Frank Sinatra At The Paramount, CBS TV show, 1951. WHAT THE HECK??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, May 29, 2013.

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  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    So I'm channel surfing last night and I came across this. I know that our local LA City School station has been showing Sinatra Kinescopes all week and I've watched a few. Last night they had the Edsel Show with Bing, etc. and I watched a few minutes of it on Kine, even though we know the actual pristine video tape exists and has been preserved. Grrrrrrrr. So I switched the Edsel show off.

    But, when I switched back, I saw this weird Sinatra show and he looked a lot younger, in fact, he had a little mustache. I watched the show, it seemed like some kind of vaudeville deal, old fashioned but I COULDN'T GET OVER FRANK. He seemed genuinely happy. I mean, he always looks so uncomfortable in his old TV shows but THIS one, he was at ease, cheerful, funny, in good voice and very appealing.

    I stuck around to see if I could figure out when this show was originally broadcast. The Bulova watch commercials were no clue, the skits were really no clue but Frank looked so darn young. In one of the watch commercials, the announcer said "and here are all the 1951 Bulova watches"..

    1951????? Wow, that's pretty old for Frank to be on TV. Wasn't that supposed to be his darkest year? The era when he was alone, forgotten, bitter, messed up? Yet, here he was on CBS, and he was the happiest I've ever seen him on TV.

    WHAT GIVES? The camera does not lie.

    Are the history books wrong? Sinatra experts, can you explain this to me? The Edsel Show shows a Frank who can barely smile, haltingly talks, fidgets, looks totally uncomfortable and THIS is the time that he was on top of the World. He had his friends with him on the show yet he looks totally beaten down. The 1951 show he looks alive, happy and it was amazing to watch.

    Help!!
     
  2. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    Judging from what I've heard of his condition in those days, maybe he was just delighted that someone was paying attention again.
     
  3. Ronald Sarbo

    Ronald Sarbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY, USA
    The first Frank Sinatra TV show aired from 1950-1952. He was very loose, had fun with his guests and sang well. He had been let go from MGM but during thie period he made "Meet Danny Wilson" and was also still recording for Columbia and was also on the radio. Perhaps his "fall" has been somewhat exaggerated by history. Dick Haymes was in far dire straights and did not make a comeback.
     
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  4. wcarroll

    wcarroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Baton Rouge, LA
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  5. bumbletort

    bumbletort Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, Md, USA
    My very first thought. Very strange.
     
  6. bumbletort

    bumbletort Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, Md, USA
    I'd bet on this. For comparison when I read what people believe happened by in the 1960s sometimes I can only shake my head--but eras and lives have nuance to them which is why I suppose the 'you had to be there' expression came to be.
     
  7. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    That's it, the show they broadcast last night. See what I mean? He's so darn happy. Did you catch the Tommy Dorsey "Irish" ad-lib? At any rate, fascinating. Even some screaming girls in the audience..
     
  8. ianfaith1

    ianfaith1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SLC, UT
    1951 was the year he married Ava Gardner. Dude was in love.
     
  9. Ronald Sarbo

    Ronald Sarbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY, USA
    As to Sinatra looking "tense" on the Edsel show this is the problem that critics picked up on on his second TV show.

    Como, Martin and Andy Williams were relaxed and laid back...personalities that were worked well on the small screen.
     
  10. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    My favorite spot in that Edsel Show is where Bob Hope makes a cameo while Mr. S & Bing are singing "Road to Morocco". He makes some aside comments that truly break Mr. S up. It is not often that one hears that genuine belly-laugh from him.

    As far as the moustache is concerned, I know of one show in which Jackie Gleason guest stars and he really gives Mr. S a hard time about the new growth.
     
