Here at Esquire, we know a thing or two about Frank Sinatra. The man liked his booze, was prone to the occasional mood swing, and could just about get away with everything.
If you need a story that won't exactly brighten your day, but might just inspire you to be as bold as the crooner himself, Henry Winkler just told an all-timer of a Sinatra story to Vulture. The outlet caught up with Winkler on the occasion of Barry's Season Three finale. (You can read Esquire US's joyride of a Henry Winkler interview here.) Winkler, who plays Gene, an acting coach in the HBO series, got to talking about Sinatra. Apparently, the "New York, New York" singer loved himself some Happy Days, so Winkler met the man a couple times. Read his account of that second meeting:
The second time I met him was the bicentennial of the Statue of Liberty. He’s in a tent and has every single bottle of liquor you could imagine. You had to provide all those bottles of liquor for him, depending on his taste. He couldn’t see the festivities, so he took his steak knife, stood up, walked over to the wall of the rented tent, and cut himself a picture window. Not just a window but an entire wall of windows so he could see what was happening. He could pull that off.
Now, if Sinatra ever gets the biopic treatment a la Elvis, can we make sure this moment makes it in the final cut? Preferably with a Fonz-era Henry Winkler watching Sinatra's shenanigans wide-eyed, somewhere on the edge of the screen.
