Frank, Dean, Sammy, And The Birth Of Cool

Q.� Who or what was The Rat Pack < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A.� The Rat Pack was a loose collection of show business drinking friends who saw an opportunity to make an entertainment out of their storytelling and the party atmosphere they enjoyed.

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Q.� Who was involved

A.� The instigator was Frank Sinatra, who started hanging around with film star Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall during the late 1940's. Lauren Bacall took a look at her husband and his friends enjoying their usual drinking, singing and joking, and decided that they "looked like a rat pack!" and the label stuck.

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After Bogart's death, Sinatra added his own group of friends, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, British actor Peter Lawford, brother-in-law of Senator John F Kennedy, and comedian Joey Bishop. Honorary 'mascot and Girl Friday' was actress Shirley McClaine�- a sign of the rampant chauvinism of the times. The group was known by all as The Clan.

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Q.� How did they become famous

A.� The private group of friends became public property in 1959 when Sinatra joined his friend Dean Martin on stage at The Copa Room in The Sands Hotel. The casual duet was a massive success, and the pair decided to make it a feature, eventually adding Davis to the group.

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Fame was assured when the entertainers endorsed the Presidential campaign of Peter Lawford's brother-in-law, John F Kennedy. Sinatra, Davis and Martin sang The Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the Democratic Convention. Kennedy adored mixing with famous entertainers, and the entertainers loved the glamour of being seen with a Presidential Candidate, it was a mutually agreeable relationship.

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Q.� Were the group still called The Clan

A.� No, Sinatra disliked the racist connotation of the name, but he never called the collective The Rat Pack either, he always referred to them as The Summit, but for public and publicity purposes, the romantic notion of a group great entertainers who were best buddies proved irresistible, as it has done many times since.

Q.� How close were the friendships

A.� Hard to say. Anyone connected with the artists seems to be lost in haze of affectionate memories, earnestly conveying the impression that there was never a cross word between any of them. Reality is possibly different. Sinatra was notoriously short tempered, and was known to surround himself with people who liked to agree with just about everything he said. Peter Lawford's connection was said to be based on nothing more tenuous than his appealing English accent�- still a novelty to Americans at that time. Sinatra was quoted as making some unpleasantly racist remarks directed at Davis during times when things were not going quite as smoothly. None the less, in public, the Rat Pack presented an image of tipsy bonhomie that must have been based in reality, even if it was never quite as friendly as they would like to pretend.

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Q.� Does any recording of the Rat Pack in action survive

A.� Yes, there is a collection of studio recordings released to coincide with a re-make of the Ocean's Eleven movie, which the Pack filmed by day, when they were appearing twice nightly at The Sands.

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Perhaps more relevant is a new issue live concert CD�- The Rat Pack Live At The Sands which was recorded in September 1963 and captures the essence of The Rat Pack. The alcohol-lubricated non-PC banter of the Pack members sounds grindingly harsh in these more enlightened times, but it accurately reflects a period of American culture when stars of this magnitude could do and say more or less as they wished without fear or reprisal.

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Q.� How long did the Rat Pack last

A.� The beginning of the end came in 1967, when Sinatra fell out violently with the management of The Sands Hotel, who stopped his credit line in the casino. The result of the fracas was some furniture throwing by Sinatra, and some robust responses by the management resulting in Sinatra losing some teeth. Sinatra promptly decamped to the rival Caesar's Palace Casino, and the entertainment world waited to see if his great friend, and other half of the impromptu double act, Dean Martin, would follow. Martin had always been the most reluctant player in the 'all guys together' scenario, and his friendship with Sinatra was certainly not based on the desire to bask in reflected glory�- Martin was too big a star to bother with such nonsense. Martin negotiated a further twelve months at The Sands, and his friendship with Sinatra continued.

Q.� How did it all end

A.� With a whimper rather than a bang.�The Rat Pack fell victim to the changing times, and as the members passed away, the magic went with them, although their legend continues more in rosy reminisces, than because of any lasting impact they may have had as cultural icons. The notion of a group of grown men getting drunk and making in-jokes together, served up as stage and screen entertainment, is rooted very firmly in American culture of the 1960's, it was not built to last.

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As Dean Martin�- always the real king of the Rat Pack because he never tried too hard, and never really cared all that much, said in one of his film roles "We're just the cocktail of the moment pally. One of these days, everybody's gonna wake up with a heck of a hangover, down two aspirin with a glass of tomato juice, and wonder what the hell all the fuss was about." An appropriate epitaph for The Rat Pack, from one of its own.

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