In my book The Best Gig in Town, I chronicled the long road that Frank Sinatra traveled to land his best gig at the White House for President Nixon in 1973. As his first step, Sinatra changed his national politics from Democrat to Republican. No easy task since he was deeply embedded with John F. Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency, as indicated by the following excerpt:
As president-elect, Kennedy prevailed on Sinatra to organize a pre-inaugural gala, and did he ever! He flew in jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald from Australia, actor Sidney Poitier from France, and Gene Kelly from Switzerland and bought out the house of the Broadway show Gypsy for the night so singer Ethel Merman could appear.
He hired Nelson Riddle to arrange and conduct the orchestra. “May have been the most stunning assembly of theatrical talent ever brought together for a single show,” said the New York Times. Not incidentally, it raised $1.4 million for the Democratic Party. [1]
And now, thanks to a recently released documentary, JFK: The Lost Inaugural Gala, we have visual confirmation of “the most stunning assembly of theatrical talent ever.” [2] The Gala was held at the old Armory in Washington, DC, on the eve—one could say the day—of the inauguration because it ended at 1:30 in the morning.
NBC filmed the extravaganza for future broadcast but Mother Nature had her say, blanketing the nation’s capital with a massive snowstorm that limited rehearsal time and the performers’ ability to return to their hotels for evening wear.
NBC deemed the resultant film not ready for prime time TV—that is, until 2017, when the “lost” gala was “found” at the JFK Presidential Library, restored, and broadcast on PBS stations around the country, appropriately on the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth.
NBC filmed the extravaganza for future broadcast but Mother Nature had her say, blanketing the nation’s capital with a massive snowstorm that limited rehearsal time and the performers’ ability to return to their hotels for evening wear.
NBC deemed the resultant film not ready for prime time TV—that is, until 2017, when the “lost” gala was “found” at the JFK Presidential Library, restored, and broadcast on PBS stations around the country, appropriately on the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth.
In retrospect, NBC brass made a big mistake. The armory setting, the informal staging, the “let’s put on a show” ambience lent a relaxed charm to the whole affair that it would not otherwise have had, eliciting quality performances from nearly everyone.
Frank Sinatra kicked off the show with a buoyant “You Make Me Feel So Young,” the Myers/Gordon song that was his standard concert opener at the time. After a hesitant start, and once synched in with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, he teased and twisted his vocal line to a swinging climax.
Atop a splendid arrangement from long-term collaborator Nelson Riddle, “the first lady of song” Ella Fitzgerald followed with a finger-snapping version of “Give Me the Simple Life.” Whether she was aware of it or not, she shared the same birth year as the president-elect.
Another long-term Riddle collaborator, Nat King Cole took center stage to offer an up-tempo version of “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” from the Broadway hit show and then recent movie Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Next up snippets of topical humor from era comics Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Alan King, Bill Dana, and a somewhat out-of-place Leonard Bernstein.
Ethel Merman walked on wearing a plaid coat (she didn’t have a chance to dress for the show because of the storm) and, in her distinctive powerful voice, belted out “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from the Jule Styne and Frank Loesser Broadway smash Gypsy (closed for the night so she could sing for the president-elect.)
And if you are thinking that producer Sinatra’s show sounded like a 1950s TV variety show, you’d be right. For the next skit, the designated producer had his favorite composer team Jimmy van Huesen and Sammy Cahn write parody lyrics to popular songs all related to different aspects of the president-elect and wife Jackie, who were both in attendance.
The Frank Sinatra-Milton Berle duo started off the parody song medley, then in quick order Alan King, Gene Kelly, Nat King Cole, Joey Bishop, Harry Belafonte, Sinatra again (“Old Jack Magic” to the tune of “Old Black Magic”), and Ella Fitzgerald.
Dancer Gene Kelly took the stage for an impressionistic Irish jig in honor of the Kennedy family heritage, his lengthy, athletic performance dispelling all doubts about Kelly being one of the better, if not the best show dancer of the era.
Next up, Harry Belafonte singing “When the Saints Go Marching In”—a somewhat surprising choice, most definitely not a showcase for his talents.
Sinatra returned with “That’s America to Me,” a patriotic anthem originally titled “The House I Live In,” in which he sang in an award-winning film of the same name back in 1945. The “House” is a metaphor for the country, and the lyrics written by Abe Meeropol, are a plea for racial and ethnic tolerance.
Nat King Cole took another bow, singing an absolutely gorgeous version of Hoagland Carmichaels’s “Stardust,” a song he had recorded many times, including with Nelson Riddle, but none likely better than here.
