Trump apparently tried to renegotiate a deal with Frank Sinatra. It backfired.


In 1990, Frank Sinatra was scheduled to play at the opening of Donald Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, but after Trump's Taj Mahal chief, Mark Grossinger Etess, died in a helicopter crash in 1989, Trump decided to renegotiate Sinatra's pending contract, according to a new book by Sinatra's longtime manager Eliot Weisman.
Trump's opening move was declaring the terms of Sinatra's 12-show agreement "a little rich," Weisman writes in The Way It Was, to be published later this month, and then he decided to cut Sinatra's supporting acts, Sammy Davis Jr. — just diagnosed with cancer — and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. When Trump asked, "Who's Steve and Eydie?" Weisman writes, he moved to strangle Trump by the tie before his son stepped in and held him back.
Weisman said that when he called Sinatra with Trump's offer, Sinatra responded that Weisman could either tell Trump to "go f--k himself," or give Sinatra Trump's number and he would tell him himself. Weisman, who managed Sinatra from 1975 until 1998, said he went and delivered the message to Trump: "Sinatra says go f--k yourself!" Sinatra played the Sands in Las Vegas instead, and in a twist, Trump picked Sinatra's "My Way" as the first dance at his inaugural ball.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To be fair, the Taj Mahal was bleeding money from the beginning, and apparently had terrible service and failing slot machines. Michael Jackson got a tour of the Taj from Trump, and Merv Griffin spoke at the opening ceremonies, but "with the exception of heavyweight boxer Michael Spinks and former Miss America Suzette Charles, celebrities were scarce" at the grand opening, The Press of Atlantic City reported at the time. "There was some speculation that many stars who'd been invited to the event stayed away because they didn't want to compete with Trump's ego."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year