By Ian Mohr
Frank Sinatra’s address book from the 1970s through the 1990s included personal information for his high-flying friends from John Wayne and Sidney Poitier to the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom under Ronald Reagan, Charles H. Price II.
Ol’ Blue Eye’s little black book — which was actually an “oxblood leather social bible that reads like a who’s who of the jet set’s gilded age,” according to Man of the World magazine, which features exclusive images of the tome’s pages in its new issue — sold at auction recently for $8,960.
On the front of the book (ominously) was a fortune cookie message that read, “Beware of friends who are false and deceitful.”
Inside, the book was “bulging with annotated contacts” of industry insiders like Sinatra and Elvis Presley’s promoter Jerry Weintraub, Hollywood kingpin Lew Wasserman and songwriter Jimmy Webb.
Sinatra’s centennial is being celebrated this year with everything from a New York Public Library exhibition to an HBO doc and newly launched collections of music by Capitol, Sony and Universal.
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