true gentleman .
This is just some straight up, good old fashioned, rib tickling chuckles. And to think certain people might never allow themselves to hear this, because they are too worried they might hear something they don’t agree with. Not everything has to be one side or the other , one way or another, or even weighted towards anything at all. There is such a thing a boringly neutral. Your boy Dennis, who you “can’t stand “, just told a very funny story about his mum. But you missed it because you though he might say something you don’t like. Your loss...
Don Rickles amazing comic! Miller, Rickles and Lenny Bruce kept freedom of speech thriving and did it while making everyone smile, laugh and forget about all the bs going on. What’s so terrible about that?
I had a chance to see Frank perform live, I thought I’ll catch him again next time . One of my biggest regrets. Don’t put things off today because tomorrow may never come . I was talking to my mom at 2:30 and she died suddenly at 6.
Well, I see peoples' politics get in the way of their enjoyment of humor, whatever the source. I thought Miller was funny when I assumed he was liberal, still think he's funny now that he appears to be more conservative. To paraphrase E.B.White,"One man's opinion of comedy is as good or perhaps better than any other." Some bitter people out there. Too bad.
+spsmonktoo Yeah. Some folks can't get past it. It must really rot to go through life measuring everything you can like or dislike on someone's politics. Sad and pathetic. Meanwhile, this was hilarious! Thanks Dennis, like you said, loved him when he was a lib, still do since he's gone to the opposition. I do allow others to think for themselves. Too bad so many on here can't seem to achieve that minor feat.
This is true. I love the video of John Cleese eulogizing Graham Chapman - It's one of the funniest things ever, and of course, it's just in exquisitely bad taste. In an interview, speaking about the boundaries of "good taste" in comedy, Cleese said that if you haven't offended somebody, you haven't done a good job. Comedy is the antedote for Bitter. You should remember that song, "A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down."
spsmonktoo - I do this all the time now. I can no longer stand the sight of Robert De Niro, Daryl Hannah, Meryl Streep,etc., i.e. talented entertainers that have let their Trump Derangement Syndrome get in the way of presenting their talents. I miss the more apolitical days of Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld.
Three things in this speech prove that Dennis has a good heart: 1. He didn't want to make his maid, Koi Koi feel stilted at the dinner table. He went along with the farce. 2. He didn't mock Frank for repeating a song at his concert. 3. He brought his beloved mother to the dinner which was a lifelong dream of hers. What a good man. Good employer. Good son and good friend.
I was moved by how awed and privileged he felt to be having dinner with Sinatra. Sinatra's response to Miller's mother was so kind it brought a tear to my eye as well.
I watched one of his stand up routines didn't think he was funny then watched this one and chuckled alot more hope he prove me wrong about conservative comedians
One of my favorite Sinatra stories was from Anita O'Day's drummer and band manager John Poole whom I knew and played guitar with professionally in a Jazz band ensemble he put together while Anita was recouperating from a surgery. He told this story of how when he first broke into the business in post-WWII Hollywood, he was fresh out of the Navy and had played a few dates subbing for Bob Wills drummer (who'd gotten thrown in the klink) and then a couple of nights with Spade Cooley, then a few weeks with Charlie Barnet. Then he got a call from the Local 47 Union Hall to go play drums at a session at Capitol Records. It was his first recoding date. So, John shows up with his traps and his kit and low and behold it's a Sinatra date. Of course, Frank is fashionably late, and the producer, arranger and musicians are running over the four tunes they are to record in the next three hours. Sinatra walks in a door behind the drums and stands there looking at Poole who stands up from his drum stool, hand extended, and says, "Mr. Sinatra, what a thrill it is to be recording with you!" Sinatra just beams at him and huffs out of the room without a word. The producer of the session comes up to John and he starts waving his arms, and raving at him, "You do NOT speak to Mr. Sinatra! You do NOT even make eye contact with him! Don't even look at him. If you have anything to say or any questions you ask me!" Later that evening the session reconvened and they cut the four tunes and then Sinatra walked out without a word. Years later in Australia, John Poole was on tour with Anita in 1959 as part of the Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Anita O'Day package tour from which some very fine live recordings were issued from dates down under. On one of the first dates at the pre-show rehearsal Sinatra comes in the room and he sees Poole sitting behind his drums with Red Norvo at the Vibes, Goodman with his licorice stick leading his Big Band and Anita at the mic getting ready to run through a couple of her tunes. Old Blue Eyes remembered John from the Capitol session years before. He runs over to him, hand extended on the way, reaching over John's drum kit and says, "Mr. Poole, what a thrill it is to have you here playing drums with us on this tour, it's so nice to see you again!" Flumoxed John reaches and shakes Frank's hand. About that time Anita comes rushing up and yells in Frank's face, "Mr. Sinatra, if you have anything to say to my drummer, you do NOT speak to him, you say it to me!" Then the room got eerily quiet. You could hear a cigar ash fall on the hardwood floor. Frank just stood there and didn't say a word. Anita's trying to catch her breath after the explosion she just let loose. Goodman is sweating and shooting John the 'ray' as Norvo looks on fiddling with his mallets. All of as sudden Frank starts to grin and then busts out in a hail of laughter that sent everyone rolling on the floor. All except Anita who was still pissed and didn't see anything funny about it. Frank & John were good friends after that. Frank and Anita, ehhh, not so much!
Great story. Really, thanks a lot. I love finding random stories like yours here on RUclips from our elders who grew up and come from a better time and a bygone era Thanks again. Also, I have to ask, Anita chewing out Sinatra exactly as the Capital Records’ producer had chewed out Poole was entirely a coincidence? And if it was a coincidence, I betcha Poole was at least panicking in thinking that Sinatra would think Poole had told Anita about his first encounter with Sinatra and was kindheartedly giving him a little taste of his own medicine. Regardless, Poole must’ve been panicking. LoL. Also, why do you think Sinatra would be so rude to someone that he’d be respectful to and remember years later? Sounds like guilt, perhaps. Idk. Your thoughts?
No coincidence - Anita had heard about the story for years since John was her drummer and band manager for nearly 40 years. Sinatra remembered John because John made a name for himself early on as a world class drummer from those first sessions right after WWII. Anita did not like Frank and strangely she was the same way or worse than Frank ever was. Nobody said anything to her at a session. The word was you do not speak to Ms. O'Day, if you have anything to say to her or any questions ask the session leader or the producer. Thanks for your comments!
@@CiscoDuck Oh, boy. Don’t I feel dumb. I should’ve realized that wasn’t a coincidence. Even if she was an uppity broad, that was a good ‘joke’ to pull, even if it was delt unironically. Would you say that Sinatra only respected Poole because of his recognition and prominence, because he seemed to not give him the time of day as another face in a studio? I think of the wise saying, “you can tell a lot about someone by how they treat those they need nothing from.”
