The Official Frank Sinatra Appreciation Thread

[The Chairman]

2 reasons I love Sinatra:

the song When I was Seventeen is one of my favorites,

and

The original Manchurian Candidate was one of the best movies ever.

That song is actually called "It Was A Very Good Year."

And yes, the original is excellent.

 

[The Chairman]

Bumping this in light of Frank's appearance at the Grammys last night.

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Even in death, he owned Alicia and everyone else that night.

 

[The Chairman]

Some great videos of Frank in concert. Get 'em before they get removed:

Frank sings "I've Got You Under My Skin" live in 1965 (available on the cd / dvd Live And Swingin'):

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"The Lady Is A Tramp" in 1970 (available on dvd as Live At The Royal Festival Hall):

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"Angel Eyes" from his 1971 retirement concert:

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"New York, New York" and "Pennies From Heaven" in Argentina in 1982

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[The Chairman]

"Without A Song" in Italy in 1986 (listen to the note Frank hits at 2:31):

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"L.A. Is My Lady" from the same show:

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"Summer Wind" in Germany in 1991:

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"One For My Baby" from the same show:

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"New York, New York" from the same show:

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Frank's final performance of "My Way" in Japan in 1994:

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[signalman]

A whole slew of Sinatra movies is being release on May 13th.

http://www.classicflix.com/sinatra-boom-a-193.html?osCsid=e6qjsccads8nn3d5jorf5vv9d0

 

[The Chairman]

A whole slew of Sinatra movies is being release on May 23rd.

http://www.classicflix.com/sinatra-boom-a-193.html?osCsid=e6qjsccads8nn3d5jorf5vv9d0

I'll be definitely be getting some of them. Frank made some great musicals.

The thing that pisses me off is that the new album of unreleased material has been scrapped and instead yet another compilation of previously released material called Nothing But The Best featuring one new song, the never before released 1984 version of "Body And Soul." It's shameful that they have so many great unreleased performances and instead we have to pay $ 25.00 to hear "Strangers In The Night" for the 10,000th time in exchange for one new recording.

 

[The Chairman]

Giving this thread a bit of a bump.

I've been home from school for the past few weeks and I've been listening to Frank a lot lately. I listened to all of the Columbia and Capitol era recoridng I've owned as well as his Reprise material, and I thought I'd ask everyone what they think Frank's best album is. I know there's not as great a deal of users with Sinatra albums as their are with Trent Reznor albums, but for those who own them, what do you think is his best? My personal choice would be his 1965 album September Of My Years.



It's a fantastic album Frank recorded on the heels of his turning 50, and it boasts some of his best work. Obviously, "It Was A Very Good Year" is the song everyone knows, but it has a lot of toher songs that are just as good, such as "September Song" and "Last Night When We Were Young."

After this one comes Only The Lonely, Where Are You?, In The Wee Small Hours and The Concert Sinatra.

 

[The Chairman]

A great film about tolerance and anti-prejudice Frank made in the 1940s'. It won him an honorary Oscar.

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[signalman]

The House I Live in. Excellent Song.
Just a couple of days ago I listen to the Radio Show version.

I only have 5 Sinatra CDs from the 50's/60's plus The Early Years CDS that came out last Fall.
And three Christmas CDs.
Plus two Nancy Sinatra CDs.

Of the CDs I do have, I like "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" the Best.
Lots of FUN Songs.

 

[The Chairman]

The House I Live in. Excellent Song.
Just a couple of days ago I listen to the Radio Show version.

I only have 5 Sinatra CDs from the 50's/60's plus The Early Years CDS that came out last Fall.
And three Christmas CDs.
Plus two Nancy Sinatra CDs.

Of the CDs I do have, I like "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" the Best.
Lots of FUN Songs.

Ring-A-Ding Ding is fantastic. It might be my favorite swing album on Reprise aside from the first Basie album. Between the title track (with that oh so exciting hron intro), "Let's Fall In Love" and "The Coffee Song," not to mention the beautifully phrased "A Fine Romance," the album is an absolute gem.

 

[signalman]

Last night I listen to COMMAND PERFORMACE from 8-21-1943.

Ginger Rogers is the MC with Frank, Alice Faye, Ed Gardner, and Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny.

Frank sings two songs, "Night and Day" and "Embracable You".
And he does a "Duffys Tarvern" skit with Ed(ARCHIE) Gardner.

Only disappointment was that Frank didn't have a duet with Alice.
Alice sings two songs also. Which I don't recall the names.

 

[The Chairman]

Last night I listen to COMMAND PERFORMACE from 8-21-1943.

Ginger Rogers is the MC with Frank, Alice Faye, Ed Gardner, and Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny.

Frank sings two songs, "Night and Day" and "Embracable You".
And he does a "Duffys Tarvern" skit with Ed(ARCHIE) Gardner.

Only disappointment was that Frank didn't have a duet with Alice.
Alice sings two songs also. Which I don't recall the names.

Wow, that's awesome.

