Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music
Encyclopedia
Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music was a one hour television special in color, first broadcast by NBC
on November 24, 1965. It was directed by the multi-Emmy-winning Dwight Hemion
. Telecast at a time when television had just switched to full-time color programming (except for feature films shot in black-and-white), the show was an enormous success, so much so that it spawned two follow-ups with virtually the same title, featuring, respectively, Nancy Sinatra
, and Ella Fitzgerald
along with Antonio Carlos Jobim
.
in a television studio singing many of his hit tunes (such as It Was a Very Good Year
) in front of a live audience. There were no guests on this first program. The orchestra was conducted by long-time Sinatra arrangers Nelson Riddle
and Gordon Jenkins
.
rebroadcast the special for the first time in many years, on the evening of May 14, 2008, as part of their month-long commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Sinatra's death.
In the opening scene, Sinatra is seen driving his Dual Ghia sports car up the "Midway" parking area at the Burbank lot. He pauses, exits the car and walks through the barn doors that lead into the hallway outside the current "Tonight Show" studio. An edit made it appear that Sinatra walked from the parking lot directly into Studio 1. In fact that studio is located down the hall from the parking lot.
The special was taped in segments on at least two nights in November 1965. Sinatra was suffering from a cold at the time, which limited his time in front of the microphone. He coughs and clears his throat a few times during the show. Writer Gay Telese documented both nights of taping in his 1966 Esquire magazine article: "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold".
Ed McMahon served as announcer on this and subsequent Sinatra TV specials.
Budweiser Beer served as network sponsor.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on November 24, 1965. It was directed by the multi-Emmy-winning Dwight Hemion
Dwight Hemion
Dwight Arlington Hemion was an American TV director known mainly for music-themed television programs of the 1960s and 1970s. He held the record for the most Emmy nominations , and won 18 times, putting him at the top of his profession throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and well into the 1980s...
. Telecast at a time when television had just switched to full-time color programming (except for feature films shot in black-and-white), the show was an enormous success, so much so that it spawned two follow-ups with virtually the same title, featuring, respectively, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
along with Antonio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...
.
Format
By modern standards, especially, the format of the original show was profoundly simple. It consisted only of SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
in a television studio singing many of his hit tunes (such as It Was a Very Good Year
It Was a Very Good Year
"It Was a Very Good Year" is a song composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 for and originally recorded by Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio and subsequently made famous by Frank Sinatra's version in D-minor, which won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male in 1966. Gordon Jenkins was awarded...
) in front of a live audience. There were no guests on this first program. The orchestra was conducted by long-time Sinatra arrangers Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
and Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins was an American arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements...
.
Awards
The special won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Program, and was nominated for two other Emmys, as well as a Golden Globe."Revival"
Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
rebroadcast the special for the first time in many years, on the evening of May 14, 2008, as part of their month-long commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Sinatra's death.
DVD
The show has been available on DVD since 1999. However, there is also a 1981 documentary on DVD, the similarly titled Sinatra: The Man and His Music, which is sometimes confused with the earlier program, not only because of the title, but because the keep-case is almost identical.Production Trivia
"Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music" was shot inside NBC's Studio 1, at its color television facility in Burbank, California. The same studio later became home to "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". It is now the home of "Access Hollywood".In the opening scene, Sinatra is seen driving his Dual Ghia sports car up the "Midway" parking area at the Burbank lot. He pauses, exits the car and walks through the barn doors that lead into the hallway outside the current "Tonight Show" studio. An edit made it appear that Sinatra walked from the parking lot directly into Studio 1. In fact that studio is located down the hall from the parking lot.
The special was taped in segments on at least two nights in November 1965. Sinatra was suffering from a cold at the time, which limited his time in front of the microphone. He coughs and clears his throat a few times during the show. Writer Gay Telese documented both nights of taping in his 1966 Esquire magazine article: "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold".
Ed McMahon served as announcer on this and subsequent Sinatra TV specials.
Budweiser Beer served as network sponsor.