  11. Slokes

    Slokes Cruel But Fair

    Location:
    Greenwich, CT USA
    Was Dagmar a regular cast member of the show? She's best remembered with Frank-o-philes for dueting with him on "Mama Will Bark," Exhibit A in Frank's early '50s nadir, and she's on this show doing some comedy bits with Frank and even a bit of her unique singing. He seems to enjoy her, too, which kind of runs counter to the notion of her being foisted on Frank along with the song. I wonder if Frank wanted to record something with Dagmar based on the reactions she was getting on shows like this.
     
  12. Ronald Sarbo

    Ronald Sarbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY, USA
    Dagmar was not a regular. The comedian Ben Blue was a regular.
     
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  13. bumbletort

    bumbletort Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, Md, USA
    Now that's a name from the past--one of the Taxi Boys.
     
  14. Inspired by Snidely Whiplash I assume...

    Great time capsule here. Sounds to me like the genesis of the "Swinging Sinatra" sound of the 50s that resulted in so much incredible, classic pop music.
     
  15. theactor

    theactor Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Toronto
  16. theactor

    theactor Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Thanks, that is the first time I have seen this TV performance and I thought I had seen everything.
     
  17. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    You may have missed this thread: KLCS-TV to Air Frank Sinatra Shows

    Dagmar was on the bill with Frank at the Paramount in 1951, and she had appeared on a couple of his TV shows. The broadcast being shown on L.A. TV (from May 5, 1951) was just five days before the recording of "Mama Will Bark." Reportedly, Mitch Miller had the idea to put them together to capitalize on their apparent chemistry on stage and the small screen. See also this post in the above linked thread.
     
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  18. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    Frank-and-Ava-1951.jpg
     
  19. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Still can't get over Frank's happy attitude on this show. He seems so likable, so approachable, so unlike what he would become in just a few years. Weirds me out.
     
  20. bferr1

    bferr1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    I thought 1952 was the bad year, but I could be wrong...
     
  21. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    Well, he went from the highest of highs to the absolute lowest of lows and was deserted by all his alleged friends. Then Ava broke his heart unlike it had ever been broken and that crusted him up a bit, too. He said in the mid 50's that no one would ever do that to him again and that's when he circled his wagons.

    Actually, I can't watch those early 50's TV shows. To me Mr. S looks lost and appears to be trying way to hard to be funny and likeable. Probably because his public opinion was lower than whale s%^t in the ocean over leaving his family, etc.
     
  22. Ronald Sarbo

    Ronald Sarbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY, USA
    I believe Sinatra said at Yale that he wanted to be released from his MGM contract so that he could appear on television. MGM forbade it's stars from appearing on the small screen. He seemed to enjoy his guests even the ones that were his competitors like Perry Como and Frankie Laine. Dick Haymes even appeared on one show but that one has to my knowledge never surfaced.

    The period 1949 to 1952 was his slump on records. New stars had emerged. Billy Eckstine was on top of the Downbeat and Metronome polls. Perhaps Frank thought a mustache would do for him what it did for Mr. B.
     
  23. Slokes

    Slokes Cruel But Fair

    Location:
    Greenwich, CT USA

    Of course, television was a very big and new thing, and in addition to the excitement he must have felt being a part of a big new thing, there may have also been an effort on Frank's part to project a little more forceful positivity, which he could call upon, being a natural actor. Later on, as an established star, he could be more casual about it, and was.

    I do remember hearing Frank on a late '40s radio show and being surprised about how jumpy and upbeat he was on there, joking about himself and his weight. So maybe there was more ebullience with him in the early days.
     
  24. getitgoin

    getitgoin Forum Resident

    Location:
    LA, CA, US
    I thought Ava was the one who rescued his career by getting him the part in From Here To Eternity.
     
  25. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    That wasn't until 1953, and she'd left him by the end of the year.

    1952 was his darkest year. His record label dropped him, his film studio dropped him, his agent left him, the TV show was over. Worst of all, the public dropped him: His marriage to Ava was not viewed favorably, and popular music tastes were changing. It wasn't until 1954, with the success of From Here to Eternity and his new Capitol Records recordings, that Frank's career turned around.
     
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