Tony Danza still thinks about the night Frank Sinatra yelled at him — 30 years ago.
“I was singing to him,” Danza recalled of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ 1995 televised 80th birthday tribute, talking to The Post while sitting amidst a flurry of Frank memorabilia in his Upper West Side apartment.
“Back then, I didn’t really sing — except for in the shower. But Frank liked my performance, though afterwards it looked like he was losing his balance, because he was perched on these high steps. So I put my hands under him and then he threw his elbow back and almost got me in the chin,” he said.
The Chairman of the Board turned and snarled.
“Back off! What’s your problem?” Danza remembers him saying.
The “Who’s the Boss” and “Taxi” actor was shocked — but Sinatra’s burly longtime confidante Jilly Rizzo said to just shrug it off.
“He pulls me aside and said, ‘Don’t worry about it, Tony. That’s how you know Frank likes you.’”
Snag yourself a ticket to Danza’s popular and typically sold-out NYC cabaret show, “Sinatra and Stories,” and that’s just one of many tales from the good old days you might hear.
Currently packing Café Carlyle at The Carlyle night after night with dates through Oct. 2, the performance features Danza accompanied by a four-piece band, regaling the crowd with Sinatra tunes and tales from his friendship with the legendary crooner — with some tap dancing and ukulele-playing in the mix.
“What I try to do is mirror those old variety shows where you have a host and all of the acts,” Danza said of the performance, which he launched last year and brought back due to popular demand.
“But in this, I’m both the host and all of the acts. It’s a little of this and a little bit of that.”
And why Sinatra, as a theme?
“They say write what you know.”
You make me feel so young
Long before the 74-year-old Danza skyrocketed to stardom on breakout sitcom “Taxi” in 1978, he was just a kid from Brooklyn who would often hear Sinatra’s songs echo throughout the family’s East New York home.
“My mother, when I was a young kid, turned me onto Frank and got me excited about him,” Danza told The Post.
“And throughout high school and college, I sang along with his records like the rest of us.”
After moving to Long Island as a teen, he became interested in boxing, later scoring a wrestling scholarship to attend Iowa’s University of Dubuque.
He soon found himself training at Gleason’s Gym — where Muhammad Ali also threw punches at the time. It was during a boxing match that a producer scouted Tony to pursue acting.
“By some miracle, when I got out to Hollywood, I ended up being in Frank’s circle,” Danza recalled with a sustained sense of awe. “It was really kind of crazy.”
By then, the singer had been retired for years, but was hot once again after returning to the stage in spectacular fashion with 1974’s “Main Event” — a boxing-themed comeback concert at Madison Square Garden concocted by Jerry Weintraub.
Come fly with me
The careers of the two personalities soon wound up dovetailing rather neatly — Danza’s film debut, 1983’s “Cannonball Run II,” happened to be Sinatra’s last movie credit. (Dean Martin’s, too.)
Danza soon endeared himself to the Hoboken native — that is, after he got over being starstruck.
“When I saw him, I probably referred to him as ‘Mr. Sinatra.’ It was so hard to call him just Frank,” he said.
“He had an aura when he walked into the room — there was always a hush,” he remembered. “Most times, I just didn’t say anything, you know?
“But one night in a booth, I girded myself and said, ‘Uh, Frank?’ And he looked up and answered me.”
Soon, they were hanging out like old pals — Danza told The Post about an evening the pair were sitting by a pool, Sinatra drinking Jack Daniels, his favorite — Humphrey Bogart turned him onto it. In between gulps, he was also chain-smoking Camels.
Feeling courageous, the fledgling star had a question: “I said, ‘Does the drinking and the smoking mess with your voice?’”
Sinatra took a sip, then a puff, and turned to him.
“‘I’ve never met a singer worth his shit who didn’t smoke two packs a day,’” he shrugged.
Frank’s the ‘Boss’
One of the best days of his life, Danza said, was the time he got to introduce his mother to the “My Way” singer on the set of “Who’s the Boss” in 1989, where Sinatra, guest-starring on the classic sitcom, gifted her his handkerchief.
