SUDDENLY: a Frank Sinatra podcast

In Episode 43 ("Love and Marriage"), Rabia and Felix watched the infamous televised 1955 musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager. The songs were so terrible, and the acting so bad, that Wilder personally called the station and ensured that it would never air ever again. Neither Rabia nor Felix had ever seen the play before, nor even heard of it. While a beloved cultural mainstay in the US, Our Town somehow never made it to Australia. Now, in his first solo episode, Henry explains to Australians what we're missing out on and why Our Town matters. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

We think of Sinatra as emerging as a serious dramatic actor from the early 1950s onwards, shedding his clean-cut MGM image for the first time when he takes intense roles as mentally disturbed soldiers in From Here to Eternity and Suddenly. But there's a part of the story we've all forgotten. In January 1945, at the height of the bobby-soxer era and months before tapdancing in a sailor suit for Anchors Aweigh, Sinatra made his actual dramatic acting debut on the radio horror anthology series Suspense. This week, we listen to "To Find Help", shockingly ahead of its time, where Sinatra briefly shed his squeaky-clean status to play a violent and mentally ill man terrorising an old woman in her home. website: suddenlypod.gay contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

In the Wee Small Hours is often considered Sinatra's best work and arguably the first concept album. The "concept" is something along the lines of "I am awake at 3am and I am feeling deeply sad about a lost love." And that's really it. Just when you think there couldn't possibly be any more songs about the nuances of that kind of misery, there are seven more. It's relentless, it's brutal, it borders on self-harm and it changed the way we all listen to albums forever. So many emotions, such beautiful music, so much history, such an enormous legacy. And yet, what is there to say? Sometimes it's best just to listen - not just to Sinatra, but to the people out there in the world, all with their own problems, who heard this and felt something. Selected resources: * Woody Guthrie - Dustbowl Ballads (1940) (featured: "Dust Cain't Kill Me") * Gordon Jenkins - Seven Dreams (1953) (featured: "The Cocktail Party (The Fourth Dream)") * The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1967) (featured: "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's Not Me", "Caroline, No") * Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy (autobiography, 2010) * Jane Russell & Hoagy Carmichael - "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (from Las Vegas Story, 1952) * Bob Crosby and His Orchestra (with Marion Mann, vocal) - "Deep in a Dream" (1938) * Laurie Anderson - "Smoke Rings" (from Home of the Brave, 1986) * The Berlin Patient (podcast hosted by Joel White, 2016-17) (Complete series available on YouTube and Internet Archive) * Sophie Calle - Take Care of Yourself (book and art project, 2007) * Nick Hornby - High Fidelity (novel, 1995) * Marian McPartland Trio - "This Love of Mine" (from self-titled album, 1956) Special thanks to W.M. Akers. contact: suddenlypod at gmail dot com website: suddenlypod.gay donate: ko-fi.com/suddenlypod

"Love and Marriage" was one of the worst songs Sinatra ever recorded, and the toxic ideas about marriage that it perpetuated left a negative impact on the world. This week, we look into the song's unlikely origins in a televised musical version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and its shameful legacy as the theme song for the vile 1980s-90s sitcom Married... with Children. Watching this show for the first time in 2024 is a jaw-dropping experience, not least because of the jeering, catcalling studio audience. And of course, we've sought out the transphobic episode. Join us, won't you, as we travel down the "Tender Trap" to Al Bundy pipeline. This one made us feel bad.

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The phrase "tender trap" essentially didn't exist before the mid-1950s, entering common usage from the film and song which were both popularised by Frank Sinatra. The image of being lured into your downfall by a thing pretending to be soft speaks to a basic element of what it is to be human, and people all over the world have projected their emotions, hangups and life experiences onto this simple concept. This week, we examine Sinatra's classic film and song, plus the original play, then take a look at the many manifestations of the "tender trap" ever since, exploring 70 years of human sexuality and emotion. Selected references:

• Pamela Robinson Wojcik - The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film (2010)
• The article about the musical they do in High School Musical
• Marjorie Holmes - I've Got to Talk to Somebody, God (1969) and Second Wife, Second Life (1993)
• Michael Walsh - How to Undo a Maiden (1971)
• Transvestia magazine, issue #110. "The Gift" by J. Reviere. (1971)
• Howard Cosell - Like It Is (1974)
• Seductress magazine, issue #6 (pornography) (1970s?)
• The Tender Trap (1978) (pornography)
• Gay Barchives - Interview with Doug Rehrer about The Tender Trap, Pittsburgh (2020)
• Ron Nyswaner - Blue Days, Black Nights (2004)
• Jay Matthews - "Youthful Lovers in China Find They Are Caught in a Tender Trap" 17 December 1978, Washington Post
• Alexander Abdennur - The Conflict Resolution Syndrome: Volunteerism, Violence, and Beyond
• The Sapphire Room (1997)
• Dave Damiani - "The Tinder App" (2016)
• Madeleine Davies - "Don't Fall for the Tender Trap" 13 July 2017, Jezebel
• The Tender Trap (2021, New Zealand)
• Interview with Sharon Armstrong, Woman Magazine NZ, 1 March 2021
• Death Trap aka The Tender Trap (1974) starring Vincent Price

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In a special emergency episode, we examine Frank Sinatra's long history with Israel, Palestine and Zionism. Many don't realise just how connected these topics are. This week, we weave a story all the way from Sinatra personally helping run guns to the Nakba in 1948 and his starring role as a fighter pilot for the IDF in 1966's Cast a Giant Shadow, all the way to the bombing of the Frank Sinatra International Student Centre by Hamas in 2002. Henry joins to share his experiences and thoughts from a Jewish perspective, and Rabia has a personal announcement. Selected sources: * Rabbi Dovid Weiss - We Cry for the Palestinians (Interview with Let the Quran Speak, October 2023) * The House I Live In (1945, anti-semitism PSA starring Frank Sinatra) * Paul Robeson - "The House I Live In" * Hasan Hammami, Nakba survivor, interview with Middle East Eye, 2023. * Mahmoud Salah, Nakba survivor, interview with Democracy Now, 2018. * Nakba Day: What happened in Palestine in 1948?, Al-Jazeera, 15 May 2022. * Eddie Cantor in Israel (1950, short film) * Exodus (1960) * Pat Boone - "This Land is Mine" (Theme from Exodus) * Shalom Goldman - Starstruck in the Promised Land (2019) * Sinatra in Israel (1962, short film) * Sinatra: Supporting Israel "His Way", Friends of Zion Museum profile. * George Jacobs - Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra (2003) * Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) * Making the Desert Bloom: Why Europe Clings to the Colonial Mindset, Emile Badarin, Middle East Eye, 5 May 2023. * Melville Shavelson - How to Make a Jewish Movie (1971) * "The Shadows and the Light", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5 episode. * What'll It Be? Sinatra or Woody Allen?, Jack Engelhard, Israel National News, 8 July 2004.

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Who burnt down West Melbourne Stadium in the middle of Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour, and why did this happen? This week, on our final episode of the year, SUDDENLY investigates. And we're joined by David Nichols - Australian history expert, senior lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, and author of Dig: Australian Rock and Pop Music 1960-85 - to help us put together the pieces. We also learn about West Melbourne Stadium's second life as Festival Hall, and weave a story spanning seven decades that that takes us all the way up to 2023. Selected media discussed in this episode: * Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory (1950) * Howard Cosell's introduction of Frank Sinatra from The Main Event (1974) * Ben Folds Five's "Boxing" from Ben Folds Five (1995) * Newsfront (1978) * Recordings of The AMPOL Show from 1957, documenting early Australian performances of Bill Haley and the Comets, Litltle Richard and others. Released as Rock n' Roll Radio Australia 1957. Available in full on YouTube. * The Beatles' concert from Festival Hall, Melbourne, 1964. Filmed in full and available on YouTube. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