@@kennybeans6115 From what I've heard Sinatra didn't give many of the 'little people' in the biz the time of day especially side-men aka session players in the studio or on stage. Now, I did know a steel guitarist who played on one of the very few C&W songs that Sinatra ever recorded - which was recorded in December 1948 off the books so-to-speak during the Union strike and the resulting infamous Petrillo ban on recording (named after the head of the musicians union at the time James Petrillo) for Columbia records with a small combo of ace C&W musicians - the steel player was the newbie and the kid on the block being only 16 at the time, it was his 1st recording date and the first job he had after joining the union. Steel guitar legend Noel Boggs was supposed to play on the recordings, but he was booked elsewhere that day and recommended his best student, young Bill Tonneson (whom I played with) who brought the goods when he was called on to play a solo on Sinatra's cut of 'Sunflower (From The Sunflower State) - so good in fact many believe to this day that it was Boggs on steel rather than some kid who was barely shaving. When the in-studio playback was heard over the PA in the recording room, Sinatra came over to the kid grinning ear to ear, actually patting him on the shoulder as he told him, "Now that was fat!" That was a rare moment for Sinatra as he barely acknowledged legendary journeymen and poll winners on his sessions - let alone some wet behind the ears kid. Per typical Sinatra came in, sang his songs and left the building without a word - usually. Was it professional aplomb or arrogance? That's anyone's guess I suppose. If something wasn't right, he didn't make a scene except for his turning around and heading out the door for the producer and session leaders to iron out the problem. Anita on the other hand would go bonkers if someone played the wrong chord or wrong note and missed a beat. She would verbally lunge at the offending musician and tell them with no un-certain terms what they were doing wrong - and she wasn't just an uppity prima donna broad - she knew her stuff both musically as far as reading the lead sheets and charts go and she was a very trained drummer herself who was taught as a very young girl all the advanced nuances of professional drumming. She was also taught at a very young age how to read a strange piece of music she had never seen or heard. She could take one look at it and sing out the melody in an instant. She was what music people call a 'hawk' because her sight-reading skills were so developed. She had learned the fine art of solfeggio which is the ability to sing out the notes to a chord and she knew all the chords. She knew her music theory inside and out and often went head-to-head and toe to toe with producers, arrangers and pianists and other musicians both in the studio and live on stage. And she was always right and that pissed a lot of people off because here's this woman upstaging a man (usually) contradicting the polite accepted society of the 'boys club' in a man's world. I have a video where she countermands a pianist on stage who claims he is playing the proper chord at the given place in the song where Anita could hear it was definitely wrong. He was a very up into it pianist who knew his stuff and he is clearly offended probably because he was of the male gender and possibly because she was a white non-musician woman telling a black pianist how the cow ate the cabbage. He insisted that his chord was indeed correct, citing the lead sheet on his piano and playing the notes one at a time singing the lyric for emphasis - all of this in front of an audience during a performance. Suddenly she cut to the chase and told him, "You have the right chord BUT it is the WRONG inversion of it. The chord is upside down on your lead sheet, (which he had written out himself) and it's wrong on the piano." Then she sang out the notes of the proper chord one note at a time and said, "the chord as right as it may be, is in fact incorrect because the chord you are playing has the root in the bass which is in direct conflict with the melody - in other words, the chord you are playing is upside down!" She said and did all of that from ten or fifteen feet away not looking at a sheet of music much less leering over a piano keyboard. He sat there for a moment and then played the chord her way as he sang the melody and with the lyric. It was an 'egg-on-my-face' moment for the pianist who was an otherwise fantastic legend who apologized profusely to Anita's as she heaped on assurance that it was an easy mistake to make and one made all too often because of inferior copyists, who not paying attention, wrote the music out for the song on a lead sheet and put the wrong notes of the chord in the bass clef with the other half of the notes of the chord in the treble clef creating conflict with the melody of the song and creating undue tension in the performance. A mistake that she had seen all too often in that particular song. He continued to apologize, and she told him, "Don't apologize. Never apologize. Just learn from the experience and carry on." She picked right up with the song and gave her pianist a solo which drew a rousing wave of applause. She called out his name and announced that he was one of the best pianists she had ever worked with. All was good - but she would never back down on a musical situation that needed rectifying when she knew the answer. And that is the difference between she and Frank Sinatra who had some music and vocal training under his belt but nothing to compare with the proper music education that she had. Frank was probably in good humor that day when he gushed over John Poole, and he probably knew that the story had gone around of him walking away from a session when John poured on the sincere admiration, causing Frank to just leave, knowing the producer who chew him out, letting him know not to speak to Frank on a job. Frank probably thought it would be a pretty cool gag to pull on John just for fun - and fun was never the order of the day anytime Benny Goodman was involved. Some guys don't like the mutual admiration society backslap or glad handing on the job or any kind of compliments from sidemen or lackeys. It can be very sincere disavowing of that kind of thing or just one of "I'm the star - leave me alone" attitude. I heard Alan Alda was like that on M*A*S*H. And even Bogart so some degree on many of his movie sets - particularly on Warner Bros pictures with whom he was having constant contract feuds. Don Henley of the Eagles is infamous for his treatment of others around him which smells way worse than Frank or Anita. (and he is nowhere near the talent they were!) I've been around a lot of star musicians and singers backstage, on stage, on the bus, in the motels & hotels, in the studio and candidly in everyday places and the rule has always been to me is that you don't bug them unless they express a desire to have a chat or become friendly. IF I decided to instigate an exchange with someone like that it's always been in passing and never to the degree of expecting any more than perhaps a nod or a smile. Now, Poole probably thought Frank was a regular guy, knowing he was a pro, but seeing the news reels of him being swooned over by Bobby-Soxer girls when he sang (much the same as the chicks went wild over Bill Haley and then Elvis, and the Beatles and others etc.) John innocently - perhaps even naively thought Frank would be happy to be admired by one of the boys in the band. He told me when he got a call to play for Bob Wills, when he met Bob, he stuck his hand out and said how much he enjoyed hearing his music over Armed Forces Radio Service Network while he was over-seas in the Pacific stationed at various Naval bases and aboard ships at sea and on patrol. Wills was happy to hear it and shook his hand and welcomed him aboard his band for the 2 or 3 nights he subbed for the regular drummer. Meeting Spade Cooley when he played with him briefly was much the same. They were regular guys in many respects and didn't suffer from the star-complex many have and still do even in modern times. It is what it is and people are people!
