SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast

This week, special guest Garrett Cash attempts to set a world record for the most preparation ever undertaken to appear as a guest on a single episode of a podcast. Meet Me in Las Vegas is a boring MGM film from 1956 set at the Sands casino in which Sinatra appears in a cameo as "Man at Slot Machine" for only a few seconds. You won't believe how far Garrett went to put this in its full context, spending over a year on the deepest dive yet undertaken for this show. Be prepared to learn a LOT about Las Vegas. We're thrilled to present not just a special episode of the show but also potentially a landmark in podcasting history.

Full list of media consumed by Garrett Cash to prepare for this episode (backup link at Internet Archive) contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

It's a simple idea with a long history: Woman is told her husband has perished at sea, so she remarries, then the original husband turns up alive and hijinks ensue! An old-timey excuse to show a throuple and a natural premise for comedy, this concept stayed resonant for many years and was remade a number of times – including as a classic screwball 1940 film, that was later itself in 1947 adapted into a hilarious and chaotic radio production starring Lucille Ball as the wife with Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra as the husbands. This week, we hear that radio production in full, and go on a deep dive beginning with a simple title which does not officially have an exclamation mark in it but absolutely should – Too Many Husbands!

Referenced media:

• Black Mirror latest season (2025)
• Dale Beran - It Came from Something Awful (2019)
• Search Engine podcast episode, "What's actually on teenagers' phones?" (2025)
• Social Studies (TV documentary series, 2025)
• Erin in the Morning (Substack newsletter)
• A Minecraft Movie (2025)
• Prince - N.E.W.S. (2003)
• Origin of "Knock it into a cocked hat" from Wordhistories.net
• D.H. Lawrence - Samson and Delilah
• Caught in the Draft (1941)
• Paris Review on "Brownette" - "A Visit to the Max Factor Museum" by Sadie Stein (2014)

"TOO MANY HUSBANDS" TIMELINE (incomplete... could be someone's PhD to work all this out, likely many strands missing)

• 1565 – Martin Guerre story published
• 1800s – Someone, somewhere, writes a story probably called "The Fisherman" about a fisherman who goes missing, is presumed dead, comes back and finds his wife has married.
• 1854 – Thomas Woolner is an English sculptor and poet visiting Australia, and while there he buys a lot of books. He then returns to England on board a ship called the Queen of the South and spends a lot of time reading. In one of those books he reads "The Fisherman". We don't know what book it is or who wrote it. He later passes it on to his friend Lord Alfred Tennyson.
• 1864 – "Enoch Arden", poem by Lord Tennyson, based on "The Fisherman"
• 1911 – Too Many Husbands, play by Anthony E. Wills
• 1914 – Too Many Husbands, film based on Wills' play
• 1918 – Too Many Husbands, English film
• 1919 – Home and Beauty aka Too Many Husbands, play by Maugham
• 1938 – Too Many Husbands, British film
• 1940 – Too Many Husbands, American film based on 1919 play
• 1940 – My Favorite Wife, remake of 1940 film with genderflip
• 1947 – "Too Many Husbands" radio adaptation with Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope
• 1954 – "Too Many Husbands" episode of Rocky Fortune
• 1955 – Three for the Show, remake of 1940 film
• 1962 – Something's Got to Give, aborted Marilyn project, remake of My Favorite Wife
• 1963 – Move Over, Darling, made instead of above
• 2020 – "Too Many Husbands", song by Coriky

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We're off for Ramadan and will be back soon. In the meantime, here's a classic episode of Rocky Fortune with a quick intro about some upcoming episodes.

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Not just the 1992 "Is Elvis Alive?" conspiracy theory special The Elvis Conspiracy (a sequel to 1991's The Elvis Files). Not just the specific airing of that special from Channel 7 in Adelaide, South Australia on 26 May 1992. The commercials from that airing. It's as granular as we've ever been, and we're joined by Adelaide's own David M. Green, host of VHS Revue, a show which specialises in commercials from Australian TV found on old VHS tapes. This was originally intended to be a bonus episode for the TCBCast After Dark Patreon-exclusive deep dive into "Is Elvis Alive?" that Rabia, Justin and Felix did in 2024. A bout of Long COVID meant it didn't end up happening at the time, but everyone's back on deck so here it is! Ads discussed include: The Adventures of Vicky, Mr. Footypunt, Jane Debster shoes, Bob Moran cars, promo for Memories of Elvis the following night, Yellow Pages ad with Roy Billing, Tip Top Bread with Andrew Jarman, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, TAB Telephone Betting, Hungry Jacks Ocean Catch, Light West End beer (Not gay), Farmer's Union Iced Coffee, Aussie Tile Fair, Zamel's Jewellers, Pedder's Suspension, Sizzler, AM Adelaide. The full Adelaide 1992 VHS recording on Internet Archive David M. Green's website Watch VHS Revue on YouTube TCBCast Patreon to hear the rest of TCBCast After Dark

