The Frank Sinatra
Show
1950-1952

Frank Sinatra's second attempt at a TV show came just five years after the first. But despite their close proximity, the two programs were as different as...well, night and day (to borrow a song title from Cole Porter).

Sinatra's career experienced a dramatic upswing in 1953, primarily due to two events. The first was signing with Capitol Records, where he began recording with arranger Nelson Riddle. Though Riddle's roots were in the same 1940s big band swing style as those of previous musical director Axel Stordahl, his arrangements were more imaginative and contemporary. Having a new, more exciting backdrop to sing with inspired Sinatra to new heights of musical eloquence. He began to feature more uptempo songs and adopted a new, more mature image. Gone was the boy balladeer, to be replaced by the sybaritic swinger. As his record sales picked up, Sinatra found himself back on top of the music business.

Nelson Riddle's arrangements were a major factor in Frank Sinatra's resurgence.

The other important event for Sinatra that year was his supporting role in the film From Here to Eternity, garnering him an Academy Award. No longer viewed merely as a pop singer, Sinatra was now a sought-after dramatic actor.

Suddenly, everyone wanted him, including the big three TV networks. There was talk of a fifteen-minute twice-a-week early evening show on NBC and a dramatic series produced by Desilu. Sinatra was even scheduled to host The Colgate Comedy Hour on November 15, 1953, but that plan fell through.

The star wasn't really interested in the grind of a weekly TV program anyway, particularly a variety show. "I'm getting too old to bounce around a stage," he was quoted as saying at the time. What he really wanted was to do drama. The networks held out for a variety series, and eventually a compromise was struck with ABC. Starting in the fall of 1957, the singer was to appear in a weekly half-hour hybrid show - with 13 variety episodes, 13 dramas starring Sinatra, and 10 dramas hosted by Sinatra. The premiere would be a full hour of variety. Sinatra wanted to do the show on film to enhance its rerun value. But since that would have been expensive, he agreed to do some of the variety episodes live-on-kinescope - in other words, performed as if they were live, but filmed and shown at a later date. It was a technique pioneered by Bob Hope.

The deal, worth a reported $3,000,000, called for the star's Hobart Productions to run the show. But despite light competition from the other networks (M Squad on NBC and Mr. Adams & Eve on CBS), it didn't score very well in the ratings. One thing became clear immediately, though - the public was far more enthusiastic about the variety shows than the dramas. As a result, several of the dramas were hastily replaced on the schedule by variety segments, and the ratio of variety to drama episodes was increased. The eventual breakdown ended up being 14 live variety, 8 filmed variety, 4 dramas starring Sinatra, and 6 dramas hosted by Sinatra. Instead of 36 episodes for the season, ABC decided to cut its losses and reduce the number to 32.

Sinatra was accused of not taking the enterprise seriously, and more than one insider told of the star's habit of showing up late for rehearsals and refusing to do more than one take per scene. His supporters, however, pointed out that Frank was a busy man, with movie, recording, and production responsibilities, in addition to singing and acting in his show.

By mid-season, the threat of cancellation looming, Sinatra agreed to defer his other commitments and focus entirely on the show. An agency executive said at the time, "He realizes he has to be the old warm and charming Sinatra again. He accepted criticism and sought advice as if he were a newcomer to show business." The star even went on other TV shows to plug his own program, but the effort was too late. At the end of June, ABC decided it was time to cash in its chips.

Several reasons have been given for Sinatra's lack of success on TV. Historian Albert Auster suggests that the singer was, in McLuhanesque terms, too "hot" for the "cool" medium of television (belied by the fact that his mid-sixties specials were so successful), that there were too many in-jokes, and that the star was bucking the trend toward rock 'n roll (even though singers like Perry Como and Dinah Shore - hardly rock 'n rollers - were doing quite well on TV). But producer William Self may have put his finger on the most important reason: "I think the problem was, the audience didn't know what they were going to get when they tuned in. With Lucy, you knew what you were going to get; with Gunsmoke, you knew what you were going to get. You tuned in to the Sinatra show, and he's not singing this week; he's going to do a little dramatic show. And the show had a tough rating haul because of that." Daughter Tina Sinatra was more succinct: "He had to fail somewhere."

Despite the show's uneveness and deficient ratings, there are many wonderful moments. Here we have Sinatra in his prime, singing many of his hits when they were still fresh and exciting. It's a shame the program didn't last longer, but we should be grateful for what we have.