Thought exercise: If your mom was the late socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, and you found a box of “telegram love letters from Frank Sinatra†when sorting through her affairs, would you:
(a) Publish a little coffee-table book for the Bemelmans girlies in love with all things old-New-York-opulence to pay $45 for;
(b) Burn them in the fire and shed a tear just to feel something;
(c) Paraphrase a couple of them on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert?
Thought exercise over, because Anderson Cooper bravely chose option C. He says that while his mother and Sinatra’s relationship was brief, he wrote telegrams totally in-character, like, “Star! Comin’ to town, your feller on the white horse, ring-a-ding-ding!†Some are more benign boyfriend material, like, “I’m in Melbourne, on my way to you, Star! I think of you more than I should. Call me!†Colbert’s response: “So you and Ronan Farrow might be Frank Sinatra’s son!†And that’s why they pay him the big bucks.