To Go Where the Brave Dare Not Follow

Frederick Weisman holds a unique spot in the history of San Diego art appreciation.

The 78-year-old Los Angeles art collector and real estate magnate just contributed 33 California artworks, worth $1.5 million, to the San Diego Museum of Art.

He also has a special place in the annals of the famed Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Never doubt that San Diego’s newest benefactor has grit.

It was at the Polo Lounge on the night of June 8, 1966, that Weisman did what few other human beings have ever dared do: He asked Frank Sinatra to quiet down.

Not just Frank alone, either. Frank, Dean Martin, Frank’s bodyguard/buddy Jilly Rizzo, actor Richard Conte and assorted ladies.

As Kitty Kelley tells the story in “His Way,” her unauthorized Sinatra biography, Weisman and a friend were in a booth next to Frank and his pals. Weisman asked Frank politely to hold down the noise.

Frank replied with an anti-Semitic remark. Weisman stood up, Frank stood up.

Frank hurled a phone at Weisman, conking him on the head.

Weisman was in critical condition for 48 hours at Mt. Sinai Hospital. “Injured in Sinatra Dispute/Weisman Recognizes Family,” said a Times headline after Weisman regained consciousness.

Kelley says Weisman dropped the idea of pressing criminal charges after receiving anonymous late-night calls.

For the record: Frank denied insulting or assaulting Weisman. He told reporters at the time that Weisman punched him and then mysteriously fell to the floor.

He has also said Kelley is a sleazeball muckraker and that newspaper columnists are likewise.

Which brings me to my last point: If Frank, Jilly or any of their associates are annoyed about this item, they should not be fooled by the byline.

This column is actually written by a machine. That man who answers the phone is an imposter.

The Madding Crowd

Maybe it’s time for San Diego City Hall to be renamed the House of Mad.

Here’s a partial list of who’s gotten mad at whom recently.

* Councilman John Hartley is mad at his unnamed colleague(s) for leaking information from a closed session about the Famosa Slough settlement. He has written to City Atty. John Witt.

Most of all, Hartley is miffed that a newspaper story based on leakage had his vote wrong:

“It is bad enough to have leaks, but couldn’t they at least leak with the facts?”

* The staff of Mayor Maureen O’Connor is mad at Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer for telling an audience that the mayor is on vacation, rather than on a trade mission to Japan.

* Councilman Bob Filner and others are mad at the mayor for supposedly gumming up appointments to boards and commissions: stalling, applying a political litmus test, pushing unqualified nominees.

* Seventy-five residents of Rancho Bernardo are mad at Filner, Linda Bernhardt and Wes Pratt for failing to attend a council committee meeting to discuss traffic in Rancho Bernardo.

Writes Ruth E. Beers: “These three not only are irresponsible, but lack a sense of integrity.”

* The Taxpayers Assn. is mad at the council’s ruling coalition for fiddling during the redistricting fight while public money was being burned up on lawyers’ fees.

Association President Milton Clow writes that the coalition brought “embarrassment to the city and its governing body.”

Saved by His Editor

Item by item.

* On Monday, I chided congressional candidate Randall (Duke) Cunningham for placing Iraq and Kuwait in North Africa in a radio ad.

Not quite. The North Africa reference was edited out of the script before Cunningham recorded the ad last week.

* Headline in the Camp Pendleton newspaper: “Military Marriages a Three-Way Street.” That’s him, her and Uncle Sam.

* Japanese are buying two more local golf courses: one in North County, one in South Bay.

* North County bumper sticker: “Strange, Deranged and Can’t Be Changed.”