This past May the U.S. Postal Service debuted the Frank Sinatra 42 cent stamp. I thought it was rather fitting the rate increased a penny with the new stamp --even though Frank has been gone a decade he's still the Chairman of the Board. Like the saying goes, it's Sinatra's world; we just live in it.
I walked into my local post office branch the other day to mail some items. I noticed a poster on the wall advertising the stamp's debut ceremony at the Bellagio Hotel. Obviously the poster was almost two months old and would probably be taken down soon. My best friend is a Sinatra buff and I knew he would like this unique piece of memorabilia so I decided to ask the mail woman if anyone had dibs on the poster.
"It's MINE!" she blurted. "And I'll tell you why in a minute."
She proceeded to finish my transaction.
"Any liquids or flammables? Insurance? Delivery Confirmation? Stamps?"
"No. No. Yes. Five of Sinatra please."
"Okay young man, listen to this. In 1980 I wrote Frank Sinatra a letter asking him to help me get my job back at the post office. I sent the letter to Bally's Casino in Atlantic City because that's where he was performing at the time. You see, I was diagnosed with cancer and because of the treatment, I couldn't lift the minimum weight required to work at the post office."
I asked her why she wrote Frank instead of the Postmaster General or someone else more accessible. You know what her answer was?
"Because Frank Sinatra was more powerful than President Reagan."
I couldn't argue with that.
"So I'm not sure if it was because of him or not, but the post office had a change of heart and gave me my job back. But then I owed the hospital tons of money and since I had been out of work for so long, I was broke. I sent the hospital a $40.00 payment which was all I could afford at the time. A week or so later I got my $40.00 check back from the hospital saying my bill had been paid in full by an anonymous party. I had an idea who it was but didn't know for sure."
I nodded my head and smiled as she continued.
"Then in 1990 my cancer came back. I had just moved to Las Vegas, I didn't know anyone and there I was in the hospital going through treatment again. It was awful and I knew that even with the benefits of my job, I was still going to owe a lot of money. When it came time to start making payments I spoke with a woman in the billing department. She pulled me up on the computer and said I was covered by The Frank Sinatra Foundation and it would again be paid for. It was then I knew for sure Frank took care of me back in 1980."
Damn me. Over the years I've read plenty about the generous things Sinatra did for people but this was the first time I had actually met someone who had been directly affected by his good nature. There's a lot more people out there who have had his help while not even knowing it.
Yes, It's still Sinatra's world and we just live in it --although some people live because of it.
FiN.