@@CiscoDuck *Wow,* *man!* To say your stories and how you tell them is great is a gross understatement, and I can’t even dream of the experiences you’ve probably had over the years. It’s truly amazing how some people live amazing lives and others have super ordinary lives. I’m only a millennial, but luckily through my parents I’m somewhat familiar and appreciative of classic rock of the 70s and 80s and a little bit of the pop rock oldies and Motown of the 60s (I know I sound like a cheesy radio station promo, LoL), though I only very vaguely know of the name Anita O’Day. Of course I’ve heard of people like Chet Baker and Miles Davis, but mostly because of Hollywood and osmosis as they’re as iconic and worshipped in the same way Sinatra is. Regardless, my taste and admiration might not be really sophisticated and just pretty mainstream, but fwiw I’m still glad I’m at least able to appreciate music that was before my time. It’s sad what rock has become, and how rappers are the new rockstars and that type of music is what’s most appealing, but for better or worse, time moves on, though I at least understand that progression or progress isn’t necessarily synonymous with good. Also, it’s funny to randomly hear from a real musician with a remarkable background and personal ties to music history and royalty like yourself, because just last week my dad was telling me how he went camping with one of friends who’d brought a buddy that was a musician, and how he performed music for them on a guitar throughout the weekend. My dad was telling him about the bands he liked and brought up his admiration for Grandfunk Railroad, only for the musician to start harmlessly laughing at him, telling my dad they’re terrible musicians and how their music is crap. LoL, I started laughing when my dad told me that. I’d assume most of the general public (like myself and my dad) know virtually nothing about musicality or what’s considered talented or impressive music-wise, and I bet many musicians like yourself may find that frustrating, and understandably so. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to build and perfect any music or instrument talents, and how most of us non-musician people’s appreciation mostly boils down to “it’s catchy” or “it’s not that catchy.” Please, I sincerely apologize for how ignorant most of us can be when it comes to recognizing quality music and the craftsmanship that goes into it or even what that may be. Again, I can’t thank you enough for sharing some of the amazing things you’ve witnessed or known about in music history. Do you ever make your own RUclips videos telling these great stories? If not, I really think your history and the way you tell it would really catch on and many from all walks and generations would love to hear it and it’d be more entertaining and have more quality than majority of the content put out on here. Your stories are excellent and top notch, sir. Thank you for your time, and if you ever want to say more or just like giving these gems away, *please* *feel* *free* if you’re ever bored or whatnot. It’s awesome. Again, I can’t thank you enough. This is waaaaay better than watching the AXS TV channel’s “Rock Legends” show. LoL.
Beautiful, beautiful story, Dennis... thank you sir, for a great share..! I wish I could'a been there at that (S) hole with Don, or dinner with Frank! I played bass with a few guys but, I never met Frank.
Agreed about Dennis. Dennis should get a half-hour cable TV show (2X weekly) where he just tells stories. I'm sure with his experiences combined with his one-of-a-kind vocabulary, he would entertain a lot of people. A brilliant mind who happens to be funny.
Dennis Miller, you’re such a great story teller. Thank you 🙏🏼. Sinatra stories always start with people uneasy and nervous to be in his presents and then the story begins lol. Love it
Cusopo?! Bwahahahaha! I love this story (I first heard it in 2007), and you can tell how much it means to him and the personal connection, a loving tribute of sorts to his mother. :-)
I've changed my opinion of Dennis Miller 3 times over the years. I use to like him a little bit, then I liked him a little bit more and now I love the guy!
A great, great story as only Dennis Miller could tell. His brilliance is overlooked, and he is a very underrated standup comedian. I think that because of his intelligence he does not fit the “mold” of a standup; nothing personal to Bill Burr. Sebastian Maniscalco, Dave Chappelle, etc. His stint on Monday Night Football was one of the worse decisions made by whoever decides these things. It looked good on paper, I am sure, but, as soon as the cameras rolled on that first game everyone knew it was a mistake, sort of like how George H Bush felt when the world realized that he just picked Dan Quayle as his running mate. (The 2nd in command could not spell potatoes.)
After decades of closely watching Miller, I’m quite familiar with his work. But I recently found out he’s a comedian. I never had any idea. Fascinating!
Dennis Miller is 'ART' personified, bar none! HOW IN HELL does he take a room of so many unique characters & MAKE EVERYONE LAUGH..OVER & OVER.???? His "Bat Shit Crazy" Pelosi show is PERFECTION ~ Whenever I'm down, all I need is THAT & BOOM..I'M GOOD!
Приколы
I was there. It happened exactly that way.However It's always interesting to me that when an entertainer, painter,writer etc etc displays their talent on these formats. Almost immediately the comments come pouring in both positive and negative. The negative ones first start out with "I don't think he or she is funny." Then " I never thought he or she was funny" Then the hatred moves to their politics and gets really mean and ugly. Then if you defend the artist the haters attack you viciously. I was taught that great minds separate art and politics. I toured with Sammy Davis Jr and he had a sign in his dressing room that I loved. It said "I don't know the meaning of success but I do know the meaning of failure, It's when I try to make everyone love me".No one can.
Hey Tom...love your stories on Letterman..thanks for the laughs..
He didn't mention you.
Tom Dreesen Wow, Tom Dreesen leaves gives us a wise moment on of all places a RUclips comment section. You're the best Tom.
KT Kee. He mentioned me 4 times. Maybe you should look at it again.
Oh my goodness, so he did, sorry. This is why eye-witness reports are so unreliable, haha.
The art of storytelling. Miller somehow made every second of this 8 minute story entertaining.
He is one of the best.
So, true. When I saw it was 8 minutes, I wasn't sure I wanted to watch the whole thing. I was riveted throughout.
He's a very talented man.
He's one of the few celebs I would invite to a family party.
is an astonishing piece of story telling
I met Frank in 1980 in NYC outside the ABC Building. He was being dashed into a limo and I yelled "I LOVE YA, FRANKIE!", and he actually yelled back "Lovin' ya too, Pisan!"
Forever burned into my soul.
“forever burned into my soul”. Jesus Christ. He doesn’t remember shouting back at you. He didn’t know you and you didn’t know him. Why would this mean something to you? It’s honestly pathetic how people trivialize their own lives.
You should think about something meaningful that your father or your mother said to you. If I had the same experience I would tell people as a cool story. But it wouldn’t burn into my soul lmao. Maybe you’re an I-tal with a low I-Q and this was a precious memory. All I know is I’m glad you didn’t meet Frank bc he would’ve found you awkward and embarrassing.
@@schizophrenic_AI get a life! He was just enjoying the moment
@@schizophrenic_AI Not a vert nuce remark.
@@robertc391 not a “vert nuce remark” you say? That’s probably true; mostly because your speaking unintelligible gibberish. Take an extra min before hitting send next time. I assume you were attempting to say “not very nuanced” or maybe “not very nice” but I’m grasping at misspelled straws
@@schizophrenic_AI dude you fuckin suck. Leave the person alone. Who gives a shit?? You’re one of those people who wouldn’t say anything in person because you’d get a hit in the mouth. Just keep picking your butthole with one hand and eating flamin hot Cheetos with the other.