our website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail.com

In 1947, a musical premiered in which a conservative US senator is transformed into a woman by a farming commune of "rainbow people" in order to teach him a lesson. Brimming with queer and trans subtext, Finian's Rainbow is a difficult and exhausting watch today but it remains fascinating as an artefact of proto-feminism and postwar LGBTIQA+ history. Sinatra was originally slated to appear in an animated version in the 1950s and even worked on a soundtrack with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, but the project never eventuated - though he did go on to record "Old Devil Moon" on Songs for Swingin' Lovers!

Frustrated by the infamous 1968 Coppola film adaptation, Rabia went in search of any random stage version off YouTube to watch instead - and found a gem in the form of the 2017 Usdan summer camp adaptation with a brilliant young cast, which we spend this episode dissecting. Modern feminists call Finian's Rainbow a whitewashed version of 1940s gender politics, but how does it really hold up today and do its "good intentions" matter? Also, we talk about Robbie Williams, his new biopic Better Man, Sinatra's influence on his work and the US/Commonwealth cultural divide as to whether or not he is famous.

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I love my wife. The "I Love My Wife" timeline:

• "I Love My Wife" (unrelated song from I Do, I Do, 1966)
• Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969)
• I Love My Wife (film, unrelated to the musical, 1970)
• Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine (French play, 1975)
• "I Love My Wife" (Sinatra single release of title song from musical, January 1977)
• I Love My Wife (book of original musical, 1977)
• I Love My Wife (musical, premieres March 1977)
• I Love My Wife (original cast recording, 1977)
• "I Love My Wife" (Bill Evans recording, 1978)
• I Love My Wife (South African cast recording, 1978)
• Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine (film of original French play, 1981)
• I Love My Wife (Australian cast recording, 1982)
• I Think I Love My Wife (film written by Louis CK starring Chris Rock, 2007)
• I Love My Wife (revival with Jason Alexander, 2008)
• I Love My Wife (amateur revival at Kraine Theatre, NY, 2018)
• I Love My Wife (Backers' Audition CD of original 1976 demo recordings, 2020)

Other sources:

• Andy Propst - You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of Cy Coleman (2015)
• "After All, It's Not Gomorrah", Robert Cushman, The Observer, 9 October 1977
• "Don't Go to Orgies in Deer Park" by Loveboner from the album Wet Sounds (2019)
• Charles L. Granata - Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the art of recordings (1999)
• "The Mystery of Frank Sinatra's Grave", David Lansing, Palm Springs Life, 26 April 2021

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As Los Angeles burns, Henry checks in with the show from a Motel 6 in Palm Springs. websites: henrygiardina.com suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com

We're back, ahead of schedule, with an emotional first episode of 2025 after a long and personally very traumatic few months. This week we turn to Sinatra's classic 1956 album Songs for Swingin' Lovers! and explore how the album title inadvertently became a double entendre in the 1960s. Placing this album in the inadvertent context of the "swinging" sexual revolution throws new light on it and snaps the album's "concept" into focus. Mostly, this is just spectacular music and we're back to our roots of appreciating it. In particular, we spotlight the trumpet work of Harry "Sweets" Edison, a major part of the timeless sound of this era.

Selected sources:

• "Music Hath Charms, Even Unto Motherhood", The Indianapolis Star, 25 March, 1962
• Frank Sinatra: Portrait of an Album (1985)
• Interview with Harry "Sweets" Edison, conducted by Les Tomkin in 1970 for National Jazz Archive UK
• Hugh Rawson - A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk (1983)
• All the Loving Couples (1969)
• Terry Gould - The Lifestyle: A look at the erotic rites of swingers (1989)
• Gilbert D. Bartell - Group sex: a scientist's eyewitness report on the American way of swinging (1971)
• Ray Connelly - A Girl Who Came to Stay (1975)
• Charles A. Varni - "An Exploratory Study of Wife-Swapping" (1972)

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Merry Christmas. I'm back. See you soon. - Rabia

suddenlypod.gay

suddenlypod at gmail dot com

Hi, Rabia here. I have Long COVID and am struggling. I need time to process things and figure out how to best use my energy. Podcasting is good for me but very energy consuming, and I need to work out how I'm going to manage this condition. So Season 3 will end here for now and we will pick back up at some stage in 2025. In the meantime, enjoy this episode of Rocky Fortune. Wear an N95, run an air purifier, avoid crowds, do whatever you can to avoid both contracting and spreading this virus. I dig you the most xx contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com