The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: An Afternoon With Frank Sinatra is a 1959 television special starring Sinatra and special guest Ella Fitzgerald, which aired December 13 on ABC. It was the second in a series of four hour-long, Timex-sponsored specials Sinatra would host for the network that season, airing at roughly two-month intervals."Mitzi, Bing and Dino to Guest Star on Sinatra Show". The Springfield Morning Union. October 18, 1959. p. 1D.Gardella, Kay (October 18, 1959). "Sinatra Show to Have Special Themes". New York Daily News. p. 15B. Other guests featured in this installment were vibraphonist Red Norvo and his combo, dancer Juliet Prowse, actress Hermione Gingold, and actor/fellow Rat Packer Peter Lawford."Frank Sinatra Special Sunday". The Lima News. December 12, 1959. p. 21.
Production Although, as originally conceived, it would have prominently featured its Palm Springs desert location, Afternoon had barely begun shooting before inclement weather negated any such intent. What would ultimately turn into at least two days' worth of virtually non-stop rain paused just long enough to permit completion of an elaborate production number featuring dancer Juliet Prowse. The balance of the program was eventually completed back at the ABC Television Studio in Burbank.Rich, Allen (December 16, 1959). "Listening Post and TV Review". San Fernando Valley Times. p. 21.
Songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen served here as executive producers but also performed their more familiar function, providing the show's semi-titular opening number, "Spend the Afternoon With Me," in addition to one, "Sunlight Becomes Me," which—along with a host of sun-related standards—appears not to have survived the shoot's last-minute change of location.
Reception Taking into account the production's weather-related setbacks, Hollywood Reporter critic Hank Grant rated Sinatra's second Timex outing a "good show" (albeit "not quite match[ing] the overall excellence of his first"), noting that director Colleran "had his hands full but came off a winner." Regarding Prowse's big dance number (the sole surviving Palm Springs-set scene), Grant was struck by the "lovely panoramic effect in the open, sandy stretches, not to mention nifty toe-turns by her and a production group." Furthermore, he notes, "Fitzgerald scored highly with 'Lull in My Life' and tremendously with vocal calisthenics on a fast-paced 'Just You, Just Me,'" adding that Sinatra's renditions of "World on a String," "Here's That Rainy Day" (with Norvo), "I'll Never Smile Again" (with the Hi-Lo's), "Can't We Be Friends" (with Fitzgerald), and, lastly, "It's All Right With Me" (slowed from its traditionally brisk tempo to Sinatra's "moody ad-lib"), were "well worth an hour of anyone's time."
Track List "Spend the Afternoon With Me" (Cahn, Van Heusen) – Sinatra"Frank Sinatra Special Sunday". The Lima News. December 12, 1959. p. 21. "I've Got the World on a String" – Sinatra "Lazy Afternoon" – The Hi-Lo's "Don't Fence Me In" – Fitzgerald "The Desert Is Calling" – The Hi-Lo's "Comes Love" – Gingold, Lawford "There's a Lull in My Life" – Fitzgerald "It's All Right With Me" – Sinatra "Too Darn Hot" – danced by Prowse "Too Marvelous for Words" – Sinatra, Norvo "Here's That Rainy Day" – Sinatra, Norvo "Just You, Just Me" – Fitzgerald "I'll Never Smile Again" – Sinatra, Hi-Lo's "Can't We Be Friends?" – Sinatra, Fitzgerald "Puttin' On the Ritz" – Prowse, Gingold, Lawford "He Loves and She Loves" – Fitzgerald "Love Walked In" – The Hi-Lo's "Our Love Is Here to Stay" – Sinatra "Love Is Sweeping the Country" – Fitzgerald, Lawford, Gingold, Prowse and Sinatra
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