Sinatra to Dennis Miller's mother: "1952, Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh. Yeah, I remember that show... You were on the left side of the stage that night, baby... YOU LOOKED GOOD!!" Dennis' mother died 4 months later...how wonderful that she had that moment before she passed!!
Did Frank really remember her?
@@raultennis5904 No, buddy, I'm sure he was just being nice to an elderly woman, who was clearly a big fan... That was a VERY grand gesture on his part, and it obviously meant a GREAT deal to Dennis' mother.
@@denniscassley2569 69 ain't elderly. It's senior-ish.
@@raultennis5904 .....seriously doubt it but it was a really sweet thing to say.
I would have died right then and there.
I saw Dennis at a comedy club in San Diego in the '80's. I was at the table right in front by the stage. I've never laughed so hard in my life. Such humor and intelligence.
Saw him and Dana Carvey in Hermosa Beach in 86...he was so funny...he has lost it...
He hasnt been funny in two decades.
@@s.ormgamalson6489 who do you think is funny? Will Ferrell?
@@s.ormgamalson6489 Did you drop in just to share that with us?
Saw him at the Ice House in Pasadena early 90s, he was one of my comedy heros and he did not disappoint that night. Legend!!
My favorite "The night I met Frank Sinatra" story -- DENNIS MILLER
The most beloved "newscaster" in Saturday Night Live history shared with an audience (seven years ago) about "My dinner with Frank Sinatra." Just about my favorite stand-up bit ever. The fact that it concerns an event most of us would die for, is icing on the cake!
[Thanks for sharing, Joseph Stefanelli]
Dennis Miller is one of the greatest storytellers I’ve ever heard.
This IS the best/funniest Sinatra story I've heard. Dennis Miller is such a crafter of sentences...always funny. So touching that his mother received such a thrill towards the end of her life.
This is such a great story told brilliantly as only Dennis Miller could..
...he has Sicilian alzheimers , he only remembers grudges...classic Rickles...
That quote was the best part of the act.
"You in the third row..... Ya you!"
Keith Helton 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
I am also from Pittsburgh, and I have heard Dennis tell this story many times. It never gets old! Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet traveled with Frank and have equally funny stories.
love how he uses the English 'taking the piss' expression.
With my Mother getting older and her health going down,hearing how happy Dennis Miller's Mom was before she passed brought tears to my eyes..All Moms deserve a moment like that.
Yes cheddar they do! Mother’s Day should be once a month !
Don't know if my story belongs in the same category but here goes: A couple of years before her death my mother began her descent into Alzheimer's, and I wanted to do something for her to enjoy while she still had some of her faculties.
So one Christmas season (I lived 3 states away and seldom got to visit) I had myself professionally recorded singing one of her favorite songs by her favorite singer, "I've Got You Under My Skin," one of Sinatra's signature tunes. Had it posted on RUclips, alerted my sister and aunts, so that on Christmas morning they went to my Mom's rest home, joined her in the community room with some of her fellow residents, sitting in front of a computer the nursing home facility had "power pointed" onto a larger screen, while I made my "small screen" debut. Sis said Mom sat there with smiling, tearful eyes, mouthing the words to the song as I sang them (experts say musical memory is one of the last to go in Alzheimer patients).
I'm glad we made it happen. Mom died a few months later, remembering very little, and my sister joined her the following year.
@@broadcasttttable That’s a beautiful story..So touching..Thanks for sharing it..Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease.My wife’s Mother has it and doesn’t recognize her own husband now..So sad..I’m glad u had the moment with ur Mom..
@@cheddarcheese7928 Thanks for the acknowledgement!
My family and I adore Dennis Miller. Turning into the Will Rogers of his day. American icon. We love you Dennis.
His narrative allows you to feel as if you are there in person, observing, listening and take the whole scene in - brilliantly played Dennis!
the pauses, the way he present bits of information.... flawless
Oh! He has a narrative? I didn't know. Thanks.
He’s on another level with his delivery
I enjoyed this story so much -- The fact that his Mom had this experience before she died of having dinner with Frank was just awesome!
Julie Ann Basile
An unexpected moment, perfectly delivered to someone who got to take their mind away from their situation for a delightful reminiscence. Thanks go out to the Chairman of the Board!
What an awesome story. Dennis is such an incredible story teller.
This is a wonderful story. Frank will always be a legend. Love Dennis Miller too, great comedian!
Dennis Miller. good guy,good comedian,...great storyteller.
Not to mention brilliant. I'll say it - I even loved him on MNF.
Dennis Miller has been my favourite comedian since I first heard him on a cassette tape called The Off White Album back in the 80s. This is an exquisitely told anecdote, he even throws in a little Rickle's for us too.
Never seen him live or his tv shows until the youtube but then again I am from London, England 🏴🇬🇧
Great story from one of the best comedians ever definitely on the top 10 of the best
I've got tears from laughing at Miller telling this story! I'll have to play it again!
Dennis is amazing. I love the route he took in life. Hi mother is smiling down from heaven on him
this clip is about Sinatra's humanity. Why don't you children leave the name calling and grow up.
I could listen to Sinatra stories for hours.
Me too. I literally think i was born in the wrong era
I'm happy to find this story online. Dennis Miller can tell a story, boy!
I remember when I was a kid Dennis Miller used to be on a local show in Pittsburgh. He was as cool then as he is now. Dennis is a great storyteller. Thanks for posting this gem.
“Soy, soy?”
Oh God, I lost it, best dinner story ever!
The story about Dennis' mom was the best. Class act.
In 1979 I was a young NYPD police officer and worked in a station house that was known to be a typical NYC police station interior. As a result, many movies and TV shows were filmed there. On one particular day I arrived at work to find that a movie was being produced there. It was The First Deady Sin. I moved along to get dressed in my uniform and stopped at the clerical office door where filming was going on. Suddenly, Mr. Sinatra stepped out of the office to where myself and other officers were standing and looks directly at me. He said, "can you believe I have to do this scene over and over, one take after another because they can't get the scene right. Each time having to take a swig of this swill (he had a wine bottle in his hand). It's enough to give you agita". As Dennis Miller would say, I was in low level shock. I knew I had to respond but, really didn't know what to say, so I said, Boy, Mr. Sinatra I didn't realize actors had such a difficult job. ( I know lame). Anyway, he said, "trust me officer you have a much tougher job than I do". He patted me on the shoulder and we shook hands. I'll never forget that day and today forty years later I remember it like it happened yesterday.
