A weekly feature in which my five-year-old son is let loose on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles, and chooses a star from among the more than 2,500 honorees. His “random” picks sometimes reveal unexplained connections such as the summer day in 2012 when he sat down on the star of actress Celeste Holm and refused to budge. We later learned that the Oscar-winning actress had died only hours earlier. There are five categories on the Walk of Fame: motion pictures, television, radio, music and theater but Charlie tends to favor the movies.
Actor/singer Frank Sinatra was one of the most famous personalities of the 20th Century and remains a true American icon 16 years after his death. Dozens of books have been written about the star, along with stage plays and feature films. (I wonder what’s happening with the biopic Martin Scorsese has been developing for years.) When Charlie bypassed his often obscure subjects on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week and did a snazzy little two-step right onto one of Francis Albert Sinatra’s well-deserved three stars (for music, movies, and TV), we decided to narrow our focus. Because Lil’ Blue Eyes chose Ol’ Blue Eyes’ star for his significant contributions to the movies, we decided to focus on his early film career when he was making somewhat frothy musicals for MGM. Let’s look at five of his earliest films, complete with clips that are sure to enhance your holiday weekend.
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
After appearing more or less as himself in several films, Sinatra got his first leading role in this Technicolor comedy directed by George Sidney about two sailors (Sinatra and Gene Kelly) who get a four-day leave in Hollywood and meet a lovely aspiring singer (Kathryn Grayson). There are so many fun things about this film, including a chance to see MGM as it appeared in 1945 as the guys convince Grayson they can get her a singing audition at the famed studio. There is also a scene at the Hollywood Bowl in which Sinatra sings “I Fall in Love Too Easily.” The film is probably most remembered for the dance between Gene Kelly and the animated Jerry the Mouse (of Tom and Jerry fame), one of the most effective early attempts at mixing live action with animation. Kelly and Sinatra proved to be such a great pair that they starred in several more musicals with fairly similar plots. Take a look at this wonderful scene between the two of them where we see that Sinatra could definitely hold his own with Gene Kelly’s brilliant dancing.
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
This fictionalized movie biography of composer Jerome Kern was mainly an excuse for MGM to feature its dazzling roster of talent performing Kern’s iconic songs. The film featured Robert Walker as Jerome Kern with cameos by Judy Garland, Van Helfin, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, Esther Williams, and many others. One of the highlights was Frank Sinatra’s finale of “Ol’ Man River,” the song from Kern and Hammerstein’s Showboat that was usually sung by African American performers such as William Warfield and Paul Robeson. Sinatra was an odd choice to sing this anthem of black struggle, but his rendition is haunting.
It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
This black-and-white film was a bit of post-war fluff that reunited Sinatra with Kathryn Grayson and also featured Peter Lawford, Jimmy Durante and Gloria Grahame. Though not as well known as some of Sinatra’s other MGM musicals, I’ve always had a special fondness for it because of the name of Sinatra’s character: Danny Miller! Once again, Sinatra plays a G.I., this time en route to rejoin civilian life in America. Frank is returning to his job as a shipping clerk but he dreams of breaking free from that drudgery and becoming a singer while schoolteacher Grayson dreams of becoming an opera star. Can you guess how the film ends? The movie was not a huge hit at the time but Sinatra got to sing some great songs written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne including “The Song’s Gotta Come From the Heart” (a duet with Jimmy Durante), “Time After Time,” and this lovely tune, “Brooklyn Bridge.”
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
This Busby Berkeley film is one of my favorite Sinatra musicals, both because of the wildly entertaining reteaming of Frank and Gene Kelly and the fact that one of Sinatra’s co-stars was a friend of our family’s, the late Betty Garrett. Set in 1908 and centered around a fictional baseball team in the American League, Kelly and Sinatra are baseball players who also perform in vaudeville. Trouble ensues when the franchise’s new owner (a non-swimming Esther Williams) arrives to shake things up and the players find out that the owner is…gasp…a woman! Sinatra, meanwhile, must contend with a crazed fan who has set her sights on him (Garrett). Betty loved working with Sinatra and they sang a wonderful duet of “It’s Fate Baby, It’s Fate” (music by Roger Edens and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green), a number Betty Garrett continued to perform at various functions until her death in 2011.
On the Town (1949)
Reuniting one more time with Gene Kelly and Betty Garrett (again, playing a man-hungry dame obsessed with Frank), On the Town may be Sinatra’s best musical, and it’s certainly one of my favorite musicals of all time. Based on the Broadway play, the film, co-directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, featured fabulous songs written by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens (with lyrics by Comden and Green) such as “New York, New York” (not the version Sinatra would record 30 years later!), “On the Town,” and two very funny numbers between Sinatra and Garrett: “Come Up to My Place” and “You’re Awful.” Once again, the film is about three sailors (Kelly, Sinatra and Jules Munshin) on a one-day shore leave in Manhattan where they naturally meet and fall hopelessly in love with three women (Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett and Ann Miller). Kelly insisted that certain scenes be shot on location in New York (at Rockefeller Center, the American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Bridge) and the results are gorgeous and fun. I can’t resist one more clip of Frank and Betty, looking so young and beautiful.
Of course, Frank Sinatra made other musicals of note including Guys and Dolls, High Society and Pal Joey, and was a skilled dramatic actor as well in films such as From Here to Eternity (for which he won an Oscar), Some Came Running and The Manchurian Candidate. I think Fourth of July weekend is a perfect time to reacquaint yourself with the films and music of the Chairman of the Board. And I think it’s high time Charlie learned some classic Sinatra tunes. I’ll have him singing “Come Fly With Me” and “My Way” by Monday morning.