The Frank Sinatra Timex Special - Welcome Home Elvis

When Elvis went to serve in the U.S. Army in Germany in 1958, his greatest fear was that on his return two years later, everyone would have forgotten who that boy from Memphis who had been so successful since 1954 was.

After so many years of struggling, watching his mother get sicker and worse and family assets perish, he entered the music hall of fame and was able to help turn things around for his parents and relatives, in addition to acquiring expensive goods like Graceland and its property. It would be a total wreck if he had to put it all behind him because Parker's move - pulling Elvis out of evidence to generate more interest - had backfired.

As we know, Elvis never wanted to serve in the Army as an ordinary soldier at first, becoming interested in Special Services (singers and actors could pay their time just by performing for the troops on a few occasions, rather than withdrawing from public life for two years), but the Colonel went to great lengths to get him into service - even lying that he would try to get him out of duty altogether. Breaking the promise, Parker then wanted to calm the singer with another one - that his career would be kept at the top until his return.

THE RETURN OF THE KING

By 1960, Elvis' career fears were becoming real, but RCA producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill & Range had thought carefully about his two-year absence. Armed with a substantial amount of unreleased material, they maintained a steady stream of successful releases.

Between his induction and return, Presley had ten Top 40 hits, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck", the bestseller "Hard Headed Woman", and "One Night" in 1958, and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" and the number one "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959. RCA also managed to generate four albums compiling old material during this period, the most successful being Elvis' Golden Records LP, which reached No. 3 on the charts, followed by its second installment, Elvis' Gold Records, Vol. 2 (AKA 50,000,000 Fans Can't Be Wrong).

The Army held a press conference on March 1, 1960, before Elvis left West Germany, in which he was asked about his decision to serve as a regular soldier and responded to his expectations of returning to the US. On March 2, with Priscilla in attendance, Presley said goodbye to fans and media outlets in Germany and returned home to Memphis.

En route, his plane stopped at Prestwick Airport in Scotland for gas; this would be the only time he would set foot in the UK. On March 3, Presley's plane arrived at McGuire Air Force Base near Fort Dix, New Jersey, at 7:42 am. Nancy Sinatra, representatives from RCA and Parker were there to welcome him, as well as a huge crowd of fans.

The reason why Nancy went to receive Elvis and not Frank Sinatra was, in addition to forming a very interesting couple for the media, to avoid turmoil with the presence of two giants with millions of fans in the same place (in 1960 Nancy was still famous just for being daughter of who she was and would start her solo career the following year).

Nancy Sinatra welcomes Elvis at Fort Dix, Nova Jersey; March 3, de 1960

PRESLEY X SINATRA

At a major media event on July 15, 1959, Parker announced that Elvis would participate in Frank Sinatra's fourth and final Timex special on his return to the US. For the show, originally titled Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home Party to Elvis Presley, he would receive $125,000 - an unprecedented sum at the time for a single television appearance.

Sinatra was obviously not happy with the value; the amount he'd been paid for all the programs hadn't even come close to that. He accepted, however, because Presley's appearance would draw large audiences to the show, something his previous three specials failed to do.

Presley's agent also made it very clear that this sum was for just two songs and approximately 6-8 minutes of exposure. Parker hoped that Elvis' performance at the Sinatra show would reconnect him with an older audience, an audience that would be less likely to forget about him in favor of the next teen idol. The television special would bring together two of the biggest stars in the music business, each with their own legendary titles; Sinatra was known as The Voice, and Presley as The King. Realizing how big this opportunity was for his client, Parker was determined to make things work as smoothly as possible.

On March 3, 1960, Presley returned to the United States. Sinatra arranged for his daughter, Nancy, to be part of the welcoming committee, presenting Elvis with a box of polo shirts in her father's name. When asked who his favorite singers were these days, Presley mentioned Sinatra along with Dean Martin, Patti Page and Kitty Kallen.

Two days later, and two years after being drafted into the Army, Elvis was honorably discharged. Two weeks passed and he was already in Nashville, Tennessee, recording new material for an LP eagerly awaited by fans. Two songs he recorded on March 21 were chosen as the two sides of his first post-Army single and the ones he would sing live on the special; "Stuck On You" and "Fame and Fortune".

Invitation for the filming sent to music, TV and movie stars

The same day, after completing two songs for the album, Elvis took a train to Miami, Florida. Arriving the next day, Presley checked into the Hotel Fontainebleau, where the program would be taped. He spent the rest of the week rehearsing for the live performance, which was scheduled to be taped on March 26, and met with Sinatra to promote the show at a carefully held meeting that was photographed for the press.

Sinatra and Presley had been musical rivals since the 1950s, and at the time, each had been asked for his opinions of the other.

Sinatra had written an article in a French magazine, Western World, in 1957, describing Rock and Roll as music "sung, played and written for the most part by criminals through its almost imbecile, flippant reiterations and explicit lyrics - dirty , indeed - and, as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the Earth... that foul-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore."

When asked for his reaction to hearing that, Presley replied, "He's entitled to his opinion, but I can't see him hitting it for no reason. I admire him as a performer and actor, but I think he's very wrong about that. If I remember well, he's also part of a trend. I don't see how he can call the youth of today immoral and delinquent."

