Forgotten Journal

Classic cars belonging to Hollywood icons Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra are to go under the hammer.

A 1949 Chevrolet truck and a rare 1940 Indian 74ci Chief motorbike owned by McQueen, who died in 1980, are being sold through London auction house Bonhams & Butterfields.

The blue truck is expected to fetch between $20,000-$30,000, while the motorbike has estimates of $55,000 to $65,000.

According to McQueen’s third wife Barbara Minty, the Hollywood legend bought a pair of rectangular “blue dot” tail-lights at a swap meet, and installed them on the truck himself.

However, McQueen’s big love was motorbikes and he reportedly owned more than 150 during his lifetime. His “Hollywood” bike, the 1940 Chief, was originally sold as part of the actor’s estate when it was auctioned in 1984.

Also up for auction, with a price tag of $100,000-$120,000, is a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado, which was once owned by Sinatra.

In a funny twist, the Cadillac was subsequently bought by a California Highway Patrolman, Neal Gann – who, in 1958, had actually stopped Sinatra while he was driving the car, for failing to display a registration plate.

In 1999, Gann sold the car to Sid Craig, who is now auctioning it off.

The Bonhams & Butterfields auction in Los Angeles will be held on 14 November.

Category : Frank Sinatra

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Frank Sinatra’s youngest daughter, Tina, is talking to the media. During a recent interview, she just revealed that the director for the new Universal biopic on her dad. She was hinting at it at first saying that it would be helmed by “the most prominent Italian-American filmmaker” in Hollywood. Then she finally confirmed it to be Martin Scorsese. Tina says that the flick isn’t going to be a gangster picture and will instead show the singer in a better light. She said “”I don’t want him to be driving the getaway car. That would not be fair. But I trust him (Scorsese) implicitly.

Category : Frank Sinatra, Movies, Singers

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Frank Sinatra’s youngest daughter, Tina, is talking to the media. During a recent interview, she just revealed that the director for the new Universal biopic on her dad. She was hinting at it at first saying that it would be helmed by “the most prominent Italian-American filmmaker” in Hollywood. Then she finally confirmed it to be Martin Scorsese. Tina says that the flick isn’t going to be a gangster picture and will instead show the singer in a better light. She said “”I don’t want him to be driving the getaway car. That would not be fair. But I trust him (Scorsese) implicitly.

Category : Frank Sinatra, Music Legends, Singers

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Paul McCartney got an honorary Doctorate of Music from Yale University on Monday afternoon. Yale has given the same honor to some of the greatest music legends, including Elvis, Sinatra, Prince, Smokey Robinson and the other three Beatles. What?! I can’t believe Sir Paul was the last to be honored. Actually, none of the above mentioned ever went to Yale. But Ezra Sims, a composer and an expert in microtonal music, is an alumnus. Now you know why none of the music legends ever came from Yale. I doubt that they would be music legends if they did study there.

Category : Beatles, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney

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Before he was The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra was just a skinny kid from New Jersey with a big voice and bigger dreams.

And while there are plenty of compilations devoted to Old Blue Eyes’ later years and greater hits, the young Frank often gets short shrift.

Not any more. That Sinatra is the one in the spotlight on the superior new box set A Voice in Time: 1939 – 1952. And an illuminating work it is. Over the course of 80 songs on four CDs, this stylish box follows Frank’s evolution from youthful big band crooner to the most famous and acclaimed singer of his generation.

Disc 1: The Big Band Years covers 1939 to ‘42, when he began his career singing with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James, handling hits of the day like All or Nothing at All and I’ll be Seeing You. Some of Sinatra’s first studio and live recordings are gathered here. Disc 2: Teen Idol picks up the story in 1943, when Frank became the first pop star, crooning for throngs of bobbysoxers whose piercing screams drown out the band on some of the live cuts. Disc 3: The Great American Songbook concentrates on the standards Frank cut in the mid-’40s. All of Me, I Get a Kick out of You, That Old Black Magic, It Had to be You are all here, with plenty more where they came from. Finally, Disc 4: The Sound of Things to Come follows Frank from ‘49 to ‘52, his final years with Columbia before he signed with Capitol and took his career to the next level.

If that doesn’t paint a portrait of the artist as a young man, nothing will.

Category : FOTO, Frank Sinatra, Life, Music, Music Artist, Music Legends, New LP, Song, Soul Music

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