Finding fame his way: Meet Young Blue Eyes
The album includes young Sinatra on stage, in a car and in family moments. Below right, the star we all know THESE intimate photos of a young Frank Sinatra before Ol’ Blue Eyes found worldwide fame are going up for sale.
Tipped to fetch £3,000, the album of 211 black and white snaps dating from the early 1940s is being sold by US-based Heritage Auctions on March 16, on behalf of a private collector.
It includes Sinatra with his family, meeting fans and performing on a bandstand – a far cry from his Madison Square Garden shows.
He is also seen at the wheel of a car in his trademark sailor’s hat and in a suit posing with female fans.
The sale also features Sinatra’s custom-engraved Walther PP semiautomatic pistol, which he carried for protection in the late 1980s.
Heritage Auctions expects great interest in the gun, which has “fantastic provenance” and is valued at £20,000.
The firm’s Giles Moon said the photos were a “wonderful insight into the early years of Sinatra’s career”.
He added: “It is a bit of a mystery who took them – it may have been a family friend or even a fan.”
Sinatra, who led the Rat Pack group of entertainers, was famous for the songs My Way, New York, New York and That’s Life. He died in 1998 at 82.