Frontani's Sinatra study
published in journal

An article by School of Communications faculty member Michael Frontani has been published in the Journal of American Culture. The study focuses on national media coverage of Frank Sinatra, from his first appearance in a national magazine (Newsweek, March 1943), through his "fall from grace" during the late-1940s and early 1950s, to his eventual and ultimate rise back to the top of the entertainment industry following his Oscar-winning success for "From Here to Eternity."

"The media images that came to dominate the national discourse on Sinatra throughout his career were the products of specific organizations operating at a particular time," Frontani said. "It is the thesis of this study that the national media disseminated through SinatraÕs image stereotypes of Italians and Italian Americans that originally circulated in local press items and progressive literature focused primarily upon migration of southern Italians to the United States from 1890-1920."

Within this context, the study provides an analysis of Sinatra's image, with particular reference to the American myth of success. The article appears in the Journal of American Culture 28:2, (June 2005): 216-230.