Fridays Are For Frank: “Jingle Bells”

(ABOVE: cards from Ralph’s Grocery by the Ripo Sisters)

Tough thing about having a December birthday—everyone is focused on the Holidays.

Frank Sinatra knew that as well as anyone, with his birthday coming less than two weeks before Christmas. But Frank made the most of it, recording some of the most memorable versions of holiday classics for A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, originally released by Capitol Records in 1957.

This was Sinatra’s first full-length Christmas album. It features the Ralph Brewster Singers along with an orchestra conducted by Gordon Jenkins.

Capitol reissued the album in 1963 with different cover art with the title, The Sinatra Christmas Album, and the tracks have been holiday staples ever since.

Here’s Frank Sinatra, and those J-I-N-G-L-E Bells…