The press, whether Sinatra and Presley knew or not, was trying to cause a rift between the two. However, they had nothing but nice things to say about each other when asked specifically how they felt.

Sinatra, when asked about Presley's singing style, replied, "Only time will tell. They said I was a freak when I started, but I'm still around. Presley doesn't have any training. When he gets into something serious, a greater type of singing, we will find out if he is a singer. He has a natural and animal talent."

For his part, when asked again about Sinatra's earlier comments about Rock and Roll, Elvis was very kind to Sinatra: "I admire the man... He's a great success and a good actor."

Before recording the show, Sinatra was asked whether or not he had changed his mind about Rock. He suggested not, simply replying, "The kid's been away for two years, and I have a feeling he really believes in what he's doing."

IT'S NICE TO GO TRAV'LLING

Elvis during rehearsals for the show

On March 26 at 6:15 pm, the taping of the program took place at the Fontainebleau. It would be Presley's first television appearance in over three years, and his first performance since 1957, which made him nervous about how he would be received.

Colonel Parker, perhaps out of his own nerves, had brought in as many Presley fans as possible to fill the audience, although at least half were still Sinatra fans. For the occasion, and to fit in with Sinatra's Rat Pack personality, Elvis wore a tuxedo.

Presley's very brief first appearance on the show was at the beginning. Entering in his Army uniform, Elvis joined the other guests on the show, including Nancy Sinatra, to sing a part of "It's Nice To Go Trav'ling". His other two songs, "Stuck On You" and "Fame and Fortune", had been released just a few days before the recording of the special but were already in the mouths and minds of fans.

Presley also performed with Sinatra, each singing a song the other had made famous and taking turns singing one verse at a time; Presley sang "Witchcraft" and Sinatra sang "Love Me Tender". Both songs were performed in the swing style for which Sinatra was famous, although critics were divided on how it sounded; "Presley struggled with the melody of Sinatra's hit, but the pair's harmony on 'Love Me Tender' came out in style," they wrote.

After approximately eight minutes and a quick promotional plug for his new film, G.I. Blues, Presley was gone. The rest of the show revolved around Sinatra and his friends from the Rat Pack.

Elvis and Frank would never work together again, but they would stay in touch for years to come. In 1968, Nancy would be a supporting actress in Speedway and Elvis would visit her, along with a rather begrudgingly Priscilla, for her Vegas debut in 1969.

In fact, it was Sinatra who lent his private jet to Elvis and Priscilla to get married in Vegas and then go on their honeymoon in Palm Springs. Frank asked for payment of the favor in 1970, when he sent "My Way" to Elvis and asked him to record it to increase sales and attract more audiences (Elvis recorded it in 1971, but the studio version would not be released until 1995).

The show, now titled The Frank Sinatra Timex Special: Welcome Home Elvis and sponsored by the Timex Company, was broadcast nationally on ABC-TV on the night of May 12, 1960. Airing numbers were high, with a Trendex rating of 41.5%, approximately 67.7% of the general television audience. To put that in perspective, the second rated show in that time slot, NBC's The Ernie Ford Show, with Johnny Cash and Groucho Marx, drew an audience of 21.1%.

Reviews about the program were generally good, although not everyone was impressed. Life Magazine said that "Sinatra makes the best song of the season", and referred to Elvis as "still a reigning favorite after two years in the Army".

Billboard Magazine wrote:
"The expected dynamite was, to put it politely, a little overrated... Presley has a lot to learn before he can work in the same league as pros like Sinatra, Joey Bishop, and especially Sammy Davis Jr., who ended the show with his singing and imitations... The real winner was probably the Fontainebleau Hotel, where the show was taped last March. It got a great publicity campaign."

New York Times was a little harsher with Presley when reviewing the show:
"While in the service, he lost his whiskers, drove a truck, and apparently behaved in an acceptable military manner. But now he is free to perform in public again, as he did on last night's 'Frank Sinatra Show' on Channel 7... Although Elvis became a Sergeant in the Army, as a singer he never left the stranger. There was nothing morally reproachful about his performance; he was just awful."

Elvis and the Frank Sinatra Show cast during filming; March 26, 1960

Ed Sullivan, the man who just three years earlier called Presley "a real good, decent boy" when the young star last appeared on his show, also gave the Sinatra special a very harsh review. Writing in The New York Daily News, Sullivan said:

"Presley, without his whiskers, has replaced them with what women would probably call 'high hair'. His hair is so high in the front it looks like a ski jump."

Sullivan also criticized Parker's ability to acquire $125,000 for eight minutes of work. However, he failed to take into account the fact that the special didn't belong to Elvis, it was Sinatra's show, and there were other guests who had to have exposure time.

In her book, Elvis For Dummies, author Susan Doll points out how important this television special was to Presley's career. She writes: "Appearing with Sinatra suggested that Elvis was following the same [Sinatra] career path and therefore was the natural heir to The Voice."

She also points out that Presley's singing style and appearance on the show "clearly signaled that Elvis was courting an increasingly adult audience."

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