Dolly Sinatra

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Dolly Sinatra (born Natalina Maria Vittoria Garaventa (December 26, 1896 – January 6, 1977) was the mother of American singer Frank Sinatra. She was born in Lumarzo (Province of Genoa), in northern Italy; she immigrated to the United States when she was two months old. When she was a child, her pretty face earned her the nickname "Dolly".

Dolly married Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra in 1913, and in 1915 the couple's only child, Frank Sinatra, was born. Dolly was influential in the Sinatra's neighborhood in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they later operated a tavern during Prohibition. She became involved in politics and worked as a midwife. It is believed that she also provided an illegal abortion service in the area. She was a doting but abusive mother to her famous son. She died in a plane crash in 1977.

Early life

Natalina Maria Vitoria Garaventa was born on December 26, 1896, in Genoa, in northern Italy.[1] She was brought to the United States when she was two months old.[2] When she was a child, her pretty face earned her the nickname "Dolly". As an adult, she stood less than five feet tall and weighed approximately 90 pounds. Biographer James Kaplan describes her as having a "politician's temperament—restless, energetic, unreflective".[3] Her father was a lithographer.[4] He was also a peasant.[1]

Marriage and labor difficulties

Hoboken, New Jersey, early 20th century

During her teen years, Dolly met Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra, who immigrated from Catania, Sicily.[5][6][7] Though her family opposed it, the couple eloped on Valentine's Day, 1913, and were married at the city hall in Jersey City, New Jersey; they were later remarried in a church.[8]

Dolly gave birth to Francis Albert Sinatra on December 12, 1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey, the couple's only child.[5][6][7] Sinatra weighed 13.5 pounds (6.1 kg) at birth[9] and had to be delivered with the aid of forceps, which caused severe scarring to his left cheek, neck, and ear, and perforated his ear drum, damage that remained for life.[10][11] A childhood operation on his mastoid bone left major scarring on his neck, and during adolescence he suffered from cystic acne that scarred his face and neck.[12] The family were Roman Catholic,[13][14] but due to her son's injuries at birth, his baptism was delayed for several months.[9]

Politics

Dolly was influential in Hoboken and in local Democratic Party circles.[15] She used her knowledge of Italian dialects and fluent English to translate for immigrants during court proceedings, particularly those pertaining to requests for citizenship. This earned her the respect of local politicians, who made her a Democratic ward leader.[8] She was the first immigrant woman to hold that position in her local third ward, where she reliably delivered as many as six hundred votes for Democratic candidates.[16] In 1919, she chained herself to city hall in support of the Women's suffrage movement. She also worked as a midwife, earning $50 for each delivery, a fair amount of money at the time. These activities kept Dolly away from home during much of her son's childhood.[3] According to Kaplan, Dolly also ran an illegal abortions service that earned the nickname "Hatpin Dolly".[17] Her reputation as an abortionist led one area church to ban her son from singing there.[1]

Tavern

In 1920, Prohibition of alcohol became law in the US. Dolly and Marty ran a tavern during those years, allowed to operate openly by local officials who refused to enforce the law.[18] Kaplan notes the possibility that the Sinatras procured their liquor from members of the American Mafia. They purchased the bar, which they named Marty O'Brien's, with money they borrowed from Dolly's parents.[19] Sinatra later recalled spending time at the bar, working on his homework and occasionally singing a song on top of the player piano for spare change.[20] According to Kaplan, Dolly doted on her son, but she also abused him when he angered her, hitting him with a small bat she kept at Marty O'Brien's.[21]

Personal life

Dolly enjoyed gambling while visiting her son in Las Vegas. As she didn't like to lose they would often rig one of the slot machines so that she kept winning.[22]

Death

Dolly died in a plane crash on 6 January 1977.[23][24] She was aboard a Gates Learjet 24 which had just taken off from Palm Springs Municipal Airport, on the way to see her son in concert in Las Vegas. The plane crashed into a 10,000-foot (3,048-meter) ridge in the eastern portion of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. She was 80 years old. In a sad coincidence, 10 years later,Dean Martin's son, (Capt.) Dean Paul, also died in a plane crash, in a snow storm, while in the California Air National Guard, in the nearby San Bernardino Mountain Range. R[25][26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Summers & Swan 2010, p. 402.
  2. ↑ Hayes 1969, p. 294.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kaplan 2011, pp. 6, 8–9.
  4. ↑ Petkov & Mustazza 1995, p. 113.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Howlett 1980, p. 5.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Summers & Swan 2010, pp. 22-25.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kaplan 2011, p. 8: 415 Monroe Street.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kaplan 2011, p. 8.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kelley 1986, p. 13.
  10. ↑ Turner 2004, p. 4.
  11. ↑ Santopietro 2008.
  12. ↑ Kaplan 2011, pp. 4–5.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Landrum 2007, p. 155.
  15. ↑ Sann 1967, p. 351.
  16. ↑ Kelley 1986, pp. 12, 20.
  17. ↑ Kaplan 2011, p. 6.
  18. ↑ Kelley 1986, p. 12.
  19. ↑ Kaplan 2011, pp. 9–11.
  20. ↑ Kaplan 2011, p. 11.
  21. ↑ Kaplan 2011, pp. 9–10.
  22. ↑ Sinatra 1986, pp. 138-39.
  23. ↑ Turner 2004, p. 173.
  24. ↑ Goldstein 1982, p. 123.
  25. ↑ Lehmann & Blanck 2008, p. 100.
  26. ↑ planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s
Bibliography
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