Bob submitted a partial list of promo records featuring Frank Sinatra on Reprise. I thought it might be interesting to have a separate thread on the rarely tackled subject of FS-related promo records. Here are the Reprise references I know of so far (thanks to Bob for his contribution):

PRO-162 You're A Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith / The Hills Of Home (Fred Waring)
PRO-163 Let Us Break Break Together / America, I Hear You Singing (Fred Waring)
PRO-164 Early American / You Never Had It So Good
PRO-166 My Kind Of Town (one-sided record)
PRO-212 A Tribute To Nat King Cole featuring Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra (probably one-sided)
PRO-217 Golden Moment / When The Wind Was Green
PRO-231 Summer Wind / Summer Wind
PRO-252 Reprise Artist Voice Tracks (FS introduces Nancy Sinatra record)
PRO-257 Francis Albert Sinatra - Antonio Carlos Jobim The Girl From Ipanema - How Insensitive / Meditation - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
PRO-258 Change Partners / Change Partners
PRO-406 On A Clear Day / Come Back To Me
PRO-578 Magnavox Presents A Reprise Of Great Hits: the Association, C. Basie, Harpers Bizarre, Barbara McNair, Don Ho, N. Riddle (1 track each), Frank Sinatra (4 songs)
PRO-981 Excerpts [track(s) and song(s) unknown]

45KBM XX1 A Special Message To You From Frank Sinatra (Message to record distributors) [one-sided]
45SDM XX2 A Special Message To You From Frank Sinatra (Message to record stores) [one-sided]

NOTE: this list does not include Capitol or Columbia promo records or jukebox EPs, which will be covered in later posts.

There are many more. Sticking with the Reprise era for the time-being (since it's fresh in mind):

R20-157 California / America The Beautiful

First issued as a white label promo with picture sleeve in 1963. Then as a commercially labelled 45 in 1966, of which just 1000 were made for Governor Brown's reelection campaign in California.

0493 Gunga Din / Gunga Din

White label promo of Sinatra reciting passages from Gunga Din (1966). Just 300 were pressed and given away to friends.

CN-101 Ring-A-Ding Ding / Nothing But The Best

From Cal-Neva Lodge (1962-63). Orange and white sleeve with Sinatra's name printed above an outline of the states of California and Nevada. This was a souvenir given away to guests at Sinatra's resort during the tourist season.

PROS-1 35mm Demonstration Record

Thick paper sleeve with cover promoting new 35mm recording process and displaying four new release covers, one of which is Sinatra Conducts Music From Pictures And Plays. The disc inside contains one selection from each album. It is a 33-1/3 rpm recording.

PROS-2115 Stereo Review Salutes Frank Sinatra—1984

Black, white, and gray promo sleeve contains 33-1/3 record with four Sinatra selections. It was offered for $5 through mail order only in an ad by the magazine and 2000 were made.

PRO-674 Night And Day / Everybody Ought To Be In Love

12-inch disco mix, 45 rpm.

U-21863M It's Time For You

Purple label (no name) promo for Chrysler commercial (ca. 1980).

The latter song is discussed in the Frank's Recordings thread for Promotional Issues and Samplers. There is bound to be some overlap between that thread and this one.

kb-2077/2078 "High Hopes" with Jack Kennedy / Jack Kennedy "All The Way" (Jimmy Joyce Singers)

Both tunes with special new lyrics for the 1960 presidential election campaign. Black (non-picture) sleeve; green (no name) label. (No FS on the B side.) Recorded at Capitol: see discussion below.

Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list of vinyl promos; I only tried to pick out some interesting examples.

Thanks both for posting these, very very interesting...

[MMM]

Does anyone have a picture of "PROS-1 35mm Demonstration Record"? I've never heard of this before, let alone seen it...

BTW - The Kennedy single is a green labeled record, with no record company label. It is mastered and pressed by Capitol.

[TheVoiceLivesOn]

I just picked up a bunch of Sinatra Records at record show and one of them I got was a promotional record from 1957 YOU'RE CHEATIN' YOURSELF and SOMETHING WONDEFUL HAPPENS IN SUMMER. I bought it for 3 dollars I think I got a heck of a deal and a heck of a find anyone know anything about it? I checked on ebay and I saw one for 55 dollars.

"You're Cheatin' Yourself" / "Something Wonderful Happens In Summer" was a Capitol 45 (#3744). Both songs appeared on the 1958 compilation LP, This Is Sinatra, Volume Two, and "Something Wonderful" was duplicated on the 1962 LP, Sinatra Sings Of Love And Things. They did not chart.

On CD, You'll find them in The Capitol Years [UK] box set (disc 10 of 21) and, of course, in The Complete Capitol Singles Collection (disc 3 of 4). "Something Wonderful" also appears in The Capitol Years [UK] box (disc 20 of 21) and The Capitol Years [US] set (disc 2 of 3) .

Amazing thread

Originally Posted by Steph

PRO-212 A Tribute To Nat King Cole featuring Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra (probably one-sided)

I don't think it's one-sided. This was a white-label promo LP from 1965 with 8 tracks of Sammy Davis Jr. vocals. Sinatra does not sing; he provides a one-minute spoken intro.

Note: Not all "PRO-" issues are 45 rpm records.

