Sometimes the greatest opportunities come sneaking in when you’d least expect them. Something similar once happened with the broadcasting giant Larry King when he secured an impossible interview with the legendary singer Frank Sinatra.
The interview was so dope that it helped the late journalist Larry to be a part of the singer's personal history. Now the story goes like, back in the day in the mid-1960s when Larry was hosting his radio show, he evidently wanted Frank to come as his guest. However, the singer was renowned for another quality of his: avoiding interviews!
Talking about the singer, Larry in an interview described, “I'd say Frank Sinatra was the number one star in the world. I'd say Frank Sinatra was Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, rolled into one. In the 1960s, you couldn't get bigger”.
Larry once was asked at a dinner party what would be something impossible in his field and he replied, “Frank Sinatra, on my radio show for three hours, during the time he's in Miami.”
However soon destiny played him in the slyest way possible. American actor and comedian Jackie Gleason became the unlikely link in this twist of fate. He arranged an interview with Frank, leaving Larry overjoyed at the opportunity. Larry quoting their conversation said, “And Jackie Gleason said, 'You got him.' I said, 'What?'... He said, 'Next Monday, you got him.'”
As five minutes to 9 o'clock that Monday, the singer failed to show up at the recording studio, Larry lost hope and Jackie got mad at his response. Larry said, “He got mad. He's like, 'Didn't I tell you he was coming?' I said, 'Okay Jackie, I'm sorry.'”
And then the promise was kept! Describing the thrilling moment of Frank’s arrival, Larry said, “You couldn't be bigger. I'm standing, it's five to nine, I go on at five after nine... Suddenly, this limo comes. Frank gets out. His PR guy comes with him."
And the iconic interview began! Frank said he started off by asking, “Why are you here?' Because the audience has got to wonder how I got him. I don't know how I got him."
Concluding the interview Larry said that from that moment, he built a rapport with Frank, a connection that ultimately led to the singer’s final television appearance on Larry King Live in May 1988.
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