Dennis Miller, one of the funniest comedians to ever deliver a story. This Sinatra story was a classic.
This is probably one of the best celebrity Sinatra stories.!
March 1994, the manager of Lemaire Restaurant at the Jefferson Hotel calls to tell me my hours are extended Saturday because the Sinatra party will be arriving at ten pm. At exactly ten o'clock Saturday night private security enters the restaurant and diners are given their checks.
From my vantage point at the grand piano in the lounge I see a tuxedoed Frank Sinatra, framed by the lobby arch, admiring the statue of Thomas Jefferson. His entourage catches up with Mr.S. They enter the restaurant and are led to a private dining room.
After dinner they settle in wing chairs around the piano. Sinatra leans over to his road manager Tony Oppedisano, motions towards me and says “Look, he’s playing with the soft pedal on, real mellow”. I’m playing “Autumn In New York” (a whole step higher than he recorded it) and he starts singing along. He's performed a one hour concert, eaten a dinner of steak and pasta, enjoyed a few Jack Daniels ("I even smoked a couple of cigarettes"). Sinatra is 78 years old and he sounds great.
He sings along on a half dozen tunes over the next two hours. At one point he calls over to me and asks if I know “Everything Happens To Me”. Before I can say yes, he starts singing it a capella. With trust in my relative pitch, I join him in the right key, Eb.
Frank’s opening act, comedian Tom Dreesen lays a $100 bill on the piano and asks me to play “Laura", Frank’s favorite song. I oblige. Thirty minutes later, Oppedisano lays a $100 bill on the piano and asks me play “Laura". I oblige again.
It’s quarter to one and Mr. S asks Oppedisano if there’s a piano in his room. I know there’s a piano in the Presidential Suite, but I don’t speak up. The subject is forgotten and at one am they head upstairs. (I read later they stayed up until 6 am.)
Dreesen and Sinatra are the last to leave and they stop by the piano to thank me. Frank looks at me and says “See you tomorrow night”. As soon as they are out of sight I leave a note on the host stand to say if Sinatra comes back Sunday night, call me. That won't happen.
In the middle of his Sunday night show Frank Sinatra faints on stage at the Mosque. The concert is cut short and after being checked out at MCV, Sinatra flies back to Palm Springs. After a few more shows in '94 he permanently retires in February 1995. His evening at Lemaire is as surreal now as it was then.
Thanks for sharing that amazing story. He is/was the American Songbook and those songs, obviously were deep in his soul. So very cool that you got a chance to be part of it.
Thanks for sharing this. Truly amazing night.
A brush with fame.
I've met Tom (Dreesen) I took a class with him. Great guy - will talk your ear off. A good friend, way back when, sold airplanes and went to lunch with Sinatra and his entourage of two other guys to talk over a potential sale. He tells me that after lunch, Frank walked up to every person who attended his table - busboys, the waiter, and the cooks in the kitchen, and tipped them all personally.
Also a lovely Sinatra story Mr. Dowd and by the way, you're a player man. My Shining Hour swings baby. Thanks.
Wow. Frank Sinatra was cut from a different breed. He seemed like a REAL icon: lovable man, true blue. Dennis Miller was funny with this story. I didn't know he was such a funny guy!
2019 ... who is here listen to this piece of art?
me
I am and it’s wonderful
Dennis has long been a favorite of mine. Had me crying and laughing the whole clip.
This is epic, and how to do comedy/ tell a story.
Frank was the best! There will never be another...
+monymony68 NOBODY will ever be as cool and classy and brilliant. Makes me happy and sad at the same time.
+monymony68 actually jose jose, from mexico is talented singer wo frank sinatra admired them two together would of done some amazing music. if weren't for those contracts their record labels imposed on them
He was the most generous man who ever lived. There will never be another person like him again.
Let's hope there is not another as psycho as Frank Sinatra. Great singer! Psychotic person!
Frank was in fact unique and phenomenal. Although it looks like you weren't alive when Frank was alive, so wondering how you would even know or care.
Great story. Miller's got a gift for stuff like this.
Saw Frank Sinatra once in Atlantic City around 1989 I was just 19 years old. My table was next to the stage And every time he looked over at us My girlfriend would grab my arm in excitement. Needless to say it was a great night for me thanks Frank.
Dennis Miller can definitely tell a story
Absolutley hysterical!
This story made my day. Sinatra was class all the way.
I could last the whole night long listening to stories & anecdotes about this great entertainer. Thanks for a great insight & a witty warm story.
Dennis miller is one of the few SNL alums that's managed to keep an independent mind
Who had a Filipino immigrant nanny.
She says he is socially liberal and conservative with his money.
He’s as respectable as Victoria Jackson. Sad!
What a great, GREAT story! Frank Sinatra could be a kind man when the spirit moved him I hear, and according to this story the spirit moved him that night.
Rob Schneider is suprising conservative!
Saw Dennis Miller at the tiny Chaplin's Comedy Club in Detroit, back in '88 before he really took off career-wise. It was FANTASTIC. Just like Kinison was in Detroit the same year. Something special about a lot of comedians before they hit it big...
Chaplins wow I went often, never knew that ty
The stories on this page remind me about my encounter with Sinatra. It was 1991 and I took my then two boys (had one more later) and my wife for the weekend to the Desert Springs Marriott. Unknown to me at the time, the Frank Sinatra Golf tournament was being held there that weekend. Saw a lot of old comedians , astronaut Alan Shepard, Pat Boone (in the elevator) etc.. That evening I went down stairs to buy the Desert Sun newspaper and got the last one. On my way out of the gift shop, a Marriott porter came in and asked for a Desert Sun, they informed him they were out. I walked back to the lobby area and Frank Sinatra was there waiting. The porter informed him they were out, I overheard the conversation and walked up and gave the paper to Frank. He pulled out a 100 dollar bill which I refused and said it was my pleasure and left. The next morning a knock came to the door with the most lavish breakfast (about 3 times the amount of food we could possibly eat along with a fruit gift basket and a card that said "Thanks for the paper, FS". How he got my name to deliver this I dont know to this day, but there it was. Very gracious. A true gentleman .
True Gentleman. Are there anyone left like Mr. Sinatra among celebrities?
Awesome!
Sayin this again, the MAN was more than his voice , and that was huge.
That is a terrific story! It must have felt surreal! I hope you still have the card to be passed down to your children some day
Cool encounter
Frank Sinatra stories are the best As a man in my mid-30s I often times wonder if I was born in the wrong era
No, you're just a guy, who, in this era, has his head screwed on right.
always like to visit this clip, Dennis has great appreciation for those that came before
Dennis Miller is one of the best story tellers ever...
I come back time and time again just to hear this story .. absolutely love it
Seen this 5 times, and it's AWESOME every time!!!!
his explanation of how sopo ended up to be written in the book had me laughing out loud.
