Before Performing, Frank Sinatra Always Requested 3 Cans Of This Soup

One of the perks of becoming super-star famous is that, when you are asked or hired to make an appearance, you have the bandwidth to make some requests, whether that's for your personal comfort or performance needs. These request lists (or, more likely, requirement lists) are called riders, and they often come in the form of things a celebrity wants in their dressing rooms. In his heyday, Frank Sinatra's rider was equal parts extensive, cliché, and curious. An unearthed dressing room rider list from Sinatra's team in 1991 revealed 37 requirements (extensive), plenty of drinks and snacks (cliché), and three cans of Campbell's Chicken & Rice soup (curious).

Interestingly enough, Sinatra's request wasn't for the soup to be heated and ready for consumption when it got to his dressing room. From what we can gather, he or someone in his entourage would have warmed the soup themselves, because the rider also requested a crockpot and ladle for the soup, plus four porcelain soup bowls with spoons. He may have enjoyed this warm soup to either curb his hunger before a concert or soothe his throat afterwards. If it was the former, Sinatra obviously liked to have options, because his rider also included a lot more food.

Perhaps Frank Sinatra liked his soup with a sandwich on the side, because his dressing room request also specified two each of egg salad, chicken salad, and ham and cheese sandwiches, In addition, he wanted a cheese and cracker tray, a fruit bowl, pretzels and chips, a bag of mini mysteriously-flavored Tootsie Rolls, 24 rolls of Lifesavers candies, plus 12 boxes of cough drops. His beverage needs were astounding and included seven assorted bottles of booze, cases of mostly diet sodas, water, and ingredients to make hot tea. It's absolutely reasonable to assume that these quantities of food and drink were to accommodate Sinatra and his entire team, and possibly friends and special guests who might have been invited to socialize before or after his shows. But, as it turns out, his entourage had their own refreshments, and Sinatra rarely entertained in his dressing room.

As for his choice of soup, you could say Sinatra had an affinity for the Campbell's brand. He even lent one of his greatest tunes, "Love and Marriage" to a Campbell's soup commercial from 1961, advertising the delights of soup and sandwiches together.

It's unclear whether his riders were always as extensive as this one from 1991 or if he was particularly discriminating during this concert; Sinatra would have been 75 years old at the time and well into his icon status, meaning he probably could have asked for anything he wanted... which he apparently did. It's interesting that his rider didn't include Italian food, since he was known to be extremely fond of the cuisine, calling Patsy's restaurant in New York one of his favorites where he regularly ordered veal Milanese.