The Frank Sinatra Show with Ella Fitzgerald (1959)
Rainy Day
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy The Frank Sinatra Show with Ella Fitzgerald on DVD.
This new DVD release from Music Video Distributors features a single
60-minute episode of Frank Sinatra's variety show, taped on December 10,
1959 and sponsored by Timex. The show was originally set in Palm
Springs, but was shifted at the last minute due to unexpected rain; and
much of the show's improvisatory quality comes from that change. Guests
include Peter Lawford, Sinatra's then-girlfriend Juliet Prowse and
Hermione Gingold, but the real reason to watch is the three numbers by
the great jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald ("There's a Lull in My Life,"
"Just You, Just Me" and a duet with Frank, "Can't We Be Friends").
Apparently mastered from the original tape, the quality is only so-so, and though
the soundtrack is clear and bold, it has a definite hiss to it.
Extras include biographies, discographies and other info for each of
the performers, plus trailers and promos for other Quantum Leap
productions.
November 27, 2004