RIP Don Rickles
Hell of a story.
Great story well told. Thanks.
absolutely FANTASTIC video! love hearing these great stories.
This is just some straight up, good old fashioned, rib tickling chuckles.
And to think certain people might never allow themselves to hear this, because they are too worried they might hear something they don’t agree with.
Not everything has to be one side or the other , one way or another, or even weighted towards anything at all.
There is such a thing a boringly neutral.
Your boy Dennis, who you “can’t stand “, just told a very funny story about his mum. But you missed it because you though he might say something you don’t like.
Your loss...
Frank was the living James Bond.
What a Wonderful Story.. Tears came to my eyes...
Don Rickles amazing comic! Miller, Rickles and Lenny Bruce kept freedom of speech thriving and did it while making everyone smile, laugh and forget about all the bs going on. What’s so terrible about that?
I had a chance to see Frank perform live, I thought I’ll catch him again next time . One of my biggest regrets. Don’t put things off today because tomorrow may never come . I was talking to my mom at 2:30 and she died suddenly at 6.
Miller is an entertaining dude. One of the best natural storytellers there is. Great story
Guess you haven't seen too many storytellers then.
@@trythinkingforachange4201 ha ha, true
Never heard a bad one
That Is Totally Awesome. Yes Frank Is One Great Man. LOL A Great NJ Native, So Am I.
Well, I see peoples' politics get in the way of their enjoyment of humor, whatever the source. I thought Miller was funny when I assumed he was liberal, still think he's funny now that he appears to be more conservative. To paraphrase E.B.White,"One man's opinion of comedy is as good or perhaps better than any other." Some bitter people out there. Too bad.
+spsmonktoo Yeah. Some folks can't get past it. It must really rot to go through life measuring everything you can like or dislike on someone's politics. Sad and pathetic. Meanwhile, this was hilarious! Thanks Dennis, like you said, loved him when he was a lib, still do since he's gone to the opposition. I do allow others to think for themselves. Too bad so many on here can't seem to achieve that minor feat.
Thank you for your comment. As a California liberal, never allow political thinking to interfere with enjoying good humor.
This is true. I love the video of John Cleese eulogizing Graham Chapman - It's one of the funniest things ever, and of course, it's just in exquisitely bad taste. In an interview, speaking about the boundaries of "good taste" in comedy, Cleese said that if you haven't offended somebody, you haven't done a good job. Comedy is the antedote for Bitter. You should remember that song, "A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down."
spsmonktoo - I do this all the time now. I can no longer stand the sight of Robert De Niro, Daryl Hannah, Meryl Streep,etc., i.e. talented entertainers that have let their Trump Derangement Syndrome get in the way of presenting their talents. I miss the more apolitical days of Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld.
I saw Frankie 3 times. Dennis that was hysterical!
Damn good story!
God this made me laugh so hard, i swear i nearly lost it.
rti
I love this story. Makes me tear up everytime.
Thank you Dennis this made my whole evening!
Three things in this speech prove that Dennis has a good heart:
1. He didn't want to make his maid, Koi Koi feel stilted at the dinner table. He went along with the farce.
2. He didn't mock Frank for repeating a song at his concert.
3. He brought his beloved mother to the dinner which was a lifelong dream of hers.
What a good man. Good employer. Good son and good friend.
I was moved by how awed and privileged he felt to be having dinner with Sinatra. Sinatra's response to Miller's mother was so kind it brought a tear to my eye as well.
That 8 minutes flew by, too fast. Great story.
The one person who can reduce Dennis Miller to crippling laughter every single time..... Norm MacDonald!!
Listening to Dennis Miller speak is almost as enjoyable as listening to The great Frank Sinatra belt out a tune.
Dennis is better!
I watched one of his stand up routines didn't think he was funny then watched this one and chuckled alot more hope he prove me wrong about conservative comedians
dennis miller is underrated. i love humor that's woven into stories. norm macdonald can do this too!
That was an excellent story!!!
BEST storytelling I’ve ever heard…then there is the story itself!! ❤️🔥
Dennis Miller always makes me laugh. One of the good ones
Damn that was a good story. I'm still laughing
One of my favorite Sinatra stories was from Anita O'Day's drummer and band manager John Poole whom I knew and played guitar with professionally in a Jazz band ensemble he put together while Anita was recouperating from a surgery. He told this story of how when he first broke into the business in post-WWII Hollywood, he was fresh out of the Navy and had played a few dates subbing for Bob Wills drummer (who'd gotten thrown in the klink) and then a couple of nights with Spade Cooley, then a few weeks with Charlie Barnet. Then he got a call from the Local 47 Union Hall to go play drums at a session at Capitol Records. It was his first recoding date. So, John shows up with his traps and his kit and low and behold it's a Sinatra date. Of course, Frank is fashionably late, and the producer, arranger and musicians are running over the four tunes they are to record in the next three hours. Sinatra walks in a door behind the drums and stands there looking at Poole who stands up from his drum stool, hand extended, and says, "Mr. Sinatra, what a thrill it is to be recording with you!" Sinatra just beams at him and huffs out of the room without a word. The producer of the session comes up to John and he starts waving his arms, and raving at him, "You do NOT speak to Mr. Sinatra! You do NOT even make eye contact with him! Don't even look at him. If you have anything to say or any questions you ask me!" Later that evening the session reconvened and they cut the four tunes and then Sinatra walked out without a word.
Years later in Australia, John Poole was on tour with Anita in 1959 as part of the Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Anita O'Day package tour from which some very fine live recordings were issued from dates down under. On one of the first dates at the pre-show rehearsal Sinatra comes in the room and he sees Poole sitting behind his drums with Red Norvo at the Vibes, Goodman with his licorice stick leading his Big Band and Anita at the mic getting ready to run through a couple of her tunes. Old Blue Eyes remembered John from the Capitol session years before. He runs over to him, hand extended on the way, reaching over John's drum kit and says, "Mr. Poole, what a thrill it is to have you here playing drums with us on this tour, it's so nice to see you again!" Flumoxed John reaches and shakes Frank's hand. About that time Anita comes rushing up and yells in Frank's face, "Mr. Sinatra, if you have anything to say to my drummer, you do NOT speak to him, you say it to me!" Then the room got eerily quiet. You could hear a cigar ash fall on the hardwood floor. Frank just stood there and didn't say a word. Anita's trying to catch her breath after the explosion she just let loose. Goodman is sweating and shooting John the 'ray' as Norvo looks on fiddling with his mallets. All of as sudden Frank starts to grin and then busts out in a hail of laughter that sent everyone rolling on the floor. All except Anita who was still pissed and didn't see anything funny about it. Frank & John were good friends after that. Frank and Anita, ehhh, not so much!