Famously impatient, cast and crew were shocked by the superstar’s relaxed attitude while filming an episode where Danza’s character, Tony Micelli, gets kicked out of a party where Sinatra was to perform.
Eventually, Micelli gets to meet his idol — while getting a drink at the bar.
“How does it feel to be worshipped and adored by millions?” Danza’s wide-eyed alter-ego asked.
“Nice,” Sinatra coolly replied.
And while millions can’t fit into the intimate Carlyle, currently celebrating its 70th anniversary, Danza’s fans are worshipping and adoring his latest act — leading to 24 sold-out shows in a row in its current run.
“For a long time I couldn’t get into the place, and then my manager called me to say that they wanted me to perform there in less than a month,” he remembers of the short notice of his initial engagement.
“I said, ‘Wait, did somebody drop out?’ He said, ‘Do you want the job or not?’
“I can’t believe people come to see me. Are you kidding me? Sometimes I’m amazed — you walk in through the back and pass all of the people; they really pack them in. It’s self-affirming,” he admitted. “It really is.”
It was a very good year
Besides basking in the glow of a lengthy and rewarding career, Danza also keeps busy these days with his Stars of Tomorrow Project, an NYC-based organization offering mentorship and free acting, voice, dance and movement lessons to youths in need.
“I’m a big believer that, unfortunately, in our country today, we’ve abdicated responsibility for nurturing our children,” he said, turning serious for a moment.
“I think it’s really important we give them something else to be interested in — rather than things that could lead to a gun or something.”
Already, program alumnae are making good — with some even headed for Broadway.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of kids who have gone to college,” Danza said of the charity, which will hold its third annual benefit at the Sheen Center in Greenwich Village on Oct 14. He’ll co-chair the evening with an equally legendary former co-star — Danny DeVito.
Tony’s New York
When not busy entertaining his fans at the Carlyle, here are some of Danza’s favorite Big Apple nightspots.
Patsy’s Italian Restaurant
Danza gravitates to the old-school red-sauce joint just off Columbus Circle — an Italian mainstay since its 1944 opening, and famously a Sinatra haunt. “I’ve known the family forever,” he says of the Scognamillos, including father Joe and son Sal. “Frank loved that place, and I do, too.”
236 W. 56th St.
Manny’s Bistro
Danza has gone viral on TikTok after performing impromptu Sunday afternoon sets outside this old-fashioned French restaurant known for its live music. “Aside from the band, the food is incredible.”
225 Columbus Ave.
54 Below
Danza is known to catch a show at the popular Midtown cabaret spot, known for regularly hosting Broadway crooners and veteran acts. “I think it’s one of the great places of all time; not only to play, but because of what they do,” he says of owner Michael Feinstein, the well-known champion of the Great American Songbook.
254 W. 54th St.
Gallagher’s Steakhouse
“If I’m going on a date, I’ll go Gallagher’s,” winks Danza of the nearly century-old Meatpacking District haunt. Naturally, it has a showbiz pedigree — the fabled spot was opened by Helen Gallagher, a former Ziegfeld girl.
228 W. 52nd St.
Frankie and Johnnie’s Steakhouse
“It’s really wonderful,” Danza says of his other favorite steakhouse — which started as a speakeasy and next year celebrates 100 years in business. “It’s right on Restaurant Row. If you take someone there, they would be really impressed.”
320 W. 46th St.
Sardi’s
Another Broadway legend, Danza was anointed with his caricature on the wall when he starred in the Max Bialystock role in Mel Brooks’ musical comedy “The Producers” in 2007. “I wrote ‘Fix!’ on it above my signature, which was stupid. I guess it made sense to me at the time.”
234 W. 44th St.
Birdland
For straightforward jazz, Danza favors Birdland. The circa-1949 music and super club was named after Charlie Parker and was formerly a haunt of the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, who are regularly honored in its current live programming.
315 W. 44th St.
Bemelmans Bar
“The most amazing thing is how the demographics have changed here in recent years,” Danza muses of the influx of influencers at the other legendary hideaway tucked into the luxe Carlyle Hotel. “It’s a mix of everybody, and a hotspot now among young people. You can’t get in the place!”
35 E. 76th St.
