Sinatra in Retrospect; No. 1; The Young Sinatra; Part 1

I fallen. My heart should. School, cause I've been through. And the.

Plans to apply for. I've heard that song before, and I fall in love too easily, like Sammy Khan, composer Jimmy Van Heusen was also associated closely with Sinatra and also became a close personal friend. The first time Sinatra sang a Van Heusen melody was in 1940, when he was still with Dorsey and Van Heusen was collaborating with the fine lyricist Johnny Burke. This is Polka Dots and Moonbeams.

The country dance was being held in a garden.

I felt a bump and heard and beg your pardon. Suddenly I saw polka dots and moonbeams all around the street and the music started and all the perplexed. I held my breath and said my legs were in my frightened arms, polka dots and moonbeams sprinkled on a Cognos dream. There were questions. In the eyes of other dancers as we floated over the floor. There were questions. But my heart knew all the answers. And perhaps a few things more.

Now in a cottage built of love and laughter. I know the meaning of the word. Ever have to, and I'll always polka dots and moonbeams when I kissed the pug nose during. That was Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen, Polka Dots and moonbeams. It's unusual to have more than one singer make a hit recording of a single song. It's much more likely to have one singer's record dominate. But several times in the 1940s, somebody else would have a hit recording and so would Sinatra of the same song. It's a sign of how popular he was becoming. He and Hildegard had hit recordings of I'll Be Seeing You. He and Dinah Shore sold large numbers of I'll Walk Alone. And both he and Bing Crosby had separate million records sales on a song that

belongs to Crosby, almost, but not quite entirely. This is Frank Sinatra's version of White Christmas. I used to know. With every Christmas card.

I'm reading of. Well, the three top. Children to his.

Oh. Every Christmas card, I'm. The. Every one of these songs from I'll Be Seeing You The White Christmas has been a ballad.

It figures the ballads with a male singer, stock in trade, and Sinatra was drawn to them naturally and practically. But he also began to record some Up-Tempo songs successfully. He's still feeling his way here, trying to get past the mellow crooning style, trying to learn to let go to swing. This is Saturday night is the loneliest night in the week. Saturday night is the loneliest night and the way. Cause that's the night that my sweetie and. To dance cheek to cheek. I don't mind the Sunday night, cause that's the night friends come to call. And Monday to Friday, go first and another week is.

But Saturday night is the loneliest night I the we. I sing a song that I sang for the memory, as I usually see. Until I hear you at the door. Until you're in my arms once more. Saturday night is a long night of the week. Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week.

I sing the song that I sang from memory and I usually see. Until I hear you at that. So they're in my arms once more. Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week. Until I hear you at the door, I'm sure you're in my arms once more. Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week. From 1944, Saturday night is the loneliest night in the week.

The next year, Sinatra got involved in an unusual project. A radical leftist and Communist Party member named Earl Robinson had written a number of songs for the cause in which he believed he was very much an idealist. His most recent song had combined praise for American democracy with a plea for tolerance. Sinatra, who was often drawn to civil rights causes in the 40s and 50s, starred in a film Short built around his performance of a song as a lesson in tolerance to a group of boys. He made a successful recording and in the last decade of his life had begun singing it again in his final concert appearances. This is the house I live in. What is America to me on that, on my a flag, I see.

A certain one, democracy. What is America to me? Oh, so I live in. A part of the story. Grocer and the butcher. And the people that I mean, the children in the playground, the faces that I see, all races and religions, that's America to. The place I work. The worker by my side, the little

town or city where my people. And on the howdy and the handshake, the air of feeling free. And the right to speak my mind. That's America to me, the things I see about me, the big thing. The little corner newsstand and the House A tore the wedding in the church. The town I live in, the street, the house, the.

The pavement of the city for a garden all includes. The church, the school, the clubhouse, the million lighthizer. That's, um, uh. To. That was the house I live in, Frank Sinatra's career took off in the early 40s. By 1942, he'd become Downbeat magazine's top vocalist, replacing Bing Crosby after four straight years.

It's been said all the while behavior at the Paramount Theater in New York was largely the result of manipulation by an especially wily publicist. But of Sinatra's appeal hadn't been genuine. Nothing like it would have happened. He was never a handsome man. He was too skinny. His face was too long, but his eyes could be warm and direct and his mouth was sensuous. Though with a touch of irony in the set of the lips, he was seductive and boyish and just a little bit dangerous. This is day by day. Day by day. I'm falling more in love. And day by day,

my love seems to grow. There is an end to my divorce. It's deeper, Debye, for. Then any ocean or. You're making. My dreams come true. I want you to know. I'm yours alone.

And I'm in LA. As we go through the day by. And yours alone. And I'm in LA. As we go through the

day. Paul Weston, Axel Stordahl and Sami Kohn's day by day, Jonathan Schwartz, who ought to know once wrote about Sinatra in his beautiful singing, his conversational at the center of this intimacy, this honesty of performance of passions, felt and transmitted the stands a musician and who millions have invested emotional fortunes for Sinatra and for us. It began in the 1940s with songs like Nancy. If I don't see her, it's the.

Gee, what a. Each time I kiss. Believe me, I've got a. Oh, Nancy, with the laughing face. She takes the word. And makes it summer. Summer could take some lessons from a picture of a tomboy and. That's Nancy with the laughing face. Did you ever hear mention?

Well, she'll give you the very same glowing. When she speaks, you would think it was singing. Just hear her say. I swear to God. You can't resist. Sorry for you. She has no sister. No one could ever replace. Mine, say, with a laugh and say. I swear to God.

You can resist. Sorry for you. She has no sister, no angel could replace my Nancy with the laughing. Jimmy Van Heusen and Phil Silvers, Nancy, Frank Sinatra knew how to caressa ballads, so the lyrics sounded as if he meant every word. It was the quietest kind of lovemaking. There was nothing sweaty or laborious about it, but the passion felt real.

As a result, Frank Sinatra became the hit maker on recordings, on radio and in the movies. It felt permanent. Then in the early 50s, he stumbled. His voice failed him and his personal life came apart. He appeared finished until his Oscar winning performance. Maggio in From Here to Eternity. Now the career began again. He was to become one of the most gifted, most versatile and most powerful figures in the history of American business. Join me for part two of Sinatra. In retrospect, Sinatra, The Swinger Days, the brewskis, the technical director. I'm Michael Lasser. The facts on. Who's now the number one NWI, my angel?