Editing Frank Sinatra (section)

=== 1946–1952: Columbia years and career slump ===
Despite being heavily involved in political activity in 1945 and 1946, in those two years, Sinatra sang on 160 radio shows, recorded 36 times, and shot four films. By 1946, he was performing on stage up to 45 times a week, singing up to 100 songs daily, and earning up to $93,000 a week.{{Sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=150}}

In 1946, Sinatra released "[[Oh! What it Seemed to Be]]", "[[Day by Day (1945 song)|Day by Day]]", "[[They Say It's Wonderful]]", "[[Five Minutes More]]", and "[[The Coffee Song]]" as singles,{{sfn|Kelley|1986|p=569}} and launched his first album, ''[[The Voice of Frank Sinatra]]'',{{sfn|Rojek|2004|p=43}} which reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' chart. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote that Sinatra "took the material very seriously, singing the love lyrics with utter seriousness" and that his "singing and the classically influenced settings gave the songs unusual depth of meaning."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-voice-of-frank-sinatra-mw0000659223|title=The Voice of Frank Sinatra|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 28, 2015|archive-date=October 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024012157/http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-voice-of-frank-sinatra-mw0000659223|url-status=live}}</ref> He was soon selling 10{{nbsp}}million records a year.{{sfn|Kelley|1986|p=129}} 

Such was Sinatra's command at Columbia that his love of conducting was indulged with the release of the set ''[[Frank Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder]]'', an offering unlikely to appeal to Sinatra's core fanbase of teenage girls at the time.{{sfn|Gigliotti|2002|p=21}} The following year he released his second album, ''[[Songs by Sinatra]]'', featuring songs of a similar mood and tempo such as [[Irving Berlin]]'s "[[How Deep is the Ocean?]]" and [[Harold Arlen]]'s and [[Jerome Kern]]'s "[[All The Things You Are]]".{{sfn|Osborne|2014|p=98}} "[[Mam'selle]]", composed by [[Edmund Goulding]] with lyrics by [[Mack Gordon]] for the film ''[[The Razor's Edge (1946 film)|The Razor's Edge]]'' (1946),{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=236}} was released as a single.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=569}} 

Sinatra had competition; versions by [[Art Lund]], [[Dick Haymes]], [[Dennis Day]], and The Pied Pipers also reached the top ten of the ''Billboard'' charts.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6h8EAAAAMBAJ&q=Mam%27selle+billboard&pg=PA23|magazine=Billboard|title=Most Played Juke Box Records|page=23|date=May 31, 1947|issn=0006-2510|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=August 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819013311/https://books.google.com/books?id=6h8EAAAAMBAJ&q=Mam%27selle+billboard&pg=PA23|url-status=live}}</ref> In December, he recorded "[[Sweet Lorraine]]" with the [[Metronome All-Stars]], featuring talented jazz musicians such as [[Coleman Hawkins]], [[Harry Carney]] and [[Charlie Shavers]], with [[Nat King Cole]] on piano, in what Charles L. Granata describes as "one of the highlights of Sinatra's Columbia epoch".{{Sfn|Granata|2003|p=50}}

Sinatra's third album, ''[[Christmas Songs by Sinatra]]'', was originally released in 1948 as a 78{{nbsp}}rpm album set,{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=47–48}} and a 10" LP record was released two years later.{{sfn|Larkin|2002|p=397}} When Sinatra was featured as a priest in ''[[The Miracle of the Bells]]'', due to press negativity surrounding his alleged Mafia connections at the time,{{efn|Sinatra was spotted in Havana in 1946 with mobster [[Lucky Luciano]], which started a series of negative press articles, implicating Sinatra with the Mafia.{{sfn|Hanna|1998|p=21}} In 1947, he was involved in a violent incident with journalist [[Lee Mortimer]], who had written some of the most scathing articles on his alleged connections. Kelley says that his articles grew so offensive that Sinatra pounced on him outside Ciro's and punched him behind the left ear in response to an insult in which he was called a "dago". Sinatra was taken to court, and according to Kelley, Mortimer received Mafia threats to drop the case or lose his life.{{sfn|Kelley|1986|pp=139–141}}}} it was announced to the public that Sinatra would donate his $100,000 in wages from the film to the [[Catholic Church]].{{sfn|Hanna|1998|p=21}} 

By the end of 1948, Sinatra had slipped to fourth on ''DownBeat''{{'}}s annual poll of most popular singers,{{sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=149}} and in the following year he was pushed out of the top spots in polls for the first time since 1943.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=158}} ''[[Frankly Sentimental]]'' (1949) was panned by ''DownBeat'', who commented that "for all his talent, it seldom comes to life."{{Sfn|Shaw|1968|p=131}}

