# The SBHonline Community Daily > Music >  >  Happy Birthday Frank Sinatra 12/12

## andynap

The Chairman of the Board would have been 100  years old on 12/12. He was the greatest crooner of all time. I was privileged to see him several times. Happy Birthday Frank.

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## T3

A bit early - 12/12/1915 was the date

The Hoboken 4 (1935), the oldest radio or studio recording of Frank Sinatra: 





A slightly earlier non-broadcast recording of _Rose of Picardy_ is out there somewhere...

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## T3

The Hoboken Four (a longer version than in the video) and a lot of great radio recordings from 1935-1955 can be found on the recently released  "A Voice On Air", a 4 CD set from Sony Legacy ($50 on Amazon).

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## T3

_Our Love_ from 1939 (with the Frank Mane Orchestra) is, I believe, Frank's earliest studio recording:

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## Dennis

Saw him once....late in his game...mid-90's. He wasn't great but he was awesome if that makes sense.

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## andynap

Thanks for the date correction and fixed. I didn't realize he was on Major Bowes. My cousin Rosalie was the president of his fan club. She was a Bobby soxer. I recall he was at the Mastbaum Theater in Philly which had an outside balcony and my cousin dragged me over and  he appeared on the balcony before the mass of screaming girls. I couldn't understand his appeal until much later.

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## amyb

He was one of a kind.

 I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Sinatra in the lobby of a Beverly Hills Hotel-what a thrill. We chatted and he told me I was up way too late. He was leaving a black tie event and I told him I stayed up just to see him. Then he bowed and handed me the rose centerpiece he was carrying home.

A huge thrill for 18 year old me.

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## T3

Frank's final public appearance on stage, I believe, starts at the 1:51 mark of this video from his 80th Birthday special (taped 11/19/95). He sings to conclude _New York, New York_:






His final full concerts, I believe, were in Japan 12/19 and 12/20/94 (selections were broadcast on Japanese TV). The audio from _My Way_ from one of those concerts is found here on youtube. 

His final concert appearance, I believe, was 2/25/95 in Palm Springs where he did 6 songs at a celebrity golf gala. The final one, _The Best Is Yet To Come_, is on an amateur video that can be found here on dailymotion (may not load on some devices). 

Dates may be wrong, please correct if anyone knows differently. 

Apologies for the serial posting...

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## amyb

I enjoyed your post, T.

Thank you.

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## T3

> I enjoyed your post, T. Thank you.



Glad you enjoyed the Sinatra selections. Here is a link to him doing the Frank Loesser standard that you have probably heard a time or two...

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## amyb

But not in a VERY long time.  Usually  I hear the Ray Bolger version from WHERE'S CHARLIE?

This was a treat and I thank you.  Aw shucks.

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## T3

> But not in a VERY long time.  Usually  I hear the Ray Bolger version from WHERE'S CHARLIE?.



A noted sing-a-long song in the theatre (recreated here for cinema) - should replace Sweet Caroline at the Hideaway...

Here is Frank (with a little help from Gene Kelly) in 1945 proving that he, like Bolger, was a dance- as well as song- man although maybe with less elastic legs:

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## amyb

This footage is great.

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## Bart -my real name-

Here's Bob playing his masterpiece "Restless Farewell" for Sinatra's 80th. Stay to the very end when Bob says "Happy Birthday Mr. Frank".  !!!

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## T3

> Here's Bob playing his masterpiece "Restless Farewell" for Sinatra's 80th. Stay to the very end when Bob says "Happy Birthday Mr. Frank".  !!!



Bob's recent tribute-to-Sinatra album, "Shadows In The Night", which works in a Bob sort of way, opened with a song to which Frank modified the original lyrics presented to him (he gets co-writing credit) during a time when his career was at a low point and he was leaving Nancy for Ava Gardner. 

_Im a fool to want you/Im a fool to want you/To want a love that cant be true/ A love thats there for others too./Im a fool to hold you/ Such a fool to hold you/ To seek a kiss/not mine alone/ To share a kiss the devil has known_

The 1951 version below is arguably among the most emotional of his performances caught on record (a later version after Gardner was in the past is more blunted)  





(Bart - Sinatra's recording session for this song is said to have some emotional similarities to Dylan's recording session of Sara)

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## stbartshopper

He was a one of a kind! Ol' Blue eyes!

