After being thought lost for thirty years Paul Brownstein tracked down a print of the show that had been sitting in a closet in St. Louis, a closed-circuit broadcast done as a fundraiser for Dismas House (the first halfway house for ex-convicts). On JSinatra, Martin and Davis with Johnny Carson as the emcee (subbing for Bishop who was out with a bad back) performed their only televised concert together during the heyday of the pack at the Kiel Opera House in St. The marquees of the hotels at which they were performing as individuals would read, for example, “DEAN MARTIN – MAYBE FRANK – MAYBE SAMMY” as seen on a Sands Hotel sign. They sold out almost all of their appearances, and people would come pouring into Las Vegas, sometimes sleeping in cars and hotel lobbies when they could not find rooms, just to be part of the Rat Pack entertainment experience. Often, when one of the members was scheduled to give a performance, the rest of the Pack would show up for an impromptu show, causing much excitement among audiences, resulting in return visits. “The Rat Pack” was a term used by journalists and outsiders, although it remains the lasting name for the group. The post-Bogart version of the group (Bogart died in 1957) was reportedly never called that name by any of its members - they called it the Summit or the Clan. Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, and Shirley MacLaine were often referred to as the “Rat Pack Mascots”, a title which reportedly made these ladies feel like “one of the boys”. The 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and for a brief stint, Norman Fell. In his autobiography The Moon’s a Balloon, Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but not Sammy Davis Jr. So called “visiting members” included Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney and Cesar Romero, however.Īccording to Stephen Bogart, the original members of the Holmby Hills Rat Pack were Sinatra (pack master), Garland (first vice-president), Bacall (den mother), Sid Luft (cage master), Bogart (rat in charge of public relations), Swifty Lazar (recording secretary and treasurer), Nathaniel Benchley (historian), David Niven, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, and Jimmy Van Heusen. The name may also refer to the belief that an established pack of rats will belligerently reject an outsider who tries to join them (“Never rat on a rat”). “Rat Pack” may also be a shortened version of “Holmby Hills Rat Pack,” a reference to the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall which served as a regular hangout. According to one version, the group’s original “Den Mother,” Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of “You look like a goddamn rat pack. Several explanations have been offered for the famous name over the years. The name “Rat Pack” was first used to refer to a group of friends in Hollywood, including the young Frank Sinatra.
In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart’s death, that called itself “the summit” or “the clan,” featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and in films in the early-1960s, including the movie Ocean’s Eleven.ĭespite its reputation as a masculine group, the Rat Pack did have female participants, including movie icons Shirley MacLaine, Lauren Bacall, Angie Dickinson, Marilyn Monroe, and Judy Garland. The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. (L to R) Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford & Joey Bishop Hand color tinted photo of The Rat Pack in front of the Sands Hotel Marque in February 1960