I have been waiting for a long time to write a piece on the Ratpack. This is mainly due to the fact that I hadn’t really decided whether or not I liked them. That has to be a strange concept to someone that has a passing acquaintance to them. What’s not to like they would say. Four extremely talented guys at various heights in their respective careers, join up together to form a rag time bunch whom drink, party and womanise. They are what made Vegas into what it is today, a moral free playground. Through the collective star power they sold the American dream and playboy lifestyle to a country barely emerging after a post-war cloud over their lives. The key problem for me was the way that Sammy was treated and the way that Frank attempted to live his pseudo-mafia lifestyle. I never liked the way that Frank was deified, he isn’t that good to me, Dean was a better singer, Sammy a better entertainer and had better taste in women. The problem with the Rat pack is that they have become a victim of knee-jerk nostalgia that makes them better than they ever where. For example I have greater respect for someone saying that they love Fleetwood Mac than they being enamoured with the Beatles. Anyway here are some facts/interesting tidbits that I picked up on the Ratpack from a biography about them.
• There are 5 in the Rat Pack, Peter Lawford is often overlooked since he didn’t do much entertainment wise. He became the MC for the others, he was the link to politics that Frank needed. For British born actor Lawford was the brother in law to JFK. Thus why his nickname , given to him by Frank, is Brother in Lawford
• Frank realised that the potential that the city of Vegas had and made sure that the black artists got as close as equal pay as their white counterparts. Thus why Sammy always considered Frank as a brother.
• The relationship between Sammy and Frank has always been a complex one for me. Looking at it in a very understanding way it was amazing. The times back then where completely different. Frank was making a major statement by making sure that Sammy was always considered an equal. Sammy’s lesser roles in certain Rat Pak films came from Sammy mistakes in the media. Frank always had to walk the line of being a middle of the road superstar and politician and a rebel. Certain events such as postponing Sammy’s wedding to Swedish Actress until after the election and Sammy not attending JFK’s inauguration event were acts that had to be done due to the political climate. Frank wanted the world to change but realised that it was beyond his own control.
• The Rat Pack was a group of ambitious individuals that realised that if they all came together they could all be successful. This meant that everyone had their time to shine even though most of the performances were a shambles since alcohol was on stage with them. This didn’t matter because their performances were an event, something that had to be seen to be believed. I believe this is the same reason why people clamber to see Pete Doherty since it might be the last time they could ever see him.
• They were so cool that they could get away with their own language that only the inner sanctum knew. Their parties were so legendary that the gags from the night often made it into the films (please check out the original Ocean’s 11) to see my point. The thing about making into the inner sanctum and actually staying there long enough meant that everyone cared about each other like a brother and would often leap up to defend one another in the press.
• The biggest problem I had was coming to terms with Frank, maybe my hatred for him stems from America’s deification of the singer. The political moves that Frank made were igneous, spurred on by his mother’s work in New Jersey made the worlds of politics and entertainment intrinsically linked until the end of time. The two worlds are co-dependant, politicians need the stars to make them seem less stuffy and cool. Stars need to show that they have some substance and are not pampered and don’t live up their own arse the entire time.