Sinatra and the Man of Mystery

(Even Tony Rome himself couldn't solve this one!)

My buddy, the indefatigable researcher, historian and all-around great guy, Jordan Taylor, brought this to my attention.

Herewith we have a series of shots taken at Sinatra recording dates from 1955 to about 1962. Somewhere in the background, and in one case the foreground, the same man keeps turning up in every photo. Who is he? I have asked all the Sinatra experts I know, and nobody seems to recognize him.

(And yes, he does look a little like Vern Yocum, the primary copyist for Nelson Riddle, Sinatra, Nat Cole, and many others, as well as the original keeper of the Sinatra library of orchestrations. However, when we compare pictures of Yocum with our guy, clearly they are not the same person. I’ll include a few shots of Yocum below.)

First we have several images from the session of October 31, 1955, during which Sinatra recorded Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn’s title song for the Otto Preminger film, The Man With The Golden Arm. (The song itself was not used in the film - all the music in the movie was ultimately by Elmer Bernstein - and wasn’t officially released until 2002 in the epic Sinatra in Hollywood package.)

Here’s the main photo, with Bernstein conducting.

Here are two enlargements: in the booth, you can clearly see director Otto Preminger and leading lady Kim Novak. But who is it standing between them? That’s what we would like to know!

December 11, 1957: On the eve of his 42 birthday, Sinatra and Nelson Riddle recorded three singles tracks, "You’ll Always Be The One I Love," "If You Are But A Dream," and "Put Your Dreams Away," the latter two being remakes of vintage 1940s Sinatra signature hits. Our man is hard to miss here!

1960: One of the final Sinatra Capitol Records dates. Apologies for the severe watermarking here. You can essentially make out producer Dave Cavanaugh in the big white sweater, and Riddle, although their faces are obscured. It’s cool to see the audience that Sinatra usually had at his sessions. There’s someone who looks like Billy May (although we don’t think it’s him) apparently coming through the door, and our man is to the immediate left.

This next one is either late 1962 or early 1963 - which makes us think that this guy must have been at least a semi-important member of Team Frank, considering that Sinatra brought him along into the new Reprise Records era. (Also, we’ve only spotted him on Sinatra sessions, not those of Nat Cole or any other Capitol artist.) Here he is again, standing between Junior and The Old Man.

Lastly, one more from the Reprise Era; is this our man, or isn’t it?

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Just for the sake of comparison, here are a few shots of Vern Yocum, mostly from the Yocum Collection at the University of Arizona. The second shot is from September 11, 1958, a recording date with Riddle (“Mr. Success”) during which FS was photographed for the cover of Come Dance With Me. (The shot of Yocum with Riddle is by Tommy Shepard.)

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So who is this guy? You tell me!

PS: we’re still trying to figure out who this woman is - mis-identified in the 1992 Mosaic Records Nat King Cole Trio booklet as Ava Gardner. Clearly it’s not Mrs. Sinatra - but who? (Rob Waldman’s best guess was the comedienne Barbara Heller, who appeared on Sinatra’s 1960 TV special, Here’s to the Ladies, and was later a semi-regular on The Dean Martin Show, among many other programs.)

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Very Special thanks to the fabulous Ms. Elizabeth Zimmer, for expert proofreading of this page, and scanning for typos, mistakes, and other assorted boo-boos!

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