Great story. Really, thanks a lot. I love finding random stories like yours here on RUclips from our elders who grew up and come from a better time and a bygone era Thanks again.
Also, I have to ask, Anita chewing out Sinatra exactly as the Capital Records’ producer had chewed out Poole was entirely a coincidence? And if it was a coincidence, I betcha Poole was at least panicking in thinking that Sinatra would think Poole had told Anita about his first encounter with Sinatra and was kindheartedly giving him a little taste of his own medicine. Regardless, Poole must’ve been panicking. LoL.
Also, why do you think Sinatra would be so rude to someone that he’d be respectful to and remember years later? Sounds like guilt, perhaps. Idk. Your thoughts?
No coincidence - Anita had heard about the story for years since John was her drummer and band manager for nearly 40 years. Sinatra remembered John because John made a name for himself early on as a world class drummer from those first sessions right after WWII. Anita did not like Frank and strangely she was the same way or worse than Frank ever was. Nobody said anything to her at a session. The word was you do not speak to Ms. O'Day, if you have anything to say to her or any questions ask the session leader or the producer. Thanks for your comments!
@@CiscoDuck
Oh, boy. Don’t I feel dumb. I should’ve realized that wasn’t a coincidence. Even if she was an uppity broad, that was a good ‘joke’ to pull, even if it was delt unironically. Would you say that Sinatra only respected Poole because of his recognition and prominence, because he seemed to not give him the time of day as another face in a studio? I think of the wise saying, “you can tell a lot about someone by how they treat those they need nothing from.”
@@kennybeans6115 From what I've heard Sinatra didn't give many of the 'little people' in the biz the time of day especially side-men aka session players in the studio or on stage. Now, I did know a steel guitarist who played on one of the very few C&W songs that Sinatra ever recorded - which was recorded in December 1948 off the books so-to-speak during the Union strike and the resulting infamous Petrillo ban on recording (named after the head of the musicians union at the time James Petrillo) for Columbia records with a small combo of ace C&W musicians - the steel player was the newbie and the kid on the block being only 16 at the time, it was his 1st recording date and the first job he had after joining the union. Steel guitar legend Noel Boggs was supposed to play on the recordings, but he was booked elsewhere that day and recommended his best student, young Bill Tonneson (whom I played with) who brought the goods when he was called on to play a solo on Sinatra's cut of 'Sunflower (From The Sunflower State) - so good in fact many believe to this day that it was Boggs on steel rather than some kid who was barely shaving. When the in-studio playback was heard over the PA in the recording room, Sinatra came over to the kid grinning ear to ear, actually patting him on the shoulder as he told him, "Now that was fat!"
That was a rare moment for Sinatra as he barely acknowledged legendary journeymen and poll winners on his sessions - let alone some wet behind the ears kid. Per typical Sinatra came in, sang his songs and left the building without a word - usually. Was it professional aplomb or arrogance? That's anyone's guess I suppose. If something wasn't right, he didn't make a scene except for his turning around and heading out the door for the producer and session leaders to iron out the problem.
Anita on the other hand would go bonkers if someone played the wrong chord or wrong note and missed a beat. She would verbally lunge at the offending musician and tell them with no un-certain terms what they were doing wrong - and she wasn't just an uppity prima donna broad - she knew her stuff both musically as far as reading the lead sheets and charts go and she was a very trained drummer herself who was taught as a very young girl all the advanced nuances of professional drumming. She was also taught at a very young age how to read a strange piece of music she had never seen or heard. She could take one look at it and sing out the melody in an instant. She was what music people call a 'hawk' because her sight-reading skills were so developed. She had learned the fine art of solfeggio which is the ability to sing out the notes to a chord and she knew all the chords. She knew her music theory inside and out and often went head-to-head and toe to toe with producers, arrangers and pianists and other musicians both in the studio and live on stage. And she was always right and that pissed a lot of people off because here's this woman upstaging a man (usually) contradicting the polite accepted society of the 'boys club' in a man's world.
I have a video where she countermands a pianist on stage who claims he is playing the proper chord at the given place in the song where Anita could hear it was definitely wrong. He was a very up into it pianist who knew his stuff and he is clearly offended probably because he was of the male gender and possibly because she was a white non-musician woman telling a black pianist how the cow ate the cabbage. He insisted that his chord was indeed correct, citing the lead sheet on his piano and playing the notes one at a time singing the lyric for emphasis - all of this in front of an audience during a performance. Suddenly she cut to the chase and told him, "You have the right chord BUT it is the WRONG inversion of it. The chord is upside down on your lead sheet, (which he had written out himself) and it's wrong on the piano." Then she sang out the notes of the proper chord one note at a time and said, "the chord as right as it may be, is in fact incorrect because the chord you are playing has the root in the bass which is in direct conflict with the melody - in other words, the chord you are playing is upside down!" She said and did all of that from ten or fifteen feet away not looking at a sheet of music much less leering over a piano keyboard. He sat there for a moment and then played the chord her way as he sang the melody and with the lyric. It was an 'egg-on-my-face' moment for the pianist who was an otherwise fantastic legend who apologized profusely to Anita's as she heaped on assurance that it was an easy mistake to make and one made all too often because of inferior copyists, who not paying attention, wrote the music out for the song on a lead sheet and put the wrong notes of the chord in the bass clef with the other half of the notes of the chord in the treble clef creating conflict with the melody of the song and creating undue tension in the performance. A mistake that she had seen all too often in that particular song. He continued to apologize, and she told him, "Don't apologize. Never apologize. Just learn from the experience and carry on." She picked right up with the song and gave her pianist a solo which drew a rousing wave of applause. She called out his name and announced that he was one of the best pianists she had ever worked with. All was good - but she would never back down on a musical situation that needed rectifying when she knew the answer.
And that is the difference between she and Frank Sinatra who had some music and vocal training under his belt but nothing to compare with the proper music education that she had. Frank was probably in good humor that day when he gushed over John Poole, and he probably knew that the story had gone around of him walking away from a session when John poured on the sincere admiration, causing Frank to just leave, knowing the producer who chew him out, letting him know not to speak to Frank on a job. Frank probably thought it would be a pretty cool gag to pull on John just for fun - and fun was never the order of the day anytime Benny Goodman was involved.
Some guys don't like the mutual admiration society backslap or glad handing on the job or any kind of compliments from sidemen or lackeys. It can be very sincere disavowing of that kind of thing or just one of "I'm the star - leave me alone" attitude. I heard Alan Alda was like that on M*A*S*H. And even Bogart so some degree on many of his movie sets - particularly on Warner Bros pictures with whom he was having constant contract feuds. Don Henley of the Eagles is infamous for his treatment of others around him which smells way worse than Frank or Anita. (and he is nowhere near the talent they were!)