Here's a great performance from Frank on his tv show in 1957

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Also, check out the website DailyMotion, which includes over 40 pages of rare Sinatra footage, including a great show (broken into 5 parts) with Tony Bennett in Atlantic City in 1988:

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Frank+Sinatra

 

[signalman]

Hey, that was some good stuff. t:
Too bad his TV Series didn't last later.
I always enjoyed Franks guest appearances on The Dean Martin Show.
There was a special Christmas episode where Frank and Deans Families get together for a special sing-around.

 

[The Chairman]

Giving this thread a bit of a bump as this month marks the 10th anniversary of Frank's passing.

This week's USA Weekend Magazine published a great tribute to Frank, with great articles by Bill Clinton, Nancy Sinatra and Joe Torre, among others.

http://www.usaweekend.com/08_issues/080504/080504frank-sinatra.html

 

[The Chairman]

Two great performances from Frank's 1967 special:

"Day-In Day-Out"

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"Ol' Man River"

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The performance of "Ol' Man River" shows Frank at a the top of his game.

 

[signalman]

Ever visit the Sinatra Family Web site?
Nancy often post and answer questions on the message boards.

http://www.sinatrafamily.com

 

[The Chairman]

I used to. I didn't really like it there. Nancy can be very snide and was quick to jump on many for even the slightest thing. I also vehemently disagree with her anti-Youtube stance.

 

[raybia]

TCM pays tribute to Sinatra this month

Many influenced by singer-actor

BY LUAINE LEE
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

It will be 10 years on May 14 since Frank Sinatra closed his ol' blue eyes for the last time. The singer who started as the swoon king to bobby soxers of the '40s became the legendary entertainer with more than 70 movies and hundreds of evergreen songs to his credit.

Every Sunday and Wednesday though May, Turner Classic Movies is heralding Sinatra's contribution to the cinema with a marathon of his classic films and specials -- all uninterrupted by commercials. His children, Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr., host the event.

As an actor, the skinny kid from Hoboken ran the gamut, from the lighthearted original "Oceans 11" to dramatic coups in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Some Came Running."

Though he fractured the hearts of teens everywhere, he soon pushed his way beyond teen-idol status and went on to star in clubs, on radio and in lightweight musical films. But his vocal cords ruptured in the early '50s and Sinatra found himself without a song.

When he heard about the role of Maggio in "From Here to Eternity," he begged for a chance to audition. He won the part and captured the best supporting actor Oscar in the process. He was on his way.

Sinatra became an entertainment icon, exhibiting opposing facets of his personality. Generous to a fault, he was often testy and dismissive. Rumored to have connections with the underworld, Sinatra swung with the Rat Pack, hustled the world's most glamorous women (and married a few) and lived his life -- as he so succinctly put it -- HIS way.

Sinatra played a part in most people's lives, one way or another. He was a lasting inspiration to musician Jon Bon Jovi. "I looked to another guy from Jersey who was able to tour and make 60 movies," says Bon Jovi. "Frank Sinatra to me was a guy that really had the best of both worlds."

Don Rickles, who became a lifetime pal, recalls, "I had great help at a time with Frank Sinatra in my early years, who boosted my career tremendously by his endorsing what I do and so forth." But even Sinatra didn't blunt Rickles' prickly sense of humor. "Sinatra came into a lounge where I was performing," Rickles recalls. "I said, 'Make yourself at home, Frank, hit somebody.' He doubled over with laughter." From then on, Rickles was an in guy with Sinatra.

Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden was asked to play Ava Gardner, one of Sinatra's wives, in a TV biopic about the crooner. "I was afraid," she admits. "I turned it down twice. It was a fear because she was so known and considered the most beautiful woman. ... In my research I felt that the initial attraction (between her and Sinatra) was an attraction between outlaws. They met and they DRANK together. And they knew how to push each other to the brink of going a bit wilder than one would on his own. ... Their experiences were highs and lows and fights and love and, that's what I learned about her in my heart."

Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "Many people had an impact on my life when I was young. Frank Sinatra was one of them."

Costar and friend Shirley MacLaine said of Sinatra: "I always felt that, behind the shrewd, sometimes manic eyes was the deep recognition that the truth was more than he had yet seen, and his sometimes abuse of power was an important struggle to find and understand it."

Ray Liotta, who played Sinatra in the 1998 TV flick "The Rat Pack," is impressed by Sinatra's prodigious output but says it didn't always serve the singer-actor. "I definitely think he was somebody who felt better continually doing things, the amount of product he put out there. Sometimes people think that's an admirable thing, but some of it was schlock -- even some of his music suffered ... and some of his movies aren't exactly the most riveting pieces of film. So I think there's good and bad to that. Just to keep busy because you don't feel like dealing with certain issues -- sometimes it's better to deal with the issues than have some of the product out there, especially since it lasts forever."

It does last forever and TCM offers the best and the worst of Sinatra's colorful motion picture career.





TCM pays tribute to Sinatra this month

Many influenced by singer-actor

BY LUAINE LEE
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

It will be 10 years on May 14 since Frank Sinatra closed his ol' blue eyes for the last time. The singer who started as the swoon king to bobby soxers of the '40s became the legendary entertainer with more than 70 movies and hundreds of evergreen songs to his credit.

