Tuesday, May 19, 2015

100 Years of Frank Sinatra: "Meet Danny Wilson"


"Meet Danny Wilson" opened in Los Angeles on February 7, 1952, and a day later, in San Francisco.  New Yorkers had to wait a month and a half before getting a chance to see the only movie in which Sinatra appeared that year.  The Times movie reviewer -- not Bosley Crowther -- summed up the proceedings as "a simple and satisfactory entertainment".

Unfortunately, audiences weren't much interested, even though the storyline was based on Sinatra's own career.  Perhaps that was the problem. 

The film earned a second life, re-released in 1954 after Sinatra won a best supporting actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity.

A clip from "Meet Danny Wilson".



At the 24th Academy Awards ceremony on March 20, 1952, co-star Shelley Winters was in the running for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in A Place in the Sun.  She lost to Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire).  Not to worry; she went on to win two Best Supporting Actress Oscars --  The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965) -- during her long and illustrious career, which included numerous appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, including this classic encounter with Oliver Reed.

Meet the Sweater Guy.  Frank Sinatra had his fedoras, but this li'l tyke apparently had quite the collection of sweaters at age 2.  The better to ward off the damp chill of the Pacific Northwest.



Other Frank Sinatra 100 posts:
"Our Love".  (2/14/2015)
"I'll Never Smile Again".  (2/15/2015)
"Fools Rush In".  (2/16/2015)
"Dolores".  (2/17/2015)
"Oh Look At Me Now".  (2/18/2015)
"This Love of Mine".  (2/20/2015)
"There Are Such Things."  (2/24/2015)
"Night and Day".  (2/26/2015)
"The Night We Called It a Day".  (2/27/2015)
Paramount Theater, December 30, 1942.  (3/2/2015)
Reveille with Beverly.  (3/4/2015)
"You'll Never Know".  (3/7/2015)
Higher and Higher.  (3/8/2015)
"People Will Say We're in Love".  (3/10/2015)
The Shining Future.  (3/17/2015)
"I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night".  (3/19/2015)
Step Lively.  (3/20/2015) .
"Saturday Night (is the Loneliest Night of the Week)".  (3/21/2015)
"You'll Never Walk Alone".  (3/23/2015)
"Oh What It Seemed to Be".  (3/24/2015)
Anchors Aweigh.  (3/26/2015)
"Day by Day".  3/27/2015)
Till the Clouds Roll By.  (3/29/2015)
"Always".  (3/30/2015)
It Happened in Brooklyn.  (3/31/2015)
"I've Got a Crush on You".  (4/3/2015)
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  (4/5/2015)
"It Only Happens When I Dance With You".  (4/7/2015)
The Miracle of the Bells.  (4/9/2015)
The birth of Tina.  (4/11/2015)
The Kissing Bandit.  (4/16/2015)
"Some Enchanted Evening."  (4/19/2015)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  (4/22/2015)
"The Huckle Buck."  (4/24/2015)
On the Town.  (4/28/2015)
A blowup in Houston.  (4/30/2015)
1st television appearance.  (5/3/2015)
"The Frank Sinatra Show".  (5/5/2015)
"I'm a Fool to Want You".  (5/7/2015)
"Mama Will Bark".  (5/10/2015)
Double Dynamite.  (5/13/2015)
Frank and Ava get married.  (5/15/2015)

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