No Subject

Subject: The Chairman Of The Board and The King.

In response to an earlier post:

The kinescope/tape (I've seen it as both a kine and a tape; both are black-
 and-white) of the Elvis Presley/Frank Sinatra duet came from a May, 1960 
 Sinatra TV special taped in Miami Beach (was Frank down there filming a
 movie at the time?) that was Elvis' first TV appearance and singing
 performance since being discharged from the U.S. Army.

While our friend noted Frank was singing "Love Me Tender", Elvis did
 "Witchcraft", NOT "Fly Me To The Moon". I don't think Frank had recorded
 "Fly Me To The Moon" yet, and I even doubt the song had been written by
 then.

Although Sinatra had some unkind words about Presley in 1957, things calmed
 down by 1960. I wouldn't be surprised if Sinatra himself convinced the
 show's producers to have Elvis appear for this reason: A few years earlier,
 Sinatra's career appeared all washed-up, but a sympathetic film producer
 gave him a chance to do a serious acting role in "From Here To Eternity",
 which won Sinatra an Oscar, revived his career, and established him as a
 first-rate serious dramatic actor. Perhaps Frank was worried that Elvis,
 after two years away from showbiz (due to the Army stint), might also be
 washed-up, but just as a sympathetic film producer helped revive Frank's
 showbiz career, perhaps having Elvis do a Sinatra special would revive
 the former's career.

I think the special aired on ABC. In 1957, Sinatra and ABC signed a big-
 money (maybe the biggest talent contract in network history to that
 time?) deal for a weekly TV series. At first, one-third of the shows
 would be musical-variety programs, one-third would be drarams he would
 star in; and the rest being dramas he would narrate. While the musical-
 variety shows did well in the ratings, the dramas, both those with and
 without Sinatra, bombed big-time in the ratings.

In mid-season, the dramas that featured Sinatra as just host and narrator
 were eliminated, the number of dramas Sinatra starred in was cut, and
 the number of musical shows was increased. Still, the overall ratings
 weren't high enough to warrant renewal. As Frank was still under contract
 to ABC, the contract was reneogiated so instead of doing a weekly half-
 hour TV series, he would do occassional specials over the next few
 seasons (through the spring of 1960?). Anyway, the famous May, 1960 show
 taped in Miami Beach that featured the Elvis duet was the most famous
 (and I think it was also the last) of the ABC specials he did following
 the cancellation of his series.

I think channel 11 in New Hampshire recently got the rights to rerun the
 musical-variety shows from the 1957-58 season. They may also have the
 rights to show the hour-long shows that followed, perhaps even including
 the forementioned May, 1960 show.

Joseph Gallant

<notquite@hotmail.com>

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