Hollywood Publicist Jim Mahoney Reflects on Sinatra Kidnapping and a Storied Career

As publicist to the stars, Jim Mahoney navigated a slew of difficult situations during his 60-year career — but none was as hazardous as the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. — son of his singing legend client.

“Frank was smoking so much, his voice didn’t sound like himself,” recalls Jim, who penned his exploits in his memoir “Get Mahoney!” “He was upset, but he stayed cool.”

Ol’ Blue Eyes’ famous friends like Judy Garland, Peter Lawford and Debbie Reynolds offered their support, while the secretary of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called. But Sinatra did insist on taking a call from a mysterious man called Momo.

“Turns out that Momo was Sam Giancana, the biggest mobster in the country!” Jim says. “The kidnappers didn’t realize they had the cops and the mob after them!”

Meanwhile, Jim was managing information from the home of Nancy Sinatra, mother of kidnapped Junior. As he surveyed the army of reporters waiting for updates, “I said, ‘We should feed them. We’re not giving any news, but they’ve been out there all night,’ ” he reveals. “I said, ‘I’m going to call Chasen’s.’ It was the first time a kidnapping was catered!”

Three days later, Sinatra paid $240,000 in ransom — and teenaged Frank Jr. was released unharmed later that day. The three amateur kidnappers were eventually caught and convicted, and most of the ransom money was recovered.

Jim began his career as a gossip column writer for the Los Angeles Herald-Express. “It was fun for a while and I got to know a lot of people,” he says.

One day he visited pal Debbie Reynolds on set, although her costar Sinatra never allowed press on his sets. But Debbie insisted and said, “ ‘Frank, this is my good friend Jim. I don’t want you to give him any grief,’ ” Jim recalls.

Before long, Jim was Sinatra’s personal publicist — and eventually worked with dozens of other stars. He says that Judy Garland “had a problem with pills and booze,” while “Johnny Carson was a tough guy to hang around with. He couldn’t handle booze.”

Garland was the “only client to ever hit me. She wanted to hold a press conference to explain what an ass her husband was, and I didn’t think it was the kind of exposure we needed.”

But the Hollywood of today is not the same, says Mahoney.

“There are no Clark Gables or Errol Flynns or Spencer Tracys anymore,” explains Jim, 96.

“Today’s up-and-coming actors and actresses just don’t have that same magic.”