Today's Video Links

It's Frank, Dino and Bing performing the "Style" number from their 1964 movie, Robin and the Seven Hoods. It's a film I wish I liked more than I do but this is a pretty good number. Bing Crosby was a last-minute cast replacement. His role was originally supposed to be played by Peter Lawford but he and Sinatra had a falling-out, after which they not only never appeared together but never even spoke.

It had to do with a planned visit to Los Angeles by then-President John F. Kennedy. J.F.K. was going to stay at Sinatra's home, which was a big, proud deal for Frank. But then Bobby Kennedy got worried that Sinatra's ties to Organized Crime (or at least, Organized Criminals) would taint the President's good name. J.F.K. wound up staying instead at Bing's home and while Sinatra obviously didn't blame Bing, he was furious at Lawford who, he believed, had the connections to stop this from happening and didn't.

Anyway, I don't think it's a great movie but I like this scene…

Hey, while I've got your attention: Did you know that Rupert Holmes and some other folks turned the movie into a musical that never made it to Broadway? It was full of songs by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The two of them wrote the score for the movie (including "Style") but the stage version ditched all the numbers in it except for "My Kind of Town" and substituted other hits from other sources by Cahn and Van Heusen.

The musical tried out in San Diego at the Old Globe Theater in 2010. It was there during Comic-Con that year and if I'd known, I would have made time to go see it but I didn't know. As far as I'm aware, it went nowhere after that so maybe they should have left "Style" in. Here are some moments from that try-out…

P.S., ADDED A FEW HOURS LATER: It just dawned on me that I put up the clip of Frank, Dean and Bing before…a few years ago here. Forgive the duplication. It's worth seeing again.