Frank Sinatra is as cool as ever.
Today a new U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Chairman of the Board goes on sale. Although Sinatra died 10 years ago today, his name continues to sell not only stamps, but music, movies and other products.
Frank Sinatra stamp
Turner Classic Movies is dedicating prime-time programming to him on Sundays and Wednesdays through May. Warner Home Video is releasing four sets of his films today.
The Clooney-Pitt version of Ocean’s Eleven, along with its sequels, has acquainted a new generation to the original rat pack of the 1960s. The wonders of 21st-century technology enabled Alicia Keys to perform a duet with Sinatra at the Grammy Awards show in February.
While his talents assure him a permanent place in modern culture, the current wave of popularity is about much more than nostalgia.
In November, his heirs and Warner Music Group formed a company called Frank Sinatra Enterprises LLC. The firm will manage the Sinatra name in a range of ventures, possibly including a Broadway show and a casino.
The Sinatra name is not just a powerful brand. It also has great demographics.
As Jimmy Edwards, head of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, told the Los Angeles Times, “Frank opens the door to a very exclusive club. He crosses so many zones too; he’s working-class, but he also runs around with the country-club set.”
“The amazing thing is how untapped all of it is,” Tina Sinatra, the singer’s younger daughter, told the Times. “By design we have done very little, particularly once he died.”
Sinatra himself formed a company late in life, called Artanis (Sinatra spelled backwards) Foods, to manufacture and market spaghetti sauce. Investors at the time included Pia Zadora and Annette Funicello.
Yet his heirs may be trying to manage a market that is beyond control. The nearly 2,000 Sinatra-branded products offered on eBay this morning included Frank Sinatra wristwatches, Frank Sinatra dolls (description: “It says Mattel 1975 on the butt”), a Frank Sinatra fan parking sign, Frank Sinatra Christmas ornaments, a Frank Sinatra music box shaped like a golf bag, and a CD of Frank Sinatra declassified FBI files.
Other web sites market a Cuban cigar called the “Sinatra Belicoso Torpedo.”
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1 Comments
#1. Ash 05.14.2008
There’s more eloquence and poise in Frankie’s voice than anyone can describe… I adore and miss him so.
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