Frank Sinatra Has a Cold

It's a large, impressive looking book to give as a gift. The Sinatra lover in my life has been reading my it and thinks it is fabulous. If you're considering this as a gift, don't be too put off by any of the negative reviews on Amazon.

Awesome photos and other tidbits and very nice substantial size! Happy with my purchase of this book.

The book is chaos. I should have known. Another Lawrence Schiller production. Phil Stern,not an A-list Hollywood photographer, often snapshot quality, including the cover for this book. The real photos in this book are ones you have seen before -- not by Stern, but by John Dominis, John Bryson in Life magazine features; and a sampling of others... Terry O'Neill, etc. The pictures, we are told in marketing tones, illustrate the story. A bogus concept. The linkage -- between Talese's narrative and the photos that appear between segments -- is strained, if not missing altogether. Some of the best photos (you've seen them before, too) are credited to Anonymous. Stern's photos at the JFK inaugural gala are tedious; his (supposed) commentary, vapid.There is scant mention -- and no reproduction -- of the great cover illustration by Ed Sorel, which led off the Esquire issue that included Talese's story. That illustration is a story in itself, but you won't find it here. Sorel, in his 90's now, doesn't come cheap. The packaging for this book suggests that Talese wrote an introduction for it. He didn't. The intro is a reprint of a story he wrote on another occasion some ten years ago. The book is a lot of the same old wine in a new (and overpriced) bottle.

I would have been more interested in what Talese now thinks about Sinatra's influence on Americans and especially Italian-Americans. Stretching a short article into a book does Talese a disservice, but Talese must have o.k.ed it. He seems to have made an emormous cache out of Sinatra's cold, but it is an interesting article.There are better Sinatra photobooks, but this is an ok photographic introduction to Frank.I think making money off Frank is an industry that will never end. It's kind of like the constant reissues and recompilations of his greatest hits that perhaps include an occasional outtake or supposed remastering(?).

OK, the photos which appear are weird because they do not add to the main piece - the interview. They seem to appear because no one controls the rights so they are inexpensive. Some are poor quality. But there are a couple of gems to be found. The main piece is well presented. The additions of Talese correspondence with his editor and his contacts are interesting; the shirt board notes are fun to decipher. I am happy to have the book. I remember reading the original article over the years a couple of times, especially as background to Kaplan's biography of Sinatra. It is fun to reread in this format.

Soy muy fan del trabajo de Gay Talese; a mi gusto el mejor periodista de crónica literaria de la historia. Este texto es tal vez su trabajo más conocido y es una obra maestra. Talese siempre se ha clavado en buscar la kriptonita de sus personajes ganadores precisamente para humanizarlos y darles un enfoque que nadie más le había dado. Es el caso de Sinatra. ¿Qué podrías decir de él que no se haya dicho ya? Talese se enfoca en un fin de semana en el que se resfrió: su mera kriptonita.El libro es una belleza, las fotos espectaculares y el texto es de referencia obligada para cualquier aspirante a periodismo o un amante de la literatura en general.