Book Essay: Frank Sinatra

Gay Talese displayed one of the most persistent journalistic attitudes in writing a story about Frank Sinatra for Esquire magazine without even interviewing Sinatra.

After Sinatra refused an interview, Talese looked to options A, B and C to complete the story, interviewing Sinatra’s companions until he had enough to print the story. Instead of worrying about what couldn’t happen, he took care of what he could do and let the rest fall into place.

There is always a way to get the story done, but as a writer you have to be persistent and passionate enough to find it. You can’t expect sources to respond to your email requests for an interview, and you can’t take no for an answer. You have to make it happen. And that’s exactly what Talese did.

Talese used a column-type style to write this feature, inserting himself into the story on multiple occasions, and giving writers another option to consider for the future.

While he was far from concise – a principle that is heavily enforced in journalism schools today – he was still able to capture the story and grab readers with colorful writing full of real-life details.

He used the main plot line as a base to weave in tidbits about Sinatra’s life. The main plot line showed Sinatra, who was depressed about a cold, slowly regain a cheery mood by the end of the story. He took a vacation, his voice started to feel better and things started to look up for him.

But along the way, Talese mixed in side-stories about Sinatra’s life from his lonely childhood to his children. Talese used these examples to show who Sinatra really was, rather than say it.

These are all insights that current writers can take from Talese and implement into their own styles.