Editing Frank Sinatra (section)

== Television and radio career ==
[[File:Frank Sinatra (1944 CBS Radio publicity photo).jpg|thumb|upright|Sinatra on CBS Radio in 1944]]
After beginning on the ''[[Major Bowes Amateur Hour]]'' radio show with the Hoboken Four in 1935, and later WNEW and WAAT in Jersey City,{{sfn|Santopietro|2008|p=27}} Sinatra became the star of radio shows of his own on [[NBC]] and [[CBS]] from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s. In 1942, Sinatra hired arranger Axel Stordahl away from Tommy Dorsey before he began his first radio program that year, keeping Stordahl with him for all of his radio work..<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Frank+Sinatra+Show+musical%22+%22For+his+own+radio+shows,+Sinatra+hired+arranger+Axel+Stordahl+away+from+Dorsey%22&pg=PA260 |author=Dunning, John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=Frank Sinatra Show |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=260–261 |edition=Revised |access-date=2025-02-28}}</ref>  By the end of 1942, he was named the "Most Popular Male Vocalist on Radio" in a ''DownBeat'' poll.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3406256/sinatra_most_popular_vocalist_on_radio/|title=Sinatra Most Popular Vocalist on Radio|work=Harrisburg Telegraph ([[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]])|date=January 16, 1943|page=45|access-date=October 12, 2015|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306095307/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3406256/sinatra_most_popular_vocalist_on_radio/|url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref> Early on he frequently worked with [[The Andrews Sisters]] on radio. They would appear as guests on each other's shows,{{sfn|Nimmo|2004|p=228}} as well as on many USO shows broadcast to troops via the [[Armed Forces Radio Service]] (AFRS).{{sfn|Sforza|2015|p=80}} He appeared as a special guest in the sisters' ABC ''Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch'' series,{{sfn|Nimmo|2004|p=444}} while the trio in turn guested on his ''[[Songs by Sinatra]]'' series on CBS.{{sfn|Sforza|2015|p=99}} Sinatra had two stints as a regular member of the cast of ''[[Your Hit Parade]]'';{{efn| ''[[Your Hit Parade]]'' was a popular weekly radio and television program from 1935 to 1958. Sponsored by American Tobacco Company's Lucky Strike brand of cigarettes, the show featured the top ten songs of each week.{{sfn|Nachman|2000|pp=170–173}}}} his first was from 1943 to 1945,{{sfn|Kaplan|2011|p=196}} and second was from 1946 to May 28, 1949,{{sfn|Dunning|1998|p=738}} during which he was paired with the then-new girl singer, [[Doris Day]].{{sfn|Nachman|2000|p=172}} Starting in September 1949, the [[BBDO|BBD&O]] advertising agency produced a radio series starring Sinatra for Lucky Strike called ''Light Up Time''{{nbsp}}– some 176 15-minute shows that featured him and [[Dorothy Kirsten]] singing{{nbsp}}– which lasted through to May 1950.{{sfnm|1a1=Ridgeway|1y=1977|1p=59|2a1=Sinatra|2y=1986|2p=70}}

In October 1951, the second season of ''[[The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS TV series)|The Frank Sinatra Show]]'' began on [[CBS Television]]. Ultimately, Sinatra did not find the success on television for which he had hoped.{{efn|Producer [[Irving Mansfield]] described Sinatra as being obsessed with the thought that his wife, Ava Gardner, was having an affair with her former husband, Artie Shaw. He often started shouting about this on the set of the television show when he phoned his home and could not reach Gardner. Mansfield had to communicate with Sinatra through the entourage that always accompanied him to CBS. Sinatra was always late to work and did not care to spend any time at rehearsal; he blamed all those connected with the program for the poor ratings it received. Mansfield was at his wits' end with Sinatra and his television show and quit the program. Mansfield informed him that he was a man of great talent but a failure as a person, which led to Sinatra attempting to angrily fire him. Mansfield replied that he was too late, as he had resigned that morning.{{sfn|Hernandez|2010|pp=284–285}}}} Santopietro writes that Sinatra "never appeared fully at ease on his own television series."{{sfn|Santopietro|2008|p=113}} In 1953 and 1954, Sinatra starred in the NBC radio program ''[[Rocky Fortune]]'', portraying Rocco Fortunato (a.k.a. Rocky Fortune).{{Sfn|Terrace|1998|p=287}}

[[File:Dean Martin Show 1958 Dean Martin Frank Sinatra.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Dean Martin with Sinatra on ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]'' in 1958]]
In 1957, Sinatra formed a three-year $3{{nbsp}}million contract with ABC to launch ''[[The Frank Sinatra Show (ABC)|The Frank Sinatra Show]]'', featuring himself and guests in 36 half-hour shows. ABC agreed to allow Sinatra's Hobart Productions to keep 60% of the residuals and bought stock in Sinatra's film production unit, Kent Productions, guaranteeing him $7{{nbsp}}million.{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=278}} Though an initial critical success upon its debut on October 18, 1957, it soon attracted negative reviews from ''Variety'' and ''[[The New Republic]]'', and ''[[The Chicago Sun-Times]]'' thought that Sinatra and frequent guest Dean Martin "performed like a pair of adult delinquents", "sharing the same cigarette and leering at girls."{{Sfn|Kelley|1986|p=280}} In return, Sinatra later made numerous appearances on ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]'' and Martin's TV specials.{{Sfn|Terrace|2013|p=123}}

Sinatra's fourth and final [[Timex Group USA|Timex]] TV special, ''[[The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis|Welcome Home Elvis]]'', was broadcast in March 1960, earning massive viewing figures. During the show, he performed a duet with Presley, who sang Sinatra's 1957 hit "[[Witchcraft (1957 song)|Witchcraft]]" with the host performing the 1956 Presley classic "[[Love Me Tender (song)|Love Me Tender]]". Sinatra had previously been highly critical of [[Elvis Presley]] and rock and roll in the 1950s, describing it as a "deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac" that "fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people."{{sfn|Kelley|1986|p=283}}{{efn|Presley had responded to the criticism: "...{{nbsp}}[Sinatra] is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it{{nbsp}}... [rock and roll] is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago."{{sfn|Hopkins|2011|p=126}}}} A [[CBS News]] special about Sinatra's 50th birthday, ''[[Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music]]'', was broadcast on November 16, 1965, and received an Emmy award and a [[Peabody Award]].{{sfn|Sinatra|1986|p=306}}

Continuing his musical collaboration with Jobim and [[Ella Fitzgerald]] in 1967, Sinatra appeared in the TV special, ''[[A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim]]'', which was broadcast on CBS on November 13.{{sfn|Terrace|2013|p=157}} When Sinatra came out of retirement in 1973, he appeared in a TV special that shared its title with his contemporaneously released album, ''Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back''.{{sfn|Turner|2004|p=167}} In the late 1970s, [[John Denver]] appeared as a guest in the ''Sinatra and Friends'' ABC-TV Special, singing "September Song" as a duet.{{Sfn|Rees|Crampton|1999|p=286}}

Sinatra starred as a detective in ''[[Contract on Cherry Street]]'' (1977), cited as his "one starring role in a dramatic television film".{{sfn|Santopietro|2008|p=430}} Ten years later, he made a guest appearance opposite [[Tom Selleck]] in ''[[Magnum, P.I.]]''. Shot in January 1987, the episode aired on CBS on February 25.{{sfn|O'Brien|1998}}