Every Sunday and Wednesday though May, Turner Classic Movies is heralding Sinatra's contribution to the cinema with a marathon of his classic films and specials -- all uninterrupted by commercials. His children, Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr., host the event.

As an actor, the skinny kid from Hoboken ran the gamut, from the lighthearted original "Oceans 11" to dramatic coups in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Some Came Running."

Though he fractured the hearts of teens everywhere, he soon pushed his way beyond teen-idol status and went on to star in clubs, on radio and in lightweight musical films. But his vocal cords ruptured in the early '50s and Sinatra found himself without a song.

When he heard about the role of Maggio in "From Here to Eternity," he begged for a chance to audition. He won the part and captured the best supporting actor Oscar in the process. He was on his way.

Sinatra became an entertainment icon, exhibiting opposing facets of his personality. Generous to a fault, he was often testy and dismissive. Rumored to have connections with the underworld, Sinatra swung with the Rat Pack, hustled the world's most glamorous women (and married a few) and lived his life -- as he so succinctly put it -- HIS way.

Sinatra played a part in most people's lives, one way or another. He was a lasting inspiration to musician Jon Bon Jovi. "I looked to another guy from Jersey who was able to tour and make 60 movies," says Bon Jovi. "Frank Sinatra to me was a guy that really had the best of both worlds."

Don Rickles, who became a lifetime pal, recalls, "I had great help at a time with Frank Sinatra in my early years, who boosted my career tremendously by his endorsing what I do and so forth." But even Sinatra didn't blunt Rickles' prickly sense of humor. "Sinatra came into a lounge where I was performing," Rickles recalls. "I said, 'Make yourself at home, Frank, hit somebody.' He doubled over with laughter." From then on, Rickles was an in guy with Sinatra.

Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden was asked to play Ava Gardner, one of Sinatra's wives, in a TV biopic about the crooner. "I was afraid," she admits. "I turned it down twice. It was a fear because she was so known and considered the most beautiful woman. ... In my research I felt that the initial attraction (between her and Sinatra) was an attraction between outlaws. They met and they DRANK together. And they knew how to push each other to the brink of going a bit wilder than one would on his own. ... Their experiences were highs and lows and fights and love and, that's what I learned about her in my heart."

Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "Many people had an impact on my life when I was young. Frank Sinatra was one of them."

Costar and friend Shirley MacLaine said of Sinatra: "I always felt that, behind the shrewd, sometimes manic eyes was the deep recognition that the truth was more than he had yet seen, and his sometimes abuse of power was an important struggle to find and understand it."

Ray Liotta, who played Sinatra in the 1998 TV flick "The Rat Pack," is impressed by Sinatra's prodigious output but says it didn't always serve the singer-actor. "I definitely think he was somebody who felt better continually doing things, the amount of product he put out there. Sometimes people think that's an admirable thing, but some of it was schlock -- even some of his music suffered ... and some of his movies aren't exactly the most riveting pieces of film. So I think there's good and bad to that. Just to keep busy because you don't feel like dealing with certain issues -- sometimes it's better to deal with the issues than have some of the product out there, especially since it lasts forever."

It does last forever and TCM offers the best and the worst of Sinatra's colorful motion picture career.

 

[raybia]

Wow. How quickly the public forgets.

 

[Joker]

We have a whole Frank Sinatra thread, in the celebrities forum, where it belongs. I still don't understand what peoples obsession with him is. By most accounts he was an ass, and a gangster. And he wasnt really that good of an actor, and his music is stuff my grandma listens too. And not cool stuff she listens to either, like swing, but the boring crap.

 

[The Chairman]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=288984&page=5

We have a whole Frank Sinatra thread, in the celebrities forum, where it belongs. I still don't understand what peoples obsession with him is. By most accounts he was an ass, and a gangster. And he wasnt really that good of an actor, and his music is stuff my grandma listens too. And not cool stuff she listens to either, like swing, but the boring crap.

Maybe it's because his persona was second to none and highly infleuntial and admirable - he was incredibly classy and refined, loyal to his friends and devoted to his family. Maybe because he was a consumate professional in the studio. Maybe because he was extremely charitable. Maybe because he was active in a lot of Civil Rights - related causes I could go on.

There's a lot more to him than gossip columnists' ******** and highly refuted mob connections with little evidence to support them.

 

[JP]

Meh.

 

[The Chairman]

Just a reminder for the Sinatra fans of the Hype:

The new FS compilation, Nothing But The Best, is out as of today. It features 21 Sinatra favorites from the Reprise era (1960-1988) all digitally remastered along with a brand new recording from 1984, the standard "Body And Soul."

 

[The Chairman]

Bumping up once more as today is the 10th anniversary of Frank's passing.

 

[The Chairman]

Here's a video of Frank performing the never before released "Body And Soul" in 1984, mixed in with shots of Frank Sinatra Jr. conducting the new arrangement for the track, which is available on Nothing But The Best.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/5vmq/