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## GramChop

> He was one of a kind.
> 
>  I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Sinatra in the lobby of a Beverly Hills Hotel-what a thrill. We chatted and he told me I was up way too late. He was leaving a black tie event and I told him I stayed up just to see him. Then he bowed and handed me the rose centerpiece he was carrying home.
> 
> A huge thrill for 18 year old me.




Wow, Amy...what a great experience!

T...thanks for these wonderful videos!

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## kent1994

Great two hour documentary about Frank on HBO. Not to be missed if you are a fan.

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## NYCFred

Took my mother in law to see him at Radio City many moons ago...prob 80s...she'd been a fan her entire life, and it was the first time she'd ever seen him live. 

*Sinatra At the Sands*...Count Basie orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. One of my desert island discs. 


From the 1998 Warner Bros. Records reissue, 46947

"Come Fly with Me" (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:45"I've Got a Crush on You" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:42"I've Got You Under My Skin" (Cole Porter) – 3:43"The Shadow of Your Smile" (Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:31"Street of Dreams" (Victor Young, Sam M. Lewis) – 2:16"One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 4:40"Fly Me to the Moon" (Bart Howard) – 2:50"One O'Clock Jump" (Instrumental) (Count Basie) – 0:53"The Tea Break" (Sinatra Monologue) – 11:48"You Make Me Feel So Young" (Mack Gordon, Josef Myrow) – 3:21"All of Me" (Instrumental) (Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons) – 2:56"The September of My Years" (Cahn, Van Heusen) – 2:57"Luck Be a Lady" (Frank Loesser) – 4:40 (This bonus track was only available on the remastered 1998 CD and 2003 DVD-Audio releases. It was not part of any other edition, including the original LP as well as the current [2010] in-print CD)"Get Me to the Church on Time" (Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner) – 2:22"It Was a Very Good Year" (Ervin Drake) – 4:01"Don't Worry 'Bout Me" (Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler) – 3:18"Makin' Whoopee" (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 4:24"Where or When" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 2:46"Angel Eyes" (Earl Brent, Matt Dennis) – 3:26"My Kind of Town" (Cahn, Van Heusen) – 3:04"A Few Last Words" (Sinatra Monologue) – 2:30"My Kind of Town" [reprise] – 1:00

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## NYCFred

> Saw him once....late in his game...mid-90's. He wasn't great but he was awesome if that makes sense.



Pretty much what we say about you, Den.

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## T3

> ...Sinatra At The Sands...Count Basie orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. One of my desert island discs...



Trivia Question:
A famous TV duo of the early 60's was also announced by the man who introduces the Basie Band and Frank for the Sands concert. Who was the duo and who was the announcer? Answers on links below the clip that includes the intro and_ Come Fly With Me_.





Answer to who the duo was (youtube with the announcer's voice).

Answer to who he was (wikipedia page) and details about his acting roles for which he was well-known.  

BTW, the Basie Band/ Sinatra intro was added after the fact

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## Jim Kelly-Evans

P1130441.jpg

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## amyb

What great mementos.

The Leroy Neiman is a treasure.

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## T3

...part of his last set of full length concerts in the US  (11/18-20/1994) many years after he had first performed at the Steel Pier(?1939)..._ life keeps running in cycles_...

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## Jim Kelly-Evans

Yea, he forgot some of the lyrics, but he was still wonderful....Frank, Jr opened for him conducting the big band

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## amyb

I get chills when the saxophones, trumpets and trombones kick in on those American Songbook numbers.

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## NYCFred

Wow Jim!!!!

Tell me you were there...

(As opposed to memorabilia shopping...)

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## andynap

Great stuff here. Thanks T3

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## T3

> I get chills when the saxophones, trumpets and trombones kick in on those American Songbook numbers.



Frank, Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and Milt Bernhart with "what might be the world's most exciting and best-known trombone solo" (1956): 









> Great stuff here. Thanks T3



Good material...

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## andynap

I have most of Sinatra's albums- Only the Lonely was Frank's reflective/somber album.

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## Jim Kelly-Evans

Yes, Fred, I was there...seated in the VIP section up front (note the ticket price) where Frank was handing out his handkerchiefs to adoring female fans...

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## amyb

T3 you are TOPS!

This made my lunch break a joy.

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## T3

> I have most of Sinatra's albums- Only the Lonely was Frank's reflective/somber album.



