Frank Sinatra

After almost 50 years of plying his trade, Frank Sinatra still calls himself a simple "saloon singer. " Yet to these respectful ears, he's a national treasure, and also, I fear, something of an endangered species - the first and last of a vanishing breed. For who else will sing the great songs of the 1930s and '40s and '50s, the works of the Rodgers and Harts, Johnny Mercers and the (recently departed) Harold Arlens, when Sinatra is gone? Linda Ronstadt? Carly Simon?

Phillippe Sinatra Ryan Phillippe also has a fascination - formerly an obsession - with Frank Sinatra. "I didn't date much in high school," he said, "and when I was 16 I used to drive around in my dad's pickup on Friday night and listen to Sid Mark. " A particular fan of Ol' Blue Eyes' 1950s period, "when his voice and swagger peaked," Phillippe named his daughter Ava (after Sinatra love Ava Gardner) and his bulldog, who passed away last year, Frank. He became this macho icon, Phillippe said of his idol, and he started as "a little runt of a guy from Hoboken.

Can it be that Frank Sinatra is 75? The finger-snapping Frankie, who began his career before Elvis was born, continues to please audiences at an age when most people settle into a rocking chair. Hardly a day goes by that Sinatra's sound doesn't appear in my head - unexpected, but like an old friend, hardly unwelcome. When a mood darkens, some people call on a mantra, or count to 10; I recall "A Foggy Day" or "World On A String" and the skies lighten. It's a wondrous quality how some entertainers - Satchmo, Caruso, Judy Garland, for instance - have worn their hearts on their sleeves and given joy and inspiration to an audience.

A rumor that's been around since spring was confirmed yesterday when Frank Sinatra's manager announced that the singer would give a concert on Sept. 27 in Milan, his first performance in Italy in 23 years. No word on where he'll sing, but the story in April was that negotiations were under way to have him appear at La Scala. Sinatra, accompanied by a 40-piece orchestra, will play Milan after a two-day gig in Madrid's Bernabeau soccer stadium. NELSON'S SUIT Kristin Nelson, divorced wife of Rick Nelson, and their four children have filed a wrongful death suit against three companies in connection with the Dec. 31 ariplane crash that killed the singer in Texas.

It was a struggling band with an unknown vocalist that trooped into a Brunswick Records studio in New York 50 years ago this week to cut a pair of sides called "From the Bottom of My Heart" and "Melancholy Mood. " They left still struggling; the disc sold only 8,000 copies. But shed no tears. The Harry James Orchestra went on to have nine No. 1 hits, and the unknown vocalist, Frank Sinatra, went on to sing better than almost anyone else in his century. Furthermore, young as Sinatra's first recorded-and-released vocals sound today, the seeds were already there.

ATLANTIC CITY'S dire financial straits have made it a punching bag for those who believe the town's glory days are behind it. But don't count Frank Sinatra Jr. among them. "I think Atlantic City is coming back," insisted Sinatra, who plays Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa tonight and tomorrow. "It is Atlantic City that draws people to Atlantic City," he added, citing those things - the beach, ocean and Boardwalk - that the town's Pennsylvania-based competition can't, and never will, claim.

Frank Sinatra rested at his Rancho Mirage, Calif., home yesterday, a day after collapsing onstage during a performance at the Mosque auditorium in Richmond, Va. He said it was "very, very good to be home" and his spokeswoman said he'll resume his tour in a few weeks. Sunday night, three hours after being rushed by ambulance to the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, the entertainer strode out of the facility. "He decided he wanted to leave and he left," said a hospital spokesman.

Friends of Frank Sinatra are cranking up a tribute to the unofficially retired performer at Manhattan's Carnegie Hall in late July. Signed up so far: Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Vic Damone, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney and Frank Sinatra Jr. The chairman's spokesman said the singer won't perform but is "delighted" about the tribute, which might take up three nights. Meanwhile, in a new book out next month, Shirley MacLaine writes lovingly and longingly about the toll that age has taken on her old Rat Pack pals, Sinatra and Dean Martin.

A blond woman in a bright orange jumpsuit grabs your wrist, asking you to look straight into her powder-blue eyes while she confesses just how deeply her feelings run for Frank Sinatra: "He teaches life," she says. "It's like he was the teacher and I was the student. " Alice Frascella of Philadelphia is one of many worshipers. "He's Babe Ruth when it comes to music," said Marty McCrossen, 37, of South Philadelphia. "He's probably the best thing to happen to popular music.

For 10 years, Sid Mark played nothing but Sinatra on his weekly radio show. Sinatra's people loved it and kept calling from the Coast. "What can we do for you, Sid?" they asked. "You want a TV, a couple extra records?" Sid wanted only one thing - to meet Frank. "Sure, kid, sure," Sinatra's people would say. But Frank never called. In 1966, Mark got an early release of a new Sinatra album and played it continuously for two days. A local record store sold out its 200 advance copies in one day, restocked overnight and sold out again the next day. Sinatra heard about it and went wild.

