Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and a Double Brandy

Guest blogger Kitty Johnson writes:

A double brandy for me, please, bartender!

Now this is classic.

A prime Frank Sinatra serenading the luminous Rita Hayworth in George Stevens’ 1957 melo-musical Pal Joey.  The film itself is light on plot, and even lighter on acting, but … oh, come on. Who are we kiddin’? We’re only here to hear Frankie croon, see Kim Novak brood and watch Rita strut. And we get all of those in Pal Joey.

The piece de resistance is this three-minute scene in which the eternal standard “The Lady Is a Tramp” gets Frankie’s royal treatment. And if there ain’t a gal out there who doesn’t swoon, faint, and thud at  Ol’ Blue Eyes’ debonair, seductive appeal then, well, please forgive my French, but … merde. God help us all! (Really ladies, just watch him kick that piano away!)

Treat ‘em mean and keep ‘em keen, Frankie!!

Kitty Johnson is a freelance writer who also works as an editorial assistant for a Los Angeles-based film magazine … which is a fancy way of saying she’s one hell of a nerd. For proof, visit her blog The Kitty Packard Pictorial.