Jimmy Durante in his inimitable talk-sing rendered a touching version of Weill and Anderson’s “September Song,” before opera star Helen Trauble closed the entertainment portion of the show with the patriotic warhorse “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The documentary weaves the gala performances around memorable filmed events in JFK’s life and career: family football games, sailing junkets, Jackie marriage, Democratic convention and presidential campaign, and inaugural speech—a way, after all, to place the inaugural eve festivities in context and to celebrate the centennial birthday of John F. Kennedy.
But it is the film’s star performances—Gene Kelly’s outstanding dance routine, Fitzgerald’s, Sinatra’s, Merman’s and especially King Cole’s singing of classic songs of the era—that linger.
Coda
As mentioned in the May, 2017, blog, some 12 years later, after his conversion from Democrat to Republican, Sinatra again performed for a president, this time Richard Milhous Nixon at a State Dinner for Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy on April 17, 1973. After the banquet, in the East Room, Ol’ Blue Eyes opened his 10-song set with “You Make Me Feel So Young” and closed with “That’s America to Me”—the two songs he’d sung to Kennedy 12 years before. [3]
Frank Sinatra kicked off the show with a buoyant “You Make Me Feel So Young,” the Myers/Gordon song that was his standard concert opener at the time. After a hesitant start, and once synched in with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, he teased and twisted his vocal line to a swinging climax.
Atop a splendid arrangement from long-term collaborator Nelson Riddle, “the first lady of song” Ella Fitzgerald followed with a finger-snapping version of “Give Me the Simple Life.” Whether she was aware of it or not, she shared the same birth year as the president-elect.
Another long-term Riddle collaborator, Nat King Cole took center stage to offer an up-tempo version of “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” from the Broadway hit show and then recent movie Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Next up snippets of topical humor from era comics Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Alan King, Bill Dana, and a somewhat out-of-place Leonard Bernstein.
Ethel Merman walked on wearing a plaid coat (she didn’t have a chance to dress for the show because of the storm) and, in her distinctive powerful voice, belted out “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from the Jule Styne and Frank Loesser Broadway smash Gypsy (closed for the night so she could sing for the president-elect.)
And if you are thinking that producer Sinatra’s show sounded like a 1950s TV variety show, you’d be right. For the next skit, the designated producer had his favorite composer team Jimmy van Huesen and Sammy Cahn write parody lyrics to popular songs all related to different aspects of the president-elect and wife Jackie, who were both in attendance.
The Frank Sinatra-Milton Berle duo started off the parody song medley, then in quick order Alan King, Gene Kelly, Nat King Cole, Joey Bishop, Harry Belafonte, Sinatra again (“Old Jack Magic” to the tune of “Old Black Magic”), and Ella Fitzgerald.
Dancer Gene Kelly took the stage for an impressionistic Irish jig in honor of the Kennedy family heritage, his lengthy, athletic performance dispelling all doubts about Kelly being one of the better, if not the best show dancer of the era.
Next up, Harry Belafonte singing “When the Saints Go Marching In”—a somewhat surprising choice, most definitely not a showcase for his talents.
Sinatra returned with “That’s America to Me,” a patriotic anthem originally titled “The House I Live In,” in which he sang in an award-winning film of the same name back in 1945. The “House” is a metaphor for the country, and the lyrics written by Abe Meeropol, are a plea for racial and ethnic tolerance.
Nat King Cole took another bow, singing an absolutely gorgeous version of Hoagland Carmichaels’s “Stardust,” a song he had recorded many times, including with Nelson Riddle, but none likely better than here.
Jimmy Durante in his inimitable talk-sing rendered a touching version of Weill and Anderson’s “September Song,” before opera star Helen Trauble closed the entertainment portion of the show with the patriotic warhorse “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The documentary weaves the gala performances around memorable filmed events in JFK’s life and career: family football games, sailing junkets, Jackie marriage, Democratic convention and presidential campaign, and inaugural speech—a way, after all, to place the inaugural eve festivities in context and to celebrate the centennial birthday of John F. Kennedy.
But it is the film’s star performances—Gene Kelly’s outstanding dance routine, Fitzgerald’s, Sinatra’s, Merman’s and especially King Cole’s singing of classic songs of the era—that linger.
Coda
As mentioned in the May, 2017, blog, some 12 years later, after his conversion from Democrat to Republican, Sinatra again performed for a president, this time Richard Milhous Nixon at a State Dinner for Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy on April 17, 1973. After the banquet, in the East Room, Ol’ Blue Eyes opened his 10-song set with “You Make Me Feel So Young” and closed with “That’s America to Me”—the two songs he’d sung to Kennedy 12 years before. [3]
- Edward Allan Faine, The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artists at the White House, 1969–1974 (Takoma Park, MD: IM Press, 2015), 133.
- JFK: The Lost Inaugural Gala, Creative Retrospectives: John Paulson Productions, 2017, DVD.
- Edward Allan Faine, Best Gig, 141–63.
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