Originally Posted by MMM

Does anyone have a picture of "PROS-1 35mm Demonstration Record"? I've never heard of this before, let alone seen it...

Martin, This is described in the 1993 Official Price Guide to Frank Sinatra Records and CDs (first edition) by Marino and Furfero. Although they picture several of the rare items, there is no photo of this one.

BTW, they DO show the no-name dark-green label of "High Hopes with Jack Kennedy", but they claim it's a Reprise issue. (Probably a mistake, since Reprise did not yet exist during the election campaign of 1960.) Note that you can hear this on the CD that comes with The Sinatra Treasures book.

Originally Posted by TheVoiceLivesOn

I just picked up a bunch of Sinatra Records at record show and one of them I got was a promotional record [...]

It may be worth mentioning that just about any commercial 45 rpm single is likely to exist in promo form for use by radio stations. A white label and/or "promotional use only" legend or stamp does not necessarily make a record valuable.

Originally Posted by Bob

BTW, they DO show the no-name dark-green label of "High Hopes with Jack Kennedy", but they claim it's a Reprise issue. (Probably a mistake, since Reprise did not yet exist during the election campaign of 1960.)

Very true, this is why I did not mention this in the Reprise era. To me it is a Capitol-era single, date-wise, and also because it features a similar arrangement to the original single of the previous year by Nelson Riddle.

It was recorded in a private session at the Capitol Tower on January 28, 1960, conducted by Nelson Riddle. For obvious reasons, the record company is not identified or meant to be associated with the record.

There is a better-quality photo of the record in The Sinatra Treasures (page 147), along with a copy of a personalized thank-you letter from (then Senator) Kennedy to drummer Alvin Stoller dated March 19, 1960:

Dear Mr. Stoller:

This is just a brief note to express my appreciation to you for your cooperation in making the record of "High Hopes". It has been a great success. Many thanks for your assistance.

With every good wish, I am

Sincerely,

John F. Kennedy

As mentioned above, the special "High Hopes" recording has been released on the CD which accompanies Charles Pignone's book. The vocal group on both sides is The Jimmy Joyce Singers. Note that FS does not sing on the flip side "All The Way." ("All The Way with JFK" was Kennedy's campaign slogan. I proudly wore such a button in 1960.)

Great info, Bob. Do you know how many singles were produced, approximately? Is it a commonly-found item?

<< As mentioned above, the special "High Hopes" recording has been released on the CD which accompanies Charles Pignone's book >>

Fantastic book , and a great CD. I remember watching the clip of the "High Hopes Campaign " at the "Sinatra" show at "The London Palladium"

Superb..

Originally Posted by Steph

Do you know how many singles were produced, approximately? Is it a commonly-found item?

I have no idea about number of copies pressed, but my impression is that it is rare. I believe it was intended more for radio and campaign play than for private distribution. Price listed in 1993 was $150.

[Added:] A current eBay auction claims:

Reportedly only 1,000 copies of this recording were made in 1960. No artist or label names appear on either side of the record. The A side (High Hopes) is printed with kb-2077, the B side (All the Way) is printed with kb-2078. Both sides are printed 45 rpm.

[Karen Boston]

Bob, can you tell me where i can find a long ago Sinatra song entitled "If You Are But A Dream"? i have a lot of recordings but I can't find that song. I heard it once on the radio. Thanks for helping.

Originally Posted by Karen Boston

Bob, can you tell me where i can find a long ago Sinatra song entitled "If You Are But A Dream"?

Hi Karen,

For all you ever wanted to know (and probably more ), see this thread:

If You Are But A Dream

There were earlier versions from the '40s, but the 1957 Capitol track was extremely rare until recently. It was just issued for the first time on CD in the US in Romance: Songs From The Heart, released this past January.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Bob

BTW, they DO show the no-name dark-green label of "High Hopes with Jack Kennedy", but they claim it's a Reprise issue. (Probably a mistake, since Reprise did not yet exist during the election campaign of 1960.)

Very observant. Also, Reprise did not have their own plants, so even if they did exist, someone else would have manufactured the record.

Capitol used to make records they called "Custom". Though this one does not actually say it (I don't think they needed to get into politics), it always seemed to me to be in all but name.

If you (or anyone has a copy), examine the "dead area", and compare to other Capitol records of the era. My copy was cut in LA, and pressed in their Scranton plant - considering the limited production, I suspect they all were.

Originally Posted by Bob

There were earlier versions from the '40s, but the 1957 Capitol track was extremely rare until recently. It was just issued for the first time on CD in the US in Romance: Songs From The Heart, released this past January.

Great news, Bob! I didn't know that! This happens to be one of my favorites Sinatra recordings and I wondered if we'd ever get a proper release for that. To me it ranks with high class performances in the Concert Sinatra range. Hope the mix is as good as the vinyl original.

[TheVoiceLivesOn]

I am very very extremely happy! I am now the proud owner of 70 Sinatra records plus the 25 I already had. The 70 I picked up off a dealer off ebay I went to his house to pick up some that I won and he said he had lots more that he wouldnt put on ebay for me. He was nice and wanted to get rid of them ( who would want to get rid of Sinatra?) Anyways I found the right dealer cuz I got them all for a dollar a piece! I struck gold....I'm gonna have these till I die!