Star of the month December 2012... Frank Sinatra

fliXposed's Star of the month for December 2012 will be Frank Sinatra. Throughout December I will attempt to watch as many of the following films I can...

The Early Years

• The Shining Future (1944-short)
• The House I Live In (1945-short)
• Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
• It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
• The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly

• Anchors Aweigh (1945)
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1948)
• On the Town (1949)

The Golden Years

• Guys & Dolls (1955)
• The Tender Trap (1955)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
• High Society (1956)
• Pal Joey (1957)

Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin

• Some Came Running (1958)
• 4 For Texas (1963)
• Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964)
• Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
• Once in a Lifetime: Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin

Cameo appearances

• Meet Me In Las Vegas (1956)
• Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
• Advise and Consent (1962)
• Paris When it Sizzles (1964)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

Non-musical roles

• From Here to Eternity (1953)
• Suddenly (1954)
• Not as a Stranger (1955)
• Never So Few (1959)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)

Documentaries

• That's Entertainment (1974)
• Just One More Time (1974-short)
• That's Entertainment Part II (1976)
• That's Dancing (1985)
• Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
• That's Entertainment Part III (1994)

The Dean Martin Show (with Gene Kelly) - Star of the month... Gene Kelly

'The Dean Martin Show' was a variety show hosted by Dean Martin and ran from 1965-1974

Gene Kelly guest starred on the show six times from 1972-1974.

Here are some highlights from these appearances:


Sketch: Barbershop - Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Dom de Luise & Nipsey Russel 

Two scenes:

• Sketch: 'Pets' - Dean Martin & Gene Kelly (with Rover the Elephant)
• Song: 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls' - Gene Kelly (with little girls)

Sketch (with song): 'Singin' in the Rain' - Dean Martin & Gene Kelly

Song: "Blue Skies" - Dean Martin & Gene Kelly

Something's Got To Give (1962)

Star of the month... Marilyn Monroe

Something's Got To Give is Marilyn Monroe's final film, which is still incomplete.

Marilyn goes for a skinny dip

The comedy is a remake of the 1940 screwball comedy 'My Favorite Wife', and was to be directed by George Cukor and to co-star Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse, Phil Silvers, Tom Tyron and Wally Cox. The film was abandoned after Marilyn's death, and the 37 minutes of footage which still survives is included in the documentary 'Marilyn: The Final Days'.

Ellen Wagstaff Arden (played by Monroe) has been lost at sea in the Pacific for five years and declared legally dead. Meanwhile her husband Nicholas Arden (played by Martin) has just remarried a new wife, Bianca (played by Charisse). Whilst they are on their honeymoon, Ellen is rescued and returns to her husband and his new wife. Upon learning Ellen had spent the past few years on a desert island with another man, Stephen Burkett (played by Tyron), Nicholas becomes jealous.

The pool scene

Marilyn filmed a scene where she appears swimming nude in a swimming pool. The studio had provided Marilyn with a flesh coloured body suit, however Marilyn took it off and was filmed wearing only bikini bottoms. Had the film been finished and released, Marilyn would have been the first mainstream film star to be appear in a Hollywood film nude.

Watch a video of The pool scene:

Production cancelled

Production of the film stopped once Cukor had filmed every scene not involving Marilyn, and she was still unavailable. As a result, 20th Century Fox fired Marilyn and replaced her with Lee Remick. This led Dean Martin to quit as his contract specified he would be starring with Marilyn. With the production already $2million over budget, Fox decided to shut down the project. Marilyn was found dead in her home less than two months later.