Two new albums remember the mystery and appeal of the Rat Pack
By C. SPENCER BEGGS
Scene Editor
The name of Rat Pack has intrigued audiences around the world for more than 50 years. Whether it was the macho image of men and dames, the camaraderie of the rich, beautiful and famous or mysterious alleged mafia connections, the Rat Pack is an American icon even 40 years after the group fell apart. Now, two albums pay tribute to these legends in their own times.
The name "Rat Pack" was originally used by a social drinking group of entertainers that centered around screen legend Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Becall. They called themselves the Holmby Hills Rat Pack after Bacall proclaimed that Bogie and his inebriated friends, including the young Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, looked "like a goddamned rat pack."
After Bogart's death of throat cancer in 1957, the Holmby Hill Rat Pack dissolved and Sinatra (known as "the Leader," "the Chairman of the Board" or "Ol' Blue Eyes") began holding court of his own with his closest friends: fellow crooners Dean Martin (affectionately called "Dag" or "Dino") and Sammy Davis Jr. (also known as "Smokey"), actor and playboy Peter Lawford (being married to President Kennedy's sister Patricia earn Lawford the nickname of JFK's "Brother-in-Lawford") and comedian as well as master of ceremonies of the Rat Pack shows, Joey Bishop. Shirley MacLaine also a hung around the group and became an honorary member and their mascot, "Girl Friday."
Sinatra actually referred to the group as "The Clan" and only changed the name to "The Rat Pack" in 1960 to disassociate the group with any racist connotations of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra never liked the name Rat Pack and preferred to call his group "The Summit," an abbreviation of the name that Sinatra dubbed the group's performance on a presidential fundraiser for Kennedy in 1960 – "The Rat Pack Summits," in honor of the Kennedy-Khrushchev Summit.
The Rat Pack made their headquarters the famous Copa Room at Jackie Entratter's Sands Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. With their political, Hollywood and fabled mafia connections the Rat Pack became legends in their own time. Although the validity of the group's mystique has been the subject of numerous biographies and movies, the group certainly was biggest in the big time for a decade.
Not only was the group a fixture at the Sands Hotel and Casino but they starred in their own motion pictures like "Robin and the Seven Hoods," "Some Came Running" and "Ocean's Eleven," as well was seen in the hottest scenes and highest society in the country. The Rat Pack seemed to have unlimited energy; for example, during the filming of "Ocean's Eleven" in 1960, the group filmed all day and still took the stage at night.
Although some portions of the Rat Pack relationship were fictionalized or exaggerated, they really were friends out of the spotlight as well as in it. But the castle in the sky the group had built couldn't last forever. After his relationship with Kennedy soured and his furniture-throwing fallout with Howard Hughes' new management of the Sands Hotel and Casino in 1967, Sinatra moved his show to Caesar's Place.
Martin didn't follow suit and kept his sell-out show at the Sands one more year and moved his show to the Riviera in 1969. Lawford's association with Kennedy pervaded his relationship with Sinatra and the two eventually lost contact.
With the show split up and Lawford on the outs, the Rat Pack died a pathetic death. Even a Martin, Davis, Sinatra team-up in the '80s couldn't rekindle the fire that once drove the group. Davis died in 1990 and Martin in 1995. Sinatra followed his estranged friends in 1998 leaving Joey Bishop the only remaining Rat Pack member. The Sands Hotel and Casino was destroyed in 1996 to make way for the more family friendly Venetian.
Although the time and most of the men of the Rat Pack may have passed, Capitol records recently has released two albums that rebuilds the dream world of the Copa Room: "The Rat Pack Live at the Sands" and "Eee-O-11."
"The Rat Pack Live at the Sands" is a previously unreleased recording of Martin, Sinatra and Davis show at the Copa Room on Sept. 7, 1963. The album presents the show as it happened, complete with banter and wisecracks between the three singers. It is an album that is meant to be listened to from beginning to end; the pleasure in this album is in the interaction between the three.
The show begins with Dean Martin who performs a medley of some of his hits as well as "June in January" and "Via Veneto" solo. Sinatra joins Dean and has the spotlight to himself for six songs including "Call Me Irresponsible" and the obligatory "Luck Be a Lady."
The chemistry between Martin and Sinatra is especially evident in the eight and a half minute duo medley they sing in which they make wisecrack and impressions throughout the entire song. In fact, the audience laughed so much, the orchestra had to stall to keep up with the pair.
Finally, Davis joins the group to sing his swinging version of "Lady is a Tramp." Davis, an African-American and Jew, certainly takes his share of being the butt of the jokes of Martin and Sinatra, but he deals it back in kind while he does impressions, which are fairly dead-on.
Davis is in top form on "The Rat Pack Live at the Sands." His energy and enthusiasm really come through on the 24-track disc.
After Martin and Sinatra perform another duo of hits from "Guys and Doll," all three join together and reprise the final number "The Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York)."
"Eee-O-11" offers Rat Pack fans a collection of their biggest hits from 1952 to 1964. The album is ideal for music fans that want album versions of the songs. The disc contains 18 tracks about evenly mixed between the three singers playing both solo and in duos.
Martin offers his smooth rendition of "When You're Smiling" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" and Sinatra serves up classics like "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" and Chicago." Davis performs the most duos, most notably "Me and My Shadow" with Sinatra and "Sam's Song" with Martin, as well at the title track.
"Eee-O-11" commemorates the turbulent time in which the myths and truths of the Rat Pack was forged, namely during the filming of "Ocean's Eleven."
With the release of these two albums and remake of "Ocean's Eleven" it is apparent that the Rat Pack isn't dead, but lives on in the heart of America. The mystery and intrigue that surrounds the group's famous decade, whether deserved or not, is certain to thrill fans both old and new.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, January 29, 2002
