For the A&CCESS Card Collection, a design Sinatra would have swooned for.
A paragon of 20th century arts, with 250 million recordings sold and some 50 motion pictures, Frank Sinatra came to Rochester in 1993 to sing at the War Memorial (now BlueCross Arena). One local fan summed it up that night: "He's so good, you have no choice but to watch, and listen."
Sinatra dropped out of high school at 15 and decided he would follow in the footsteps of his idol, Bing Crosby. In 1935 he entered a radio talent program called Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Within a few years, Sinatra was singing regularly on several radio stations. He got his big break while working as a singer and waiter at an Englewood, N.J. restaurant, the Rustic Cabin. There, Harry James found the young Sinatra and decided he would fit well as the lead singer for his band The Music Makers. Sinatra quit James’ band after 7 months and joined Tommy Dorsey's swing orchestra. It was with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra that the classic Sinatra crooning began and the idol began to form. By the early forties Sinatra had made a name for himself and he bought out his contract with Dorsey to pursue a solo career. Success followed him and so did swarms of adoring teenage girls just to hear his unique phrasing and emotional performances.
In 1946, Sinatra signed a five-year film contract with M-G-M which diverted his primary focus away from music and toward acting. Just as on stage, Sinatra’s charisma came through on film and he went on to star in a variety of films that often featured his songs. The most successful of the early films was Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly in 1945 and On the Town in 1949. Frank won the role of Angelo Maggio in 1953's From Here to Eternity. His performance as Maggio opposite Burt Lancaster and Donna Reed showed that he could hang with the big boys of Hollywood. The fitting reward for his dramatic performance was the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in the film. Sinatra went on to give a riveting performance as a heroin addict in the 1955 Otto Preminger film The Man With the Golden Arm. He received critical acclaim for his role in the 1962 Cold War psychodrama The Manchurian Candidate. Along with the dramatic roles, Sinatra maintained his involvement in more light hearted, entertaining musical feature films like Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957).
In 1953, Sinatra’s musical career was reborn when he signed on with Capitol Records. His collaborations with arranger Nelson Riddle produced some of the most popular albums of the time, such as Songs for Young Lovers, A Swingin' Affair, Come Fly With Me, Swing Easy, In the Wee Small Hours, and Songs for Swingin' Lovers. During this period Sinatra went through a vocal evolution from the crooning heartthrob to the more mature and interpretive artist. He covered the gamut of emotions with his albums and pulled it off each time. He described his bipolar accuracy with the quote, “Being an 18-karat manic-depressive and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have an over acute capacity for sadness as well as elation.”
