The Frank Sinatra Show which aired on ABC during the 1957-58 season was actually the second "Frank Sinatra Show," the first having aired five years previously on CBS. The ABC iteration was a $3 million dollar deal for Sinatra, who had proven himself to be a talented actor - winning a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for From Here to Eternity (1953). Now, he wanted to do a dramatic television show, but the network wanted Sinatra to sing. They compromised with a thirty-minute program that would be comprised of 13 variety shows, 13 dramatic shows starring Sinatra, and a further 10 dramatic shows that Sinatra would host, but not appear in. Instead of broadcasting live, as many shows were in the 1950s, Sinatra wanted to record his on film, believing that it would add value when trying to sell for rebroadcast. That proved too expensive for ABC, so another compromise was reached - Frank would do some of the episodes live-on-kinescope - meaning that the show would be filmed as though it were a live show with no retakes, but recorded and rebroadcast later.
The network proved to be correct - audiences didn't take to the purely dramatic Sinatra. They wanted to hear Frank and his guests sing, and the ratings suffered as a result. The format was quickly switched to only four dramas with Sinatra acting, six with him hosting, and 22 live or live-on-kinescope variety shows. For the Christmas episode, which aired on December 20, 1957, Sinatra himself directed his good friend, Bing Crosby in a series of musical numbers and sketches (written by former Jack Benny writer William Morrow), shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood. Frequent Sinatra collaborator Nelson Riddle did the lush musical arrangements that are pure 1950s Sinatra, backing the singer with his 27-piece orchestra for fifteen musical numbers crammed into those thirty minutes.
The show was filmed in Technicolor, but originally broadcast in black and white, since color television was still in its infancy. It begins with Sinatra placing candy canes on a tree in a swanky apartment, introducing the show, and singing a song he had credit for helping to write, "Mistletoe and Holly." Bing soon arrives and the two plug each other's Christmas albums, exchange a few one-liners, and are joined by the Ralph Brewster Singers. The repartee and the chemistry between Sinatra and Crosby is reminiscent of their appearance in High Society (1955), and Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank is a great way to get your Christmas music fix during the holiday season.
SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04w80p0
"Bing Crosby Guest of Frank Sinatra in Yuletide Frolic" The Victoria Advocate 15 Dec 57
Cuprisin, Tim "Crosby, Sinatra Together Again" The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 12 Dec 01
Davidson, Jim "The Frank Sinatra Show" www.classictvinfo.com 15 Oct 06
The Internet Movie Database
