I’m now obsessed with Frank Sinatra as a symbol of Americana, even though he was Italian.
I found this Saturday Night Live sketch that is a parody of the McLaughlin Group with Sinatra hosting a TV show about music. Sinatra is played by the late, great Phil Hartman.
This video somehow manages to capture all of the various things about Sinatra that lead me to view him as a positive symbol of Americana: smoking, drinking, racism, sexism, anti-homosexuality, masculinity, Christianity, wanting the best for people even if you don’t like them, cherishing accomplishment and achievement. It’s exactly as it should be, exactly as America should be.
You know, I love Guys and Dolls with Frankie and Marlon Brando. But Brando, this guy called out the Jews on Larry King Live, then he went and groveled to rabbis.
This nigga literally cried.
Frankie never cried to anyone.
Frankie kept it real.