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''Welcome Home Elvis'' was a 1960 television special on ABC starring Frank Sinatra and featuring Elvis Presley in his first televised appearance since coming home from his military service in Germany. The special was officially titled ''It's Nice to Go Traveling'', but is more commonly known as ''Welcome Home Elvis'' having featured Elvis on his first TV appearance in three years. This was also Frank Sinatra's fourth and final television special that he did for sponsor Timex. The special also featured Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Nancy Sinatra, who later starred with Elvis in his 1968 film ''Speedway''. Elvis performed "Fame and Fortune" and "Stuck on You", which were the two sides of his first post-army single. He also performed a duet with Sinatra. Elvis performed Sinatra's classic "Witchcraft" while Frank performed the Elvis classic "Love Me Tender". None of these performances were released on record until the 1980s. Presley also sang a verse during the opening production number, "It's Nice to Go Traveling", which has yet to be commercially released. The remainder of the special consisted of performances by the additional guest stars. Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr. sing a duet together in this show: ''Shall We Dance'', after Davis did some impersonations. Davis also sang "There's A Boat Dat's Leaving Soon For New York" earlier that show. The show was a great success grabbing 41.5 percent of the ratings. Excerpts from this show appear in Warner Bros.' 1981 documentary film ''This Is Elvis''. ==Background== On July 15, 1959 it was announced that Presley, upon his release from the US Army, would be making his first television appearance on Frank Sinatra's fourth and final Timex-sponsored variety show.〔Guralnick, Elvis: Day by Day, p.139-140〕 For the special, originally titled ''Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley'', he would receive $125,000, an unheard of sum at the time for a single television appearance.〔 Sinatra was not happy about the amount, knowing full well that even he was not being paid that much for the whole show.〔〔 He accepted, however, that Presley's appearance would attract huge ratings for his show, something that his three previous specials had failed to do.〔 Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, also made it very clear that this sum was for only two songs, approximately 6-8 minutes.〔Guralnick, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, p.44〕 Parker had hoped that showcasing Presley on Sinatra's show would re-introduce him to an older audience, an audience that would be less likely to forget him in favor of the next teen idol.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/elvis_presley_1960_1966.html )〕 The television special would bring together two of the music world's biggest stars, each with their own legendary titles; Sinatra was known as ''the Voice'' and Presley was known as ''the King''.〔 Realizing how big an opportunity this was for his client, Parker was intent on seeing things run as smoothly as possible.〔 On March 3, 1960 Presley returned to the United States from Germany. Sinatra had arranged for his daughter, Nancy, to be part of the welcoming party, presenting Presley with a box of dress shirts on behalf of her father.〔Hopkins, ''Elvis'', p.193〕 When asked who his current favorite singers were, Presley mentioned Sinatra along with Dean Martin, Patti Page, and Kitty Kallen.〔 Two days later, two years after he'd been drafted into the US Army, Presley was honorably discharged.〔Guralnick, Elvis: Day by Day, p. 146-147〕 Two weeks later he was in Nashville, Tennessee, to lay down some new material for an eagerly anticipated single release and an album. Two songs he recorded on March 21 were the ones chosen as the two sides of his first post-army single, and the songs he would perform live on the television special; "Stuck On You" and "Fame And Fortune".〔 That same day, after completing two more songs for the album, Presley boarded a train from Nashville to Miami, Florida.〔 Arriving in Miami the next day, Presley checked into the Fontainebleau Hotel, the venue where the show would be taped.〔〔 He spent the remainder of the week rehearsing for the show, which was scheduled to be recorded on March 26, and met with Sinatra to promote the show in a carefully staged meeting that was photographed for press release.〔Guralnick, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, p.62-63〕 The meeting between the two was eagerly monitored by the media.〔 Sinatra and Presley had been musical rivals since the 1950s, and on occasion they had each been asked their opinions on the other. Sinatra had written an article in a French magazine, ''Western World'', in 1957, describing rock and roll music as "sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd—in plain fact, dirty—lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth … this rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore." When asked his reaction to hearing this, Presley responded “He has a right to his opinion, but I can’t see him knocking it for no good reason. I admire him as a performer and an actor but I think he’s badly mistaken about this. If I remember correctly, he was also part of a trend. I don’t see how he can call the youth of today immoral and delinquent."〔 The press, either known or unknown to Sinatra and Presley, was attempting to cause a rift between the pair. They, however, had nothing but good things to say about each other when asked specifically how they felt. Sinatra, when specifically asked about Presley's singing style, responded “Only time will tell. They said I was a freak when I first hit, but I’m still around. Presley has no training at all. When he goes into something serious, a bigger kind of singing, we’ll find out if he is a singer. He has a natural, animalistic talent.”〔 For his part, when asked again about Sinatra's previous comments regarding rock and roll, Presley was just as kind about Sinatra; "I admire the man... He is a great success and a fine actor". Before the taping of the show, Sinatra was questioned about whether or not he had changed his mind about rock and roll music. He suggested he hadn't by simply responding "The kid's been away two years, and I get the feeling he really believes in what he's doing."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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