} Crítica Retrô: Sinatramania

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Monday, June 11, 2018

Sinatramania

Adolescentes e jovens mulheres gritando até perder a voz. Quando elas finalmente veem o ídolo, elas gritam mais alto, choram, desmaiam. Algumas delas até perseguiam o ídolo, em busca de um autógrafo, foto ou talvez, uma mecha de cabelo. Seriam elas fãs do século XXI, loucas pelo cantor mais famoso do momento? Não. Fãs malucas não são novidade. Será que Al Jolson teve de lidar com flappers malucas? Havia groupies que seguiam Beethoven? Obviamente, eu não posso responder a estas perguntas por falta de provas, mas posso mostrar um exemplo de super-estrelato de 70 anos atrás. Nos anos 40, quase todas as garotas eram loucas por Sinatra.

Teenagers and young women screaming until they become voiceless. When they finally see their idol, they scream louder, cry, faint. Some of them even go after the idol, in the pursuit of an autograph, photo or, maybe, a lock of hair. Are they 21st century fans of the newest singer who is currently in vogue? No. Insane fans is nothing new. Did Al Jolson have to deal with crazy flappers? Were there any Beethoven groupies? Of course, I can't answer these questions because I don't have any proof, but I can show an example of superstardom from 70 years ago. In the 1940s, almost all girls were crazy for Sinatra.  


Francis Albert Sinatra nasceu em 1915. O jovem Frank amava música e, de acordo com livros biográficos, começou a cantar em reuniões familiares e no bar de seus pais em Hoboken – ele aprendeu música de ouvido, ou seja, sem aprender a ler partituras. Quando ele tinha 20 anos, conheceu o sucesso pela primeira vez: como membro do grupo “The Hoboken Four”, ele conseguiu seu primeiro contrato para uma turnê. E adivinhe qual dos quatro meninos de Hoboken chamava a atenção de todas as garotas?

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915. Young Frank loved music and, according to biographic books, started performing at family gatherings and at his parents' tavern in Hoboken – he only learned music by ear, that is, he couldn't read music sheets. When he was 20, he had his first break: as a member of the group “The Hoboken Four”, he got his frst contract for a tour. And guess which of the four boys from Hoboken attracted all the girls' attention?


Depois de cantar com a orquestra de Tommy Dorsey, era a hora de Frank Sinatra começar a carreira solo e causar furor no mundo da música. Em dezembro de 1942, Frank estava nervoso com esta mudança na carreira, mas quando ele chegou ao teatro Paramount em Nova York, foi outra coisa que o deixou nervoso: a animação das fãs. Havia milhares de adolescentes histéricas, que conheciam suas canções do rádio e estavam agora mais do que animadas para vê-lo ao vivo.

After singing with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, it was time for Frank Sinatra to go solo and cause mayheim in the music world. In December 1942, Frank was nervous as he was beginning his solo career, but when he arrived in the Paramount Theater in New York, something else made him nervous: the excitement of his fans. There were thousands of hysterical bobby-soxers, teenagers who had heard him on the radio and now were more than excited to see him live.


E durante os três anos seguintes, Sinatra continuou levando as adolescentes à loucura – mesmo sendo um homem casado de quase trinta anos... ou talvez tenha sido essa a razão? O clímax de sua popularidade e um pináculo na cultura pop americana é o chamdo “Columus Day riot”: um concerto, novamente no teatro Paramount em Nova York, em 12 de outubro de 1944, atraiu um recorde de fãs malucas. À meia-noite, a fila começou a se formar, e em quatro horas já havia 500 adolescentes esperando na fila para ver Frank. Algumas delas nem tinham ingressos, elas só queriam a oportunidade de ver o ídolo de perto. Soa familiar, não?

And during the following three or four years, Sinatra kept on driving teenagers crazy – even though he was a married man in his late 20s... or maybe this was the reason? The climax of his popularity and a pinnacle in American pop culture is the Columbus Day riot: a concert again at the Paramount Theater in New York on October 12th 1944 that attracted more crazy fans than ever. At midnight, the line started forming, and in four hours there were already 500 teenagers waiting to see Frank. Some of them didn't even have tickets, they only wanted the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the idol. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?


Essas garotas eram loucas por estarem apaixonadas por Frank Sinatra? Eu acho que não. Ele era um homem muito magro, com olhos azuis, cabelos pretos e uma voz que não parecia combinar com seu corpo. Ele tinha beleza e talento. Em um nível subconsciente, ele era um símbolo dos tempos de guerra: ele foi considerado inapto a servir o exército e ficou nos EUA cantando, e para muitas garotas ele representava o garoto conhecido que estava lutando na Europa – e que poderia nunca mais voltar. O próprio Sinatra disse que a solidão dos anos de guerra foi uma das coisas responsáveis por seu imenso sucesso.

Were these girls right to be crazily in love with Frank Sinatra? I think so. He was a very skinny, blue-eyed, black-haired man with a powerful voice that didn't seem to match his physique. He had looks and talent. In a subconscious level, he was a symbol in war times: he was considered unfit to serve the army and stayed in the US singing, and for many girls he represented the boy-next-door that was fighting in Europe – and could never return. Sinatra himself said that the loneliness of war years was one of the things responsible for his massive success.


