POP MUSIC REVIEW : Singing the Praises of Frank Sinatra : Tribute: Society of Singers awards the crooner an Ella for lifetime achievement.

“There Will Never Be Another You” was the song Ella Fitzgerald dedicated to Frank Sinatra Monday at the Beverly Hilton, and it was clear that she was speaking for the 1,200 Sinatraphiles who jammed the International Ballroom.

As the recipient of the Ella, a lifetime achievement award given by the Society of Singers, Sinatra reminded us that he has transcended his role as a singer; his work has been woven into the fabric of 20th-Century American society. He has elevated popular singing to its highest form as a lasting contribution to our culture.

Impeccably produced by George Schlatter, the swiftly paced two-hour show, which will air on CBS Dec. 16 at 9 p.m., started, in effect, at the top. An announcer introduced conductor Henry Mancini, who introduced organization president Ginny Mancini, who introduced Ella Fitzgerald, who introduced Sinatra. The first lady of jazz--who last year was the initial recipient of the Ella award--then dueted delightfully with him on “The Lady Is a Tramp.”

During the dinner time pre-show, the two were seen together in a 1967 TV clip of the same duet, shown on one of two big screens that provided the audience with ingenious “This Is Your Life” Sinatra visuals in reverse chronological order. A comparison of the two performances did no harm to either singer; there may have been a slight downward change in their range, but overall the years have been quite decent to them.

At a party before the show, Fitzgerald mused, “I hit a high note at rehearsal that surprised everyone. I hope I can make it tonight.” And, of course, she did.

Three male singers walked off with the honors. Tony Bennett, in a tune worthy of his talent, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans, was in stunning voice, with an incredibly powerful ending. Herb Jeffries, who sang “Flamingo,” has progressed far beyond the youngster who sang the same song with Duke Ellington 50 years ago. And Joe Williams, who will hit 72 the same day Sinatra makes 75 (next Wednesday), had everyone, including the honoree, finger-snapping along with “Alright, Okay, You Win.”

It was a decade-jumping soiree. Nonagenarian George Burns followed Jack Jones (“At my age you can follow anybody”) in “Young at Heart.” Harry Connick Jr., 70 years Burns’ junior, was out of his depth in this star-rich company; he forgot the words, stopped the band, put on his glasses, resumed and struggled to the end of his song, which was “More.” Which was more than enough.

If a few of the speeches or vocal tributes tended to gush a little too much, why not? Since Sinatra has afforded most of the participants a half-century of listening joy, a touch of extravagance was hardly out of line. Peggy Lee and Jack Jones wrote and sang special lyrics; Fitzgerald’s humble praise was well met by Sinatra’s brief words of acceptance.

A thread that ran through much of the show was the Tommy Dorsey band, represented by everyone from Joe Bushkin, the ex-Dorsey pianist, who played warm-up music, and Tony Danza and Gretchen Wyler, who jitterbugged to the Dorsey hit “Opus One,” to the various Dorsey singers.

Jo Stafford was joined by the Hi Lo’s (simulating Dorsey’s Piped Pipers), in “I’ll Never Smile Again,” and Connie Haines joined the Manhattan Transfer for a reprise of “Snootie Little Cutie,” which she and Sinatra sang with the Pipers and the band in 1942.

As was made clear in the “Ladies Who Sang With the Bands” segments (repeated from last year’s show), trivia abounded in the 1940s, but so did songs like “A Sunday Kind of Love,” splendidly rejuvenated by Fran Warren, who sang it in 1946 with the Claude Thornhill band.

Tony Martin, one of several singers who performed from a table, exploded into fulsome Italian melodrama with “O Sole Mio.” Kitty Kallen sang into a temporarily dead mike, the evening’s only noticeable glitch. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were in good humor and voice in two songs co-written by Sinatra, “This Love of Mine” and “I’m a Fool to Want You.”

The evening ended with most of the singers on stage to join voices in Johnny Mercer’s “Dream.”