Rating:  Summary: "If Adolph Hitler Could Sing....." Review: When her meat cleaver of a 'biography', "His Way," was first published in 1986, Kitty Kelley appeared on the Larry King show and claimed it was a "balanced" book.Had King read the book and if he had some guts as an interviewer, he would have laughed her off the show. Claiming "His Way" is "balanced" is like the Grand Dragon of the KKK stating his group is racially mixed. With a certain amount of glee, Kelley recounts every seamy story of Sinatra's personal life...the women, the brawls, the fits of temper, the mistreatment of employees (Frank allegedly dumped a plate of spaghetti over his valet's head, because the man didn't cook it 'al dente'). Nowhere, however, in this litany of horrors, real or rumored, does Sinatra, the musician,emerge. "His Way" paints the man who many regard as the finest pop singer of our time,as a psychotic egomaniac, who sang a song from time to time. Kelley completely misses the point of what made Sinatra so alluring to the public...the dichotomy of the public man and the private artist...that a man so capable of violence and ugliness could also produce such continually beautiful music through the years (Example: Kelley recounts the year 1965 without once mentioning Sinatra's record breaking tour with the Basie band). By almost ignoring the music, Kelley has produced a book with the mentality of the worst of the supermarket tabloids...no Sinatra epitaph would ever use the phrase "Frank was a nice guy," but'His Way' portrays a man who was Adolph Hitler with a tuxedo and hand mike. It's like writing a biogprahy of Picasso and adding as a footnote at the end.."oh, by the way, he could ALSO paint!"
Rating:  Summary: More objective than reported Review: Yes, the book is full of well documented dirt on Sinatra, but Kelley also liberally includes the goods on Sinatra, such as his frequent generosity. Full of facts, but no agenda there unless you arrive with one yourself.
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