Frank Sinatra As An Italian American Term Paper

Frank Sinatra As An Italian American - Term Paper Example A midwife reportedly injured him during the birth process and he was born without breathing until his grandmother held him under water to force him to come to life. (RatPack, 2011) While Sinatra recovered well enough to live a long and successful life, the story of his birth illustrates how different life was in the early 20th century. In 1915, the farmhouse and log cabin were still the predominant form of community habitation in America, and most people lacked basic education and health care for their families. The public safety net taken for granted now in social security and other benefits programs did not exist, nor did modern medicine, making survival difficult for the poor immigrants like Sinatra’s family who came to America. While infant mortality rates in birth were very high at that time in relation to now, it can also be said that most early Americans experienced the same threats of disease, nutrition, poverty, and livelihood as Sinatra’s family, but something made him different to stand out from the crowd. Frank Sinatra allegedly won a talent contest in order to earn his big break into show business at age 23 in the New York area. (RatPack, 2011) In this regard, his upbringing in New Jersey inevitably led him to New York which was the center of entertainment as well as industry, finance, and business. Sinatra’s official biography tells of him being inspired by the music of Bing Crosby when he was a youth, and this â€Å"big band† sound of white jazz would become his musical trademark. Sinatra’s early career was made through singing at dinner lounges, and he began to find some work on local radio programs in New Jersey. The jazz and big band musician Harry James discovered and signed Sinatra to a... Frank Sinatra was a controversial Italian American who was one of the greatest role models of his generation. His life and public activity helped define what it is to be a pop star and celebrity in America. While his music was not groundbreaking or innovative technically, it reached a wide audience drawn together by the events of WWII and helped them define their feelings as a nation. Sinatra was one of the earliest stars on radio, TV, and motion pictures, which gave him a larger than life appearance and influence on his generation. Whether or not he used his power, wealth, and fame for the most socially beneficial or progressive causes is really not an issue of history, for he represented himself according to a dynamic that was self –determined as he expressed so vividly in the song, â€Å"My Way†. Whether or not he was just, fair, honest, friendly, and kind to others would seem to be a minor issue, because he seized the path to fame, wealth, power, and affluence that most all of his contemporaries only dreamed about. Nevertheless, as a role model of rugged individualism as symbolized by the post-war American culture, and as an Italian American celebrity of the 20th Century, there are few who can compare to Sinatra in stature and influence.