Frank Sinatra's first Australian visit in 1955 followed shortly after the repeal of decades-old laws preventing "coloured" musicians, or any foreign musicians, from performing in the country. The tour was part of the initial run of the now-legendary "Big Shows" put on by mysterious American promoter Lee Gordon, who took advantage of the newly-liberated times to bring acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong to Australia for the first time. But how did we end up with such racist, bizarre laws in the first place? To understand that, we need to go back to the 1928 Australian tour of an African-American jazz band called Sonny Clay's Coloured Idea, and unravel the elaborate conspiracy that faced them when they arrived. This week, we're examining Sinatra's 1955 Australian tour by putting it in its proper historical context - with a cliffhanger ending you won't see coming. Selected media discussed this week, with links:

• AI Frank Sinatra cover of the theme from "Five Nights at Freddy's."
• AI Eric Cartman cover of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life."
• Deirdre O'Connell's book, Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia's Jazz Age, published in 2021 by Macquarie University Press - a key source for this episode, and a highly recommended read.
• Two iconic photos of Sonny Clay's Coloured Idea arriving in Sydney at Circular Quay, 1928. Viewable through the State Library of New South Wales website. Photo 1, Photo 2.
• Photo of Central Station concourse in Sydney, taken in 2017, via Wikimedia Commons.
• Photo of a shelf full of Sex and the City DVDs in a Melbourne op shop, 2023.
• Little Man, What Now? Illustration by Jim Russell from 1935 edition of Australian Music Maker and Dance Band News. Sourced from Harlem Nights, available to view via Google Books.
• Kay Dreyfus' book, Silences and Secrets: The Australian Experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators, published 2013 by Monash University Publishing.
• Photo: Dancing the Jitterbug at the Booker T. Washington Club (Albion Street) 1943 [Photo by Bullard for The Sun, ID: FXB266504] - pictured: Private Eli Walker and Kathleen Cavanagh. Sourced from Murders Most Foul: Sydney True Crime History Tours website.
• Ella Fitzgerald - "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" Live at Bushnell Memorial Hall, 1954.
• Johnnie Ray - In Concert. Filmed in Stockholm, Sweden, 1958, including "Such a Night" and "Up Above My Head."
• Louis Armstrong - Live in Melbourne Australia 1954 and 1956. Full live recordings available on Soundcloud, including "Back Home in Indiana" as featured in this episode.
• Australian newsreel, 1955 - Sinatra Gets Tumultuous Welcome, documenting Sinatra's arrival at Mascot airport in Sydney.
• Frank Sinatra - Live in Melbourne, Australia. Recorded on January 19th, 1955 at West Melbourne Stadium. Full concert audio available on YouTube.
• Footage of Felix playing Overwatch while listening to the above.
• "God Save the Queen" - Variant of the 30-second film reels that played after movies in Australian cinemas, 1950s and 1960s.
• News story about the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway in South Canterbury, New Zealand, where the cinema still plays "God Save the Queen" before movies as of 2022, even after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Surprise! We're joined from Los Angeles by the legendary Karina Longworth, renowned film historian, author, critic and host of the iconic podcast You Must Remember This. This week, we're jumping ahead to discuss HIGH SOCIETY (1956). Louis Armstrong definitely deserved better, and we tackle the explicitly racist treatment of his character in the context in which 1950s Australian audiences would have received it. Also, what's with the old-timey trope of old men singing to little girls about how they'll be hot when they grow up? This week, opinions, perspectives and historical insights vary significantly between the four of us, but all come together to form a cohesive picture. As Karina says, "Your mileage may vary." Deirdre O'Connell's Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia's Jazz Age is available from Macquarie University Press. Dream Empire (2016) is streaming on Vimeo On Demand. Listen to Henry's new show with W.M. Akers, I'll Watch Anything. The new season of You Must Remember This - a continuation of the Erotic 90s series - begins on September 5th. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod

Because six hours wasn't enough, it's a special, informal bonus episode where Henry and Rabia discuss some leftover elements of our GUYS AND DOLLS series we didn't find time to discuss. Here we finish off the story of Damon Runyon's life and his legacy today, discuss the critical reception of the 1955 film, and spend some time thinking about the unsung victims of all of this: horses. No longer on social media! Check out our website - SUDDENLYPOD.GAY Get in touch with us - suddenlypod at gmail dot com Donate to the show @ ko.fi.com/suddenlypod