Frank Sinatra - New York, New York

I'm not a big fan of New York city* but 75 years ago today the "Bobbie Soxer Riot" happened in Times Square:

On December 30,1942, when Sinatra played his first solo concert at New York city’s Paramount Theater near Times Square, the Bobbysoxers came out in droves.  After being introduced by Jack Benny, Sinatra walked on stage to loud and continuous shrieks and screams.  “The sound that greeted me,” he later recalled, “was absolutely deafening.  It was a tremendous roar.  Five thousand kids, stamping, yelling, screaming, applauding.  I was scared stiff.  I couldn’t move a muscle. [Band leader] Benny Goodman froze, too.  He was so scared he turned around, looked at the audience and said, ‘What the hell is that?’ I burst out laughing.”  The kids screamed in delight; some even fainted.  They also crowded the back stage door after the show shrieking for his autograph, and spilled over into Times Square, snarling traffic.

This was more than two decades before the Beatles and Shea Stadium.  I'd never heard of this story.



Hat tip: The Queen Of The World, who knows stuff.

* NEW YORK CITY!