Em seus primeiros filmes, esta imagem foi explorada. Em “Marujos do Amor” (1945), seu personagem, Clarence, é muito tímido e pede para que o maigo Joe (Gene Kelly) o ensine a conquistar as garotas. Ele é, no filme, o tipo mais fofo de tímido, e até canta a doce “I Fall in Love Too Easily”. Um comportamento semelhante é encontrado em Chip, seu personagem em “Um dia em Nova York” (1949). chip quer ver todos os pontos turístico de NY que seu avô um dia viu – o problema é que a maioria destes pontos não existe mais. Chip não corre atrás de uma garota como o Gabey de Gene Kelly faz – é a esperta taxista Hildy (Betty Garrett) que tem de flertar agressivamente com ele mais de uma vez.

In his first films, this image was explored. In “Anchors Aweigh” (1945), his character, Clarence, is too shy and asks his friend Joe (Gene Kelly) to teach him how to get girls. He is, in this film, the cutest kind of shy, and even sings the sweet song “I Fall in Love Too Easily”. Almost the same kind of behavior can be found in Chip, his character in “On the Town” (1949). Chip wants to see all the New York landmarks his grandfather has once seen – the problem is that almost all of these landmarks don't exist anymore. Chip doesn't pursue a girl like Gene Kelly's Gabey does – it's smart taxi driver Hildy (Betty Garrett) that must flirt with him aggressively again and again.



É interessante notar como nós ainda usamos alguns termos e ideias da Sinatramania em conceitos de fandoms de internet. Frank era comumente chamado de “Swoonatra”. As garotas da fandom chamavam a si mesmas de “Sinatratics” - da mesma maneira que a fandom da Beyonce é a “beyhive” e nós fãs de Benedict Cumberbatch nos chamamos de “Cumberbitches”. Eu só imagino que hashtags as fãs de Sinatra usariam no Twitter e no Tumblr...

It's very interesting to notice how we still use some terms and ideas from the Sinatramania in our concepts of internet fandom. Frank was commonly referred to as “Swoonatra”. The girls in his fandom called themselves “Sinatratics” - in the same way that the Beyonce fandom is the “Beyhive” and we Benedict Cumberbatch's fans call ourselves “Cumberbitches”. I only wonder what hashtags the Sinatratics would use on Twitter and Tumblr...


Elas também faziam “cosplay”: as fãs usavam gravata-borboleta, assim como o ídolo, e geralmente prendiam uma foto de Sinatra com um alfinete na roupa. E muitas pessoas encontraram um jeito de explorar a Sinatramania para ganhar dinheiro: havia vários produtos com o rosto de Sinatra estampado, ele foi capa de diversas revistas e, uma vez, algumas fotos foram tiradas mostrando Frank Sinatra como membro de um coral no ensino médio. O problema é que as fotos foram tiradas pelo fotógrafo Peter Martin para trazer Sinatra ainda mais perto de suas fãs – na verdade, ele nunca foi parte de um coral e já tinha 27 anos quando a foto foi tirada. Suas fãs, obviamente, não se importaram.

They also kind of cosplayed: the Sinatratics wore bow-ties, just like their idol, and usually pinned Sinatra's pictures to their outfits. And many people found a way of exploring the Sinatramania in order to make money: there were several products with Sinatra's face on it, he was on the over of many magazines, and once, some publicity photos were taken showing Frank Sinatra as a member of a high school glee club. The problem was that the photos were staged by photographer Peter Martin in order to make Sinatra even closer to his fans – in reality, he was never a part of a glee club and was actually 27 when the pic was taken. The fans, of course, didn't care.


Frank Sinatra viu sua carreira cinematográfica sofrer no final dos anos 40, mas retornou em 1953 com uma performance ganhadora do Oscar em “A um passo da eternidade”. Sua carreira na música foi um sucesso até sua morte, em 1998 – 20 anos atrás – e não podemos negar que ele ainda é uma das maiores influências no mundo da música (de acordo com o Spotify, Frank tem mais de 5 milhões de ouvintes mensais fiéis na plataforma de streaming, incluindo eu). Para ele e para a cultura pop, a Sinatramania foi só o começo.

Frank Sinatra saw his film career suffer a little in the end of the 1940s, but he returned in 1953 with an Oscar-winning performance in “From Here to Eternity”. His singing career was successful until his death, in 1998 – 20 years ago – and we can't deny that he is still a major influence in the music world (according to Spotify, Frank has more than 5 million faithful monthly listeners on the straming platform, me included). For him and for pop culture, Sinatramania was just the beginning.



This is my contribution to the Reel Infatuation blogathon, hosted by Ruth at Silver Screenings and Maedez at Font & Frock.

4 comments:

  1. I knew Sinatra was big, but I didn't realize he was THAT big! Fans wore bow ties and pinned his photo to their clothes? That is true fandom.

    With some celebrities, you can't help but think there was no way they would ever NOT be famous. Sinatra was one of those, in my opinion. Talented, charming, good looking and, as it turned out, a good actor.

    Thanks for posting photos of the fans. The early part of his career is one I haven't really looked into, so it was fascinating to learn more about that. If I didn't know these young women were Sinatra fans, I would've thought they were fans of the Beatles!

    Thanks for joining the blogathon, and thanks for reminding us how special Frank Sinatra truly was.

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  2. I confess I have always struggled with Sinatra - I certainly appreciate him, both as a musician and an actor - but I never found him to be sexy. However, I guess I'll just have to settle into the minority as millions of bobby-soxers couldn't be wrong! Great post and a reel infatuation phenomenon!

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  3. I've never personally experienced the over-the-top fan reaction to a performer, but I can't deny that along with the craziness that came with those bobbysoxers of the era, they certainly had the benefit of a singer who could really sing!

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  4. LOVE Sinatra! Undoubtedly one of the greatest singers of all time.
    Great post, as always.

    Carol, The Old Hollywood Garden

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