Wednesday, September 9, 2015

100 Years of Frank Sinatra: "The Tender Trap"


In what would be considered an unusual scheduling decision today, The Tender Trap premiered in New York City on November 4, 1955, at Radio City Music Hall, one day after Guys and Dolls opened.   

Like Guys and Dolls, The Tender Trap had its provenance on Broadway, where it opened at the Longacre Theater on October 13, 1954, and closed after 102 performances.  None of the stage cast appears in the Hollywood version.




Here's an excerpt from Bosley Crowther's movie review in the New York Times.
Not for the exposition so much, but simply for all that's said and done, especially by Frank Sinatra as the bachelor and David Wayne as his envious married friend. These two gentlemen have a capacity to turn the crisp, idiomatic lines of Julius Epstein's adaptation into cheerfully sparkling repartée. And when it comes to such a thing as conveying the immensity of a celebrating brawl through the gloom and debris of the morning after, you'll not get it better than from these boys.

And here's what Debbie Reynolds has to say about Frank, years later, in an interview with The Telegraph.
“I loved to party with the Rat Pack, they were so much fun.  All they did was have a good time. We’d get off work at two in the morning and hang out at a club and listen to other performers. I loved Frank Sinatra. If he liked you it was forever, and if he disliked you – I wouldn’t want to be there.  
“When we worked together on The Tender Trap I was engaged to marry Eddie Fisher and Frank took me to lunch and said: 'Sweetie, don’t get married. Don’t marry a singer. We’re nice guys but we’re not good husbands.’ But Eddie was a darling boy and at the time I loved him very much. Of course Frank was right.” 

During November 1955, Edna and Walter, Mom's sister and her husband, visited us for a few days during a cross-country train trip.



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)
Meet Danny Wilson.  (5/19/2015)
"I Could Write a Book".  (5/24/2015)
His Final Recording for Columbia Records, "Why Try to Change Me Now?"  (5/28/2015)
A new musical era with Capital Records.  (6/2/2015)
Filming begins on From Here to Eternity.   (6/15/2015)
"I've Got the World on a String".  (6/20/2015)
"Young at Heart".  (6/21/2015)
Songs for Young Lovers.  (6/22/2015)
Best supporting actor Oscar.  (6/28/2015)
Swing Easy.  (7/4/2015)
Suddenly.  (7/10/2015)
"Three Coins in the Fountain".  (7/16/2015)
Young at Heart (the movie).  (7/26/2015)
"Learnin' the Blues".  (8/5/2015)
Songs for Swingin' Lovers.  (8/12/2015)
Not as a Stranger.  (8/17/2015)
"Same Old Saturday Night".  (8/24/2015)
"Love and Marriage".  (8/28/2015)
Guys and Dolls.  (9/2/2015)

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