I've been around a lot of star musicians and singers backstage, on stage, on the bus, in the motels & hotels, in the studio and candidly in everyday places and the rule has always been to me is that you don't bug them unless they express a desire to have a chat or become friendly. IF I decided to instigate an exchange with someone like that it's always been in passing and never to the degree of expecting any more than perhaps a nod or a smile.
Now, Poole probably thought Frank was a regular guy, knowing he was a pro, but seeing the news reels of him being swooned over by Bobby-Soxer girls when he sang (much the same as the chicks went wild over Bill Haley and then Elvis, and the Beatles and others etc.) John innocently - perhaps even naively thought Frank would be happy to be admired by one of the boys in the band. He told me when he got a call to play for Bob Wills, when he met Bob, he stuck his hand out and said how much he enjoyed hearing his music over Armed Forces Radio Service Network while he was over-seas in the Pacific stationed at various Naval bases and aboard ships at sea and on patrol. Wills was happy to hear it and shook his hand and welcomed him aboard his band for the 2 or 3 nights he subbed for the regular drummer. Meeting Spade Cooley when he played with him briefly was much the same. They were regular guys in many respects and didn't suffer from the star-complex many have and still do even in modern times. It is what it is and people are people!
@@CiscoDuck
*Wow,* *man!* To say your stories and how you tell them is great is a gross understatement, and I can’t even dream of the experiences you’ve probably had over the years. It’s truly amazing how some people live amazing lives and others have super ordinary lives. I’m only a millennial, but luckily through my parents I’m somewhat familiar and appreciative of classic rock of the 70s and 80s and a little bit of the pop rock oldies and Motown of the 60s (I know I sound like a cheesy radio station promo, LoL), though I only very vaguely know of the name Anita O’Day. Of course I’ve heard of people like Chet Baker and Miles Davis, but mostly because of Hollywood and osmosis as they’re as iconic and worshipped in the same way Sinatra is.
Regardless, my taste and admiration might not be really sophisticated and just pretty mainstream, but fwiw I’m still glad I’m at least able to appreciate music that was before my time. It’s sad what rock has become, and how rappers are the new rockstars and that type of music is what’s most appealing, but for better or worse, time moves on, though I at least understand that progression or progress isn’t necessarily synonymous with good.
Also, it’s funny to randomly hear from a real musician with a remarkable background and personal ties to music history and royalty like yourself, because just last week my dad was telling me how he went camping with one of friends who’d brought a buddy that was a musician, and how he performed music for them on a guitar throughout the weekend. My dad was telling him about the bands he liked and brought up his admiration for Grandfunk Railroad, only for the musician to start harmlessly laughing at him, telling my dad they’re terrible musicians and how their music is crap. LoL, I started laughing when my dad told me that.
I’d assume most of the general public (like myself and my dad) know virtually nothing about musicality or what’s considered talented or impressive music-wise, and I bet many musicians like yourself may find that frustrating, and understandably so. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to build and perfect any music or instrument talents, and how most of us non-musician people’s appreciation mostly boils down to “it’s catchy” or “it’s not that catchy.” Please, I sincerely apologize for how ignorant most of us can be when it comes to recognizing quality music and the craftsmanship that goes into it or even what that may be.
Again, I can’t thank you enough for sharing some of the amazing things you’ve witnessed or known about in music history. Do you ever make your own RUclips videos telling these great stories? If not, I really think your history and the way you tell it would really catch on and many from all walks and generations would love to hear it and it’d be more entertaining and have more quality than majority of the content put out on here. Your stories are excellent and top notch, sir. Thank you for your time, and if you ever want to say more or just like giving these gems away, *please* *feel* *free* if you’re ever bored or whatnot. It’s awesome. Again, I can’t thank you enough. This is waaaaay better than watching the AXS TV channel’s “Rock Legends” show. LoL.
Beautiful, beautiful story, Dennis... thank you sir, for a great share..! I wish I could'a been there at that (S) hole with Don, or dinner with Frank! I played bass with a few guys but, I never met Frank.
Agreed about Dennis. Dennis should get a half-hour cable TV show (2X weekly) where he just tells stories. I'm sure with his experiences combined with his one-of-a-kind vocabulary, he would entertain a lot of people. A brilliant mind who happens to be funny.
Great story, Tom Dreesen was there too, i think..
One of the best stories ever, and so well told too.
Dennis is so good at story telling.
@@OnePost909 I thought it was perfectly done.
Loved when Dennis took over the Larry King show, thought he was a good fit and really would of loved to see him host the show after Larry's passing
Dennis Miller, you’re such a great story teller. Thank you 🙏🏼. Sinatra stories always start with people uneasy and nervous to be in his presents and then the story begins lol. Love it
Cusopo?! Bwahahahaha! I love this story (I first heard it in 2007), and you can tell how much it means to him and the personal connection, a loving tribute of sorts to his mother. :-)
I've changed my opinion of Dennis Miller 3 times over the years. I use to like him a little bit, then I liked him a little bit more and now I love the guy!
What a cool story. Everybody kiss the ring. Awesome.
I have and always will love Miller, his story telling and references are gold! Wish he had his own show on Tv.
Always good to see that Dennis Miller in God!!
"K, C... *what?* " hahahaha I can picture that perfectly!
A great, great story as only Dennis Miller could tell. His brilliance is overlooked, and he is a very underrated standup comedian. I think that because of his intelligence he does not fit the “mold” of a standup; nothing personal to Bill Burr. Sebastian Maniscalco, Dave Chappelle, etc. His stint on Monday Night Football was one of the worse decisions made by whoever decides these things. It looked good on paper, I am sure, but, as soon as the cameras rolled on that first game everyone knew it was a mistake, sort of like how George H Bush felt when the world realized that he just picked Dan Quayle as his running mate. (The 2nd in command could not spell potatoes.)
Beautiful anecdote of the legend Frank Sinatra
After decades of closely watching Miller, I’m quite familiar with his work. But I recently found out he’s a comedian. I never had any idea. Fascinating!
Now that was a great Frank Sinatra story!!
“You better start livin’ baby, because dying is a pain in the ass.” Francis Albert Sinatra. Very true sir, very true.
Dennis Miller is 'ART' personified, bar none! HOW IN HELL does he take a room of so many unique characters & MAKE EVERYONE LAUGH..OVER & OVER.???? His "Bat Shit Crazy" Pelosi show is PERFECTION ~ Whenever I'm down, all I need is THAT & BOOM..I'M GOOD!
Crazy Nancy. Bat Shit Crazy pelosi
Dennis Miller...please run for congress!!!
Please run away, you right-wing shill.
Please move to canada you lib sucubus...