[[File:Frank Sinatra Metronome magazine November 1950.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Sinatra in November 1950]]
Though "[[The Hucklebuck]]" reached the top ten,{{Sfn|Sinatra|1986|p=301}} it was his last single release under the Columbia label.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=569}} Sinatra's last two albums with Columbia, ''[[Dedicated to You (Frank Sinatra album)|Dedicated to You]]'' and ''[[Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra]]'', were released in 1950.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=218}} Sinatra would later feature a number of the ''Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra'' album's songs, including "[[Lover (Rodgers and Hart song)|Lover]]", "[[It's Only a Paper Moon (song)|It's Only a Paper Moon]]", and "[[It All Depends on You]]", on his 1961 Capitol release, ''[[Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!]]''.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=67}}

Culminating the low of his career was the death of publicist George Evans in January 1950. According to [[Jimmy Van Heusen]], Sinatra's close friend and songwriter, Evans's death to him was "an enormous shock which defies words", as he had been crucial to his career and popularity with the "[[Bobby soxer (subculture)|Bobby soxers]]".{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=161}} 

Sinatra's reputation continued to decline as reports broke in February of his affair with Ava Gardner and the destruction of his marriage to Nancy,{{sfn|Small|2009|p=59}} though he insisted that his marriage had long been over even before he met Gardner.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=162}} In April, Sinatra was engaged to perform at the [[Copacabana (nightclub)|Copa]] club in New York, but had to cancel five days of the booking due to a submucosal hemorrhage of the throat.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|pp=168–169}} Evans once said that whenever Sinatra suffered from a bad throat and loss of voice it was always due to emotional tension, which "absolutely destroyed him".{{Sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=151}}

[[File:The Desert Inn Vegas 1968.jpg|thumb|The [[Desert Inn]], Las Vegas, where Sinatra began performing in 1951]]
In financial difficulty following his divorce and career decline, Sinatra was forced to borrow $200,000 from Columbia to pay his back taxes after MCA refused to front the money.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=172}} Rejected by Hollywood, he turned to [[Las Vegas]] and made his debut at the [[Desert Inn]] in September 1951,{{sfn|Shaw|1982|p=48}} and also began singing at the Riverside Hotel in [[Reno, Nevada]]. 

Sinatra's decline in popularity was evident in his concert appearances. At a brief run at the Paramount in New York, he drew small audiences.{{sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=164}} At the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, he performed to half-filled houses.{{sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=529}} At a concert at [[Chez Paree]] in Chicago, only 150 people turned up in a 1,200-seat venue.{{sfn|Kaplan|2011|p=529}} By April 1952, he was performing at the [[Kauai County Fair]] in Hawaii.{{sfn|Sinatra|1986|p=93}} Sinatra's relationship with Columbia Records was disintegrating, with [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] executive [[Mitch Miller]] claiming he "couldn't give away" Sinatra records.{{sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=164}}{{efn|Miller tried to offset Sinatra's declining record sales by introducing "gimmicky novel tunes" in his repertoire, such as "Mama Will Bark" to appeal to younger audiences.<ref name="columbia-yrs-hemming-36">{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952 |title-link=The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952 |year=1995 |chapter=Sinatra Standards |first=Hemming |last=Roy |page=36 |type=booklet |publisher=SONY Music Entertainment |id=C4K 64681 |location=New York }}</ref>{{sfn|Kaplan|2011|pp=476–477}} "Mama Will Bark" is often cited as the worst of Sinatra's career. Miller thought he would try this novelty approach for Sinatra because he felt his "great records" were not selling.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=74}} Initially, Sinatra went along with this approach, but eventually, he came to resent Miller for the poor material he was being offered.{{sfn|Kaplan|2011|pp=476, 509}}}} Though several notable recordings were made during this time period, such as "[[I Could Write a Book|If I Could Write a Book]]" in January 1952, which Granata sees as a "turning point", forecasting his later work with its sensitivity,{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=74}} 

Columbia and MCA dropped him later that year.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=76}} His last studio recording for Columbia, "Why Try To Change Me Now", was recorded in New York on September 17, 1952, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by [[Percy Faith]].{{sfn|Kaplan|2011|p=535}} Journalist [[Burt Boyar]] observed, "Sinatra had had it. It was sad. From the top to the bottom in one horrible lesson."{{sfn|Summers|Swan|2010|p=164}}