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RARE PHOTOS: Frank Sinatra at 40

Frank Gets Propped Up

Frank Gets Propped Up

Backstage at a show with Allen (left), Sinatra holds a toy gun and is fitted for a cowboy hat, apparently in preparation for a skit. It's unclear what the skit may have been about, but Sinatra had just starred as a villain in the Western "Johnny Concho," and perhaps intended to play off that.

In this photo: Frank Sinatra, Steve Allen

Photo: Carl Mydans/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Aug 19, 1956