THE RAT PACK

A NEW BOOK REVEALS HOW THE GROUP CAME TOGETHER AND BECAME LEGENDARY

A new book about the notorious group reveals surprising insight on Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter and Joey’s famous friendship.

“We’re just the cocktail of the moment.” —Dean Martin

You think you know the Rat Pack? Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford collectively have been called by that moniker for 60 years, but it turns out that, like the Kennedys and Camelot, the group’s heyday only existed for a brief shining moment. “This whole Rat Pack era only really lasted a year,” says Richard Lertzman, whose new book Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, the Mob, and the Summit, comes out Oct. 5. “They were at the height of the entertainment world,” he tells

Closer, “but it only lasted through 1960.” The idea for the group began as part of a marketing plan for the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, of which Frank owned a small percentage, says Lertzman, adding that it was an attempt to “put Vegas on the map.” And while the entertainers all knew each other, “these guys did not hang out. They were friends, but they were friends through business.”

It was the screenplay for 1960’s

Ocean’s 11 that united the five. “They came up with a plan to, during the day, shoot the film in Las Vegas, and at night do a show,” Lertzman explains. And while the mythology of the Rat Pack suggests that the boys were partying all night, it wasn’t exactly like that. “These guys were actually in their 40s, had kids and were hardly the swingers that they were portrayed as on-screen,” he says.

END OF AN ERA

Still, the few weeks in 1960 they spent filming and performing solidified a legend. For a moment in time, there was no bigger act than the Rat Pack. “In 1960, everything clicked. It is an era onto itself,” Lertzman explains. “It still resonates with many people today who want to go back and live in that time of swingers.”