GAY TALESE. PHIL STERN

FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD

by

TASCHEN

Cover

GAY TALESE. PHIL STERN

FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD

by

TASCHEN

The Taschen art book "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" features Gay Talese's crystal-clear portrait of Frank Sinatra, along with notes and correspondence from the author's archive and photographs by Phil Stern - the only photographer allowed to accompany Sinatra over four decades. The art book also features photographs by the leading photojournalists of the 1960s, including John Bryson, John Dominis and Terry O'Neill. The photographs complement Talese's character study and paint an incisive portrait of Sinatra in the recording studio, on location, around town and with the eponymous cold that reveals as much about a unique star personality as it does about the Hollywood machine.

In this illustrated edition, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" is published with an introduction by Talese, reproductions of his manuscript pages and correspondence. Initially published as a signed Collector's Edition, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" is now available in an unlimited edition.

BACKGROUND

"Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" by Gay Talese for the April 1966 issue of Esquire is one of the most famous pieces of magazine journalism ever written. The article is described as a seminal work of New Journalism and is still read and analysed today. The editors of Esquire themselves declared Talese's article "the best story Esquire has ever published"; Vanity Fair called it "the greatest literary nonfiction story of the 20th century (Wikipedia).

ASSIGMENT

In November 1965, Gay Talese had been commissioned by Esquire to write a portrait of Frank Sinatra. The settings are Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, Manhattan and Hollywood. Esquire, edited by Harold Hayes, was the It Magazine of its time. Frank Sinatra, on the other hand, was one of the most famous entertainment icons of his time. The Tales portrait was meant to be a tribute on the occasion of the singer's 50th birthday. 

Frank Sinatra was in the middle of many projects, two albums, two television specials, a film and he was constantly in the Yellow Press because of his marriage to Mia Farrow. So Talese's interview came at the right time. There was just one hitch. When Talese landed in Los Angeles with his assignment Sinatra was in a bad mood, unavailable and unwilling to be interviewed.

Talese transformed every journalist's nightmare and began meticulously interviewing 100 people from the star's entourage. Frank Sinatra had created a big world for himself with ventures and entourages of countless employees. Talese met his press agent Jim Mahoney, Sinatra's "little grey-haired lady" who looked after his wigs for $400 a week. He discovered Sinatra's corporate holdings (real estate and aeroplanes), his foibles, and also Sinatra's generosity, like paying his joy's hospital bills.

This legendary man was brought down by a commonplace affliction and Talese wrote on this, "Sinatra with a cold, is Picasso without paint, Ferrari without gasoline."

His article "Frank Sinatra has a cold" is considered a high point of New Journalism. "I gained more by watching him, eavesdropping on him and observing the reactions of the people around him", Talese once said, "than if I had actually sat down and talked to him".

Frank Sinatra on Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills

1969 John Bryson

Phil Stern

GAY TALESE

Gay Tales was born on 7 February 1932 in Ocean City, New Jersey to Italian immigrants. He attended the University of Alabama and was hired as a copy boy at the New York Times after graduation. After completing his military service, he returned to The New York Times in 1956 and worked there as a reporter until 1965. Since then he has written for The New Yorker, Esquire and other national publications. His best-known portraits of Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra have all appeared in Esquire.

Gay Talese is known for his thorough research and for his formally elegant style. He is considered a co-founder of literary journalism and also of the "new journalism" of the 1960s. He himself has always politely resisted this label, insisting that his "stories with real names" do not represent a reformist crusade, but rather his own personal response to the world as an Italian-American "outsider". (Source: Portrait of an (Nonfiction) Artist by Barbara Lounsberry)

Gay Talese is also a best-selling author who has written fourteen books. Today, Talese lectures each spring in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.

Sources: Wikipedia

Esquire

Official website of Guy Tales by Random Verlag

Portrait of a (Nonfiction) Artist by Barbara Lounsberry

http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/talese/longbio.html

PHIL STERN

Philip Stern * 3 September 1919 in Philadelphia; † 13 December 2014 was an American photographer known for his portraits of Hollywood stars such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

He returned to Los Angeles after the war and worked as a photographer. He was often present at film shoots and numerous film posters were made by him. His photo reportage of John F. Kennedy's inauguration day on 20 January 1961 achieved world fame. Among other things, Stern took the photo showing Frank Sinatra handing the newly elected president a light for his cigarette. (Wikipedia)

Philip Stern was the only photographer who had access to Frank Sinatra for over four decades and created some of the most significant photographs of him.

GAY TALESE. PHIL STERN

FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD

by

TASCHEN

Hardcover with one fold-out, 23.6 x 33.3 cm, 1.88 kg, 250 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-8829-4

Multilingual Edition: English, German

ISBN 978-3-8365-7618-5

Edition: English

ISBN 978-3-8365-8828-7

Multilingual Edition: English, French

www.taschen.com