It’s been more than half a century since Americans were enthralled by a group of five entertainers that embodied the prosperity, glitz, and energy of the United States after World War II. They were known for their freewheeling attitude and swagger, but they also were immensely gifted performers – some in more than one genre – and, like many bands of brothers, they deeply respected each other’s talents. They were known as the Rat Pack.
The term was one they had neither coined nor liked. It can be traced (as much as such a generic term could) to the partygoing, boredom-fighting circle in orbit around Humphrey Bogart: Lauren Bacall is alleged to have commented that the crew, on returning from a night on the town, looked like a pack of rats. That Holmby Hills Rat Pack (named for the Los Angeles neighborhood where Bogart and Bacall lived) included a big band crooner who had turned to acting after his singing career had apparently peaked – Frank Sinatra.
By 1957, Bogart died of cancer, and Sinatra was in the midst of one of entertainment’s greatest comebacks. He won an Oscar as an actor, and his recordings, made at Capitol with arranger Nelson Riddle, established him as the greatest living song interpreter. Around him, a new Rat Pack coalesced. It included fellow singer-actors Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, English actor (and brother-in-law to soon-to-be President John F. Kennedy) Peter Lawford, and comedian Joey Bishop.
While their individual talents were inarguably prodigious, it was their charismatic personalities that really connected them with the public. No surprise, then, that the setting that most epitomizes our image of them is Las Vegas, and particularly the Copa Room at the Sands Hotel. They always wore a tuxedo on stage and could almost always be seen balancing a cocktail and cigarette. For an entire generation of postwar America, they embodied cool.
Both on stage and off, the Rat Packers genuinely enjoyed each others’ company, and they often made impromptu appearances at each others’ performances. (The Sands marquee once famously read, “Dean Martin, Maybe Frank, Maybe Sammy.”) In some combination, they made 20 films together, although all five appeared in just two, including Ocean’s 11.
Despite rock ’n’ roll, the British invasion, and the social changes sparked by the Vietnam War, the careers of Davis, Martin, and Sinatra continued to thrive through the 1960s, including success on television. Sinatra attempted to launch a reunion tour with the three in 1987, but it faltered. Though all three have been dead for more than 20 years, their influence continues through an enormous audio and video legacy. Sinatra’s albums with Riddle, in particular, remain the gold standard both for vocal expression and instrumental support. No popular solo singer today is immune from their influence. — Thomas Consolo
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