The One Candy Frank Sinatra Always Had To Have In His Dressing Room

He was one of the most significant pop culture figures of the 20th century. He was a decorated singer and an Oscar-winning actor. One of the greatest celebrity profiles in journalistic history was written about the time he had a mild cold. Frank Sinatra was a true star, a towering presence, and — even without his reputed ties to the Mafia — certainly not a man to be trifled with. This is all to say that when Frank Sinatra asked for his dressing room to be stocked with assorted Life Savers, you stocked that dressing room with assorted Life Savers.

When a performer is set to do a live act at a certain venue, they draw up what is known as a "rider" for whoever owns that venue: a list of criteria the performer needs satisfied, both in terms of technical equipment and dressing room hospitality. (In some cases, as with Van Halen's no-brown-M&Ms rider request, there's overlap: if the brown M&Ms weren't removed from their dressing room candy bowl, that meant other parts of the rider, including necessary safety equipment, may have been neglected.) Sinatra, even late in his career, was a huge live draw, which meant he could put more or less anything he wanted on his rider. And what did this titan of American culture want? Among other things, he wanted 24 rolls of Life Savers: 12 rolls of cherry-flavored Life Savers and 12 rolls of assorted Life Savers. (No word on his taste for Life Saver Holes or Life Savers Soda, which was thankfully discontinued.)

Ol' Blue Eyes had plenty of other requests aside from his preferred brand of ring-shaped hard candy. Some of the other items on his rider included several cans of chicken and rice soup (Campbell's, natch); a half-dozen sandwiches, two with egg salad, two with chicken salad, and two with turkey; a cheese platter; and assorted liquors including Beefeater gin and Chivas Regal scotch. (As far as riders go, Sinatra's was thorough but not especially extravagant — even though most of the items provided would go largely untouched.)

But Sinatra did seem to have an affinity for Life Savers, especially cherry Life Savers. In fact, the Chairman of the Board was reportedly buried with a roll of cherry Life Savers, along with Tootsie Rolls, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, and a pack of Camel cigarettes. Sinatra never talked about his taste for hard candy, so we don't really know why he liked them so much. But, when it came to Sinatra, "why" wasn't necessarily an important question — he wanted it done, and so it was.