Nelson Riddle once called this "the best vocal album I've ever done"... at the time he wrote the arrangements, his mother was terminally ill (she passed a few weeks before the recording sessions) and he had lost a 6-month-old daughter a few months earlier. He was said to particularly proud of his arrangement of this one:

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## T3

> T3 you are TOPS!.

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## amyb

I LOANED my record albums to a friend so he could get them on  tape, and never saw them again.  Have loads of CD's, but miss the vinyl sound.

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## Peter NJ

I remember when I was a kid on Sunday they had a radio station that had a show called The Make Believe Ballroom and it was non stop vintage Sinatra my Dad and I would ride around just to listen to the whole show and then the Giants pre game would come on

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## Peter NJ

My Dad would take the train into the City from here and see Sinatra for 25 cents

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## amyb

WNEW. I listened too. Weekday radio shows with William B Williams who dubbed him THE  CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

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## Peter NJ

I was just coming back here to ask if you listened? Yes! William B Williams was one of the DJ'S....Do you remember Jonathan Swartz? Every Super Bowl Sunday he would play Boston Red Sox clips o the radio because he didn't like Football...Jonathan was a trip best radio voice ever

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## amyb

Liked Jonathan. And it was Martin Block who was the host  on the weekday evening Make Believe Ballroom.

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## MIke R

Great stuff in this thread 

hey Amy and Peter..how's this for  a stroll down NY radio memory lane


Roscoe WNEW
scott  muny WNEW
allison  steele WNEW 
pete  Fornatell WNEW 
Dan Ingram WABC
harry harrison WMCA
murray the K  WOR then WXLO
frankie Crocker  WMCA ( my personal favorite )
Cousin Brucie WABC then WCBS

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## amyb

Many hours listening to those guys and many more..,Add Jim Lowe. Klavin  and Finch later Rayburn and Finch were my first listen to morning before school show.

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## NYCFred

Vin Skelsa/ WFMU and others.

BTW? Think Pete Fornatele's in jail for kiddy porn or some such...

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## MIke R

Scott  Muny  had the best radio voice ever

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## andynap

Getting back to *my thread*, Sid Mark has been broadcasting the Sounds of Sinatra here for the past 59 years. He started off as a record salesman, graduated to the emcee at the Red Hill Inn and then on to Sinatra. 

image.jpg

http://www.soundsofsinatra.com/

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## amyb

Frank Sinatra's music will be played for many years to come-we are just celebrating the FIRST hundred year, Andy.

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## T3

Trivia questions:
The father of one of the NY DJ's mentioned was a lawyer who had people dancing in the dark years years before The Boss did. 
Who was the father?
What did his DJ son do that led Sinatra to arrange for the DJ's "sabbatical" from his program?
Answers on links below the video.




The father (wikipedia page).
The son (New Yorker article includes the cause for the sabbatical)

Bonus question: Was the son correct?
You be the judge - a short youtube selection from Trilogy and the story of its making from Billboard...

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## amyb

Arthur Schwartz composer?

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## T3

> Arthur Schwartz composer?



Correct (the answers are in the links below the video)... 

Below is Frank on the Old Gold radio show in 1947 with the man who arguably got the whole American Songbook (which the above referenced DJ has called "America's classical music") going and who lived to see his own 100th birthday in 1988...




(The recording is on the recently released A Voice on Air 1935-1955 that was mentioned before)

Frank singing _Always_ and _When I Lost You_ at Irving Berlin's 100th celebration can be found here on youtube (with Dutch subtitles...)

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## Bart -my real name-

> Vin Skelsa/ WFMU and others.
> 
> BTW? Think Pete Fornatele's in jail for kiddy porn or some such...



I think you're thinking of Dave Herman

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## stbartshopper

Photos to remember Frank by-

http://cdn.flipboard.com/content/the...ontent=article

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## amyb

Some of these photos I had not seen before. Thanks for sharing, shopper/hopper

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## andynap

> Photos to remember Frank by-
> 
> http://cdn.flipboard.com/content/the...ontent=article



Very nice

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## Peter NJ

For those that get MSG Network tonight st 8 pm is an hour long concert called The Main Event my Mom watched last night and loved it so much she will watch again tonight

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## andynap

> For those that get MSG Network tonight st 8 pm is an hour long concert called The Main Event my Mom watched last night and loved it so much she will watch again tonight



I saw that live. It was great.

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