Sinatra Performs at Newport

July 4, 1965 - With the split-second timing and security precautions that have come to be associated with Presidential visits, Frank Sinatra came to Newport, R.I., this evening.

The singer flew in to perform on the last day of the Newport Jazz Festival. At 7:45 p.m., he arrived by chartered helicopter. Then, escorted by a heavy security guard, he took his position on a windy hillside overlooking Narragansett Bay. Three hours and 18 songs later, he was back in his helicopter, heading for New York, richer by an estimated sum of $35,000.

The sellout crowd sat hushed as Count Basie took the microphone and announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, here is the chairman of the board — Frank Sinatra.”

And for the next 60 minutes, Sinatra sang in a voice that recalled the days he spent on the bandstand with the swing bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey.

Sinatra stuck mainly to the standards, and after 18 of them, in spite of the pleas of the crowd for more, he walked away from the festival stadium to his waiting helicopter.

As in the earlier performances by other groups, there was shouting and noticeable enthusiasm, but no apparent rowdiness on the part of the 46,000 persons who attended the festival’s programs.

Police were expecting the worst, but their job was made easy by the orderly jazz fans who streamed into Newport for the 12th annual event.

The promoter, George Wein, was forced to move the festival to its new 35-acre field this year because of the congestion around Freebody Park, which led to the riots of five years ago. 

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