James F. McErlain Jr., 89, of Rydal, a retired sales executive, died Saturday, Feb. 25, of complications of Parkinson's disease at Holy Redeemer Hospital. Mr. McErlain graduated from Northeast High School in 1941. During World War II, he served in the Army as a military policeman at Fort Lewis, Wash. After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1951. While at Temple, he was a salesman for Stuart F. Louchheim Co., an appliance firm in Philadelphia.

Chillin' Wit' is a regular feature of the Daily News spotlighting a name in the news away from the job. FRANK SINATRA is crooning "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" on the radio, but Pugsly can't hear him. At 12 years old, Pugsly's world is void of sight and sound but it's not filled with fear as he rests his chubby cheek in the warm palm of his human, Donna Franchetti. Pugsly, a blind, deaf pug, was a Daily News pet of the week in December. All the ladies in the newsroom swooned over his picture but we wondered who, if anyone, would adopt him. Who would be his Anne Sullivan?

  A SINGER DOING a Frank Sinatra tribute in an Atlantic City casino? Stop the freakin' presses, right? Not so fast. That isn't just any singer paying homage to the showbiz immortal on the stage of Resorts Casino Hotel's Superstar Theater. As a matter of fact, Brandon Tomasello, whose "Sing, Swing, Sinatra" program runs through Feb. 16, is unlike any performer in the almost 34-year-history of legal gambling in Atlantic City. After all, up until now, entertainers headlining extended-run presentations in AyCee have been old enough to gamble.

LOS ANGELES - Actor James Farentino, whose private life was sometimes as dramatic as the roles he played, died Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 73. Best known for his TV work, Farentino was one of the last contract performers with Universal Studios in the 1960s. His nearly 100 roles included recurring appearances in such series as "The Bold Ones: The Lawyers," "Dynasty," "Blue Thunder" and "Police Story. " Farentino, born Feb. 24, 1938, in Brooklyn, the son of a clothing designer, trained for the stage at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before launching his career with a 1961 Broadway appearance in "Night of the Iguana.

ATLANTIC CITY'S dire financial straits have made it a punching bag for those who believe the town's glory days are behind it. But don't count Frank Sinatra Jr. among them. "I think Atlantic City is coming back," insisted Sinatra, who plays Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa tonight and tomorrow. "It is Atlantic City that draws people to Atlantic City," he added, citing those things - the beach, ocean and Boardwalk - that the town's Pennsylvania-based competition can't, and never will, claim.

FRANK L. "BUD" TOSTI Sr. had a work ethic that wouldn't quit, and he passed that characteristic on to his offspring. "He taught mostly through example," said his son Frank Jr. "But he was never shy about sermons either, on what he thought it took to be successful. "First and foremost, it was about hard work - having a solid work ethic, getting your hands dirty and rolling up your sleeves. " His father was a successful certified public accountant who endeared himself to his customers and made them his friends.

ATLANTIC CITY - See this pocket of summer, the end of August through September's Labor Day holiday? Well, Joe Piscopo owns it. There are comedians such as Chris Tucker and standard-bearing entertainers such as Donny Osmond coming to Atlantic City to perform in the coming weeks, but Piscopo rules this town and these weeks. And it's not just because the Passaic, N.J.-born comedian and instrumentalist has his own spot, Club Piscopo, inside Atlantic City's Resorts Casino Hotel that offers an old-school variety-show mix. Drift back to this time last year and you'll recall his ring-a-ding "That's Life" at Caesars casino, where the Jersey Boys' Michael Longoria sang like Frankie Valli and Piscopo did his highly acclaimed impersonations of fellow Jersey-ians Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen.

ANYBODY WHO was anybody - and some who weren't anybody in particular - met at Old Original Bookbinder's back in the day. And the man who greeted them, counseled them, consoled them and sometimes even kept them out of trouble was a distinguised gentleman who was the epitome of cool - the maitre d', Anthony R. Pantalone. Always attired in a tuxedo, Anthony was charming, witty, and the very soul of discretion. He could just as easily steer a woman into a room out of sight of her husband who was dining with another woman as kibitz with Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher, Frank Sinatra, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, John Wayne, Liberace, Dick Vermeil, Sparky Anderson - the list goes on and on. Fred Lavner, longtime friend and patron, told of the time that he and his wife were asked by Anthony to move from a table in the Presidents Room, offering various excuses.

Considering that Frank Sinatra was head and shoulders above all the rest, maybe it's fitting that now that's all you can see of him on Broad Street. A three-story building under construction on Broad Street near Wharton, between a mural of Sinatra and the gas station at the corner, now obscures the massive wall-art of Ol' Blue Eyes. "It was really a landmark on Broad Street," said Jane Golden, director of the Mural Arts Program. "Many people feel that Philadelphia was [Sinatra's]

My Life With Frank By Barbara Sinatra Crown Archetype. 400 pp. $24.99 Reviewed by Susan Whitall For fans, there can be no more intimate insider than Frank Sinatra's longest-running (and last) wife, Barbara, and indeed she details his neat streak (at least three showers a day), the gift of his voice, unstinting appetite for a party, and the intense romanticism that lured so many women to his bed. One night, when Barbara retired early and locked her door to get away from her husband and his heavy-drinking friends, he ended up banging on her door at 5 a.m. "Who is it?"