For two years, the most famous young man in America vanished. No concerts. No television. No new performances at all. Elvis Presley had been drafted into the US Army in 1958 and shipped to West Germany, and by the time he came home in 1960, one question hung over everything: had the world moved on without him? The answer arrived on a single night in Miami Beach — and the man who delivered it was the last person anyone expected.
Because Frank Sinatra did not like rock and roll, he had said so in print, in 1957, in language that still stings. He called it music made “for the most part by cretinous goons” and described it as brutal, ugly, degenerate and vicious. Elvis, then 22, had answered him publicly and politely, saying Sinatra was entitled to his opinion but that he thought he was wrong, and adding a line that says everything about him: “I also admit it’s the only thing I can do.”
Three years later, business won. Sinatra had a Timex-sponsored television series that badly needed ratings, and Elvis had a comeback to launch. Colonel Tom Parker made the deal, and Sinatra reportedly agreed partly at the urging of his daughter Nancy — who greeted Elvis warmly when he came home and made a point of making him feel welcome. Nancy would go on to co-star with him in a film years later.
Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis (1960)
The taping happened on 26 March 1960 at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. Elvis had traveled down by train from Nashville with his entourage, and crowds lined the route the whole way. It was his first television appearance in over three years — his last had been on Ed Sullivan in January 1957 — and by every account he was extremely nervous. He turned up not in the wild stagewear of the fifties but in a tuxedo, hair neatly styled, looking like a grown man rather than a teenage threat. The room erupted the moment he walked out.
Then came the four minutes people still talk about. Elvis sang “Fame and Fortune” and “Stuck on You” — the two sides of his first single since coming home — and then Sinatra strolled out for the duet. What they did was a swap. Sinatra sang Elvis’s tender ballad “Love Me Tender.” Elvis sang Sinatra’s slick jazz hit “Witchcraft.” Watch it closely, and neither man looks entirely comfortable, which is exactly what makes it wonderful. They trade lines, grin at each other, and applaud each other at the end. Two completely different worlds of music, standing a foot apart.
Elvis and Frank Sinatra performing “Love Me Tender” and “Witchcraft”
The numbers settled the question about whether America still cared. The special aired on 12 May 1960 and pulled roughly 67.7 percent of the entire American television audience — the highest rating Sinatra ever achieved. The next most-watched program in that slot managed 21 percent. Elvis was paid $125,000 for about eight minutes on screen, reportedly the largest fee ever handed to a television guest at that point, and more than Sinatra earned for hosting his own show. He was, unsurprisingly, not thrilled about that.
Not everyone was won over. The New York Times was scathing, and Billboard sniffed that the expected dynamite had been a bit overrated. But it did not matter. Elvis was back, the country had proved it still wanted him, and he walked straight from that stage into the Hollywood years. And here is the ending nobody predicts: the two men became friends. Seven years later, when Elvis married Priscilla, it was Sinatra who lent them his private jet for the wedding.