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young and gay, but since then, there had been the
assassination. At millions of breakfast tables, there was a shocked
reaction to the image of Jack Kennedy's widow lending her presence to
Sinatra's loveboat.
Nobody was more aware of the impact than the politically conscious
Kennedys. They quietly revealed that Jackie had dined with Teddy that
evening. Jackie's secretary, Pamela Turnure, told reporters that the
visit had never taken place. Bobby called the A.P. and asked for a
correction. The A.P. obliged.
But if Jackie had not gone aboard the Southern Breeze, who was the lady
in the black sweater? Neither Bobby, nor Teddy, nor Frankie was willing
to say. But Roz Russell was: "It was Pat Lawford," she said, speaking
as someone who was there. Subsequent pictures, published belatedly,
made fuzzily clear that she was right.
Last Launch. So far it had all been fun and games. And then real life
and real death intruded. Lingering over late-night coffee too long in
Martha's Vineyard, the Southern Breeze's Third Mate Robert Goldfarb,
23, and Steward Jim Grimes missed the last launch back.
Two pretty young waitresses, anxious for a closer look at the yacht,
volunteered to row them out in a dinghy. Four hundred feet offshore it
capsized, and Goldfarb gave the only life preserver to Grimes, who
could not swim. By the time rescue launches arrived, Goldfarb had been
washed away.
With spirits dampened, Sinatra headed back to New York. Somehow it no
longer seemed such a lark, and the balding star even answered a
hallooing newsman, told him: "You're right. I am not married." Next
morning Frank did not appear to express condolences to Goldfarb's widow
and parents, who came aboard to collect his personal effects. The idyl
was disintegrating.
That afternoon Mia and Frank took launches to opposite sides of the
Hudson. He was presumably visiting his parents in New Jersey, while Mia
met her mother in Manhattan. After a lunch at the Plaza, Mother
O'Sullivan set out to set the record straight. "Mia has been ill and
was in the hospital for three days. Rest and relaxation was what she
need ed. That was the reason she went for the cruise." Then she had an
added thought. "The one thing that has been overlooked here, I think,"
said Maureen, "is that she was perfectly chaperoned during this whole
thing. And by dear friends of mine. I was in touch with them at all
times."
