Sinatra on TV in '65

As years go, 1965 marked a significant cultural turning point. With teen audiences screaming at concerts for the Beatles and the Supremes, pop-rock and soul began to lock up a sizable slice of the record market. At the exact same time, the future was becoming a national obsession, helped along largely by the space race and moon shot. Jet travel, the Houston Astrodome, the New York World's Fair, muscle cars, California, futuristic children's cartoons and ads for products like Tang, the electric razor, frozen concentrated orange juice and instant coffee imagined a more convenient tomorrow. If you were older than age 30 back then, you had to be feeling your age and somewhat helpless, much the way baby boomers today feel whenever new technology is introduced.

In October 1965, Frank Sinatra, who would turn 50 that December, hosted ABC's Hollywood Palace, a hugely popular Saturday night TV variety show that began airing in January 1964 and would last until 1970. The show was geared to adult tastes and typically served up acts that appealed to those who grew up during the Depression, fought in World War II, bought houses on the G.I. Bill, raised families in suburbia and were baffled in '65 by their declining influence and the speed with which the future was rushing toward them.

Sinatra, who was already dating a much younger Mia Farrow, appeared on stage to slow things down for Hollywood Palace viewers, giving them a large, familiar dose of yesterday. The show provided shelter from a loud and confusing cultural storm. Yet in all fairness, there was something appealing about pre-1965 entertainment, where polished talent, one-liners and sunny optimism dominated. On the show, Sinatra is joined by the Count Basie Orchestra, both arguably at their swinging peak, and Jack E. Leonard, who preceded Don Rickles in the insult-humor business.

Here's Frank Sinatra hosting the Hollywood Palace 50 years ago just as the potency of an older generation's values were beginning to wane...