From Powells.com
With their cocky nonchalance, highball humor, ease with women, and enormous talent not to mention their ties to both the Mob and the president of the United States Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, and Joey personified the Zeitgeist of early sixties America. More accurately, it was Frank. For Frank Sinatra was not only the lynch pin of the so-called Rat Pack, he also happened to be the single most important figure of 20th century popular music and a hugely charismatic personality, a titan if there ever was one. For four tumultuous, glorious, whiskey-soaked years, Sinatra was the driving, defining force behind the now legendary group of performers and partiers who have forever since defined Vegas chic. But as these stories go, all was not endless martinis, witty banter, and miraculous music. Though Frank, Dean, Sammy, et al certainly knew how to have a good time, they didn't necessarily know how to manage their personal lives. Audiences couldn't get enough of them, but individually they were arrogant, needy, rude, and, more often than not, drunk. One reviewer called them, "entertainment's most hedonistic gathering of narcissists." In this brilliant group biography, Shawn Levy gives us the Rat Pack in all its flawed brilliance. Though Levy is clearly a fan, this is not the book of an apologist. Neither is it the work of a gossip. No, Levy's book is an immensely entertaining, clear-eyed look at the imperfect men who personified a perfect moment in American history. Farley, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
For the first time, the full story of what happened when Frank Sinatra brought his best pals to party in a land called Vegas.
January 1960. Las Vegas is at its smooth, cool peak. The Strip is a jet-age theme park, and the greatest singer in the history of American popular music summons a group of friends there to make a movie.
One is an insouciant singer of Italian songs, ex-partner to the most popular film comedian of the day. One is a short, black, Jewish, one-eyed, singing, dancing wonder. One is an upper-crust British pretty boy turned degenerate B-movie actor, brother-in-law to an ascendant politician. And one is a stiff-shouldered comic with the quintessential Borscht Belt emcee's knack for needling one-liners.
The architectonically sleek marquee of the Sands Hotel announces their presence simply by listing their names:
FRANK SINATRA.
DEAN MARTIN.
SAMMY DAVIS, JR.
PETER LAWFORD.
JOEY BISHOP.
Around them an entire cast gathers: actors, comics, singers, songwriters, gangsters, politicians, and women, as well as thousands of starstruck everyday folks who fork over pocketfuls of money for the privilege of basking in their presence. They call themselves The Clan. But to an awed world, they are known as The Rat Pack.
They had it all. Fame. Gorgeous women. A fabulous playground of a city and all the money in the world. The backing of fearsome crime lords and the blessing of the President of the United States. But the dark side over the thin line between pleasure and debauchery, between swinging self-confidence and brutal arrogance took its toll. In four years, their great ride was over, and showbiz was never the same.
Acclaimed Jerry Lewis biographer Shawn Levy has written a dazzling portrait of a time when neon brightness cast sordid shadows. It was Frank's World, and we just lived in it.
Review
"...Levy's breezy familiarity isn't a failing in fact, it's precisely what makes his tale so entertaining. By his own admission, Levy isn't interested in burying us in facts or connecting all the dots. His Rat Pack Confidential is history from the inside out, a sustained act of imagination and mood rather than a dry chronicling of the subjects at hand. Levy's talent is for riffing on a theme and bringing the past to life; his crystalline prose takes us directly into the Vegas backrooms and the intimate thoughts of his leading players." Brian Gunn, The San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
The ultimate book for hipsters young and old -- for the first time, the full story of what happened when Frank brought his best pals party in a land called Vegas.
January 1960. Las Vegas is at its smooth, cool peak. The Strip is a jet-age theme park. The greatest singer in the history of American music summons a group of friends to make a movie with him. One is an insouciant singer of Italian songs, ex-partner to the most popular film comedian of the day. One is a short, black, Jewish, one-eyed, singing, dancing wonder. One is an upper-crust British pretty boy turned degenerate B-movie actor, brother-in-law to an ascendant politician. And one is a stiff-shouldered comic with the quintessential Borscht Belt emcee's knack for needling one-liners. The architectonically sleek marquee of the Sands Hotel announces their presence by simply listing their names: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop. Around them an entire cast gathers: actors, comics, singers, songwriters, gangsters, politicans, and women, as well as thousands of starstruck civilians who fork over pocketfuls of money for the privilege of basking in their presence. They call themselves The Clan. But to an awed world, they are known as The Rat Pack.
Acclaimed Jerry Lewis biographer Shawn Levy has written a dazzling portrait of a time when neon brightness cast sordid shadows: It was Frank's World, and we just lived in it.
About the Author
Shawn Levy is the author of King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, Movieline, Film Comment, and Pulse! A former senior editor of American Film, he is a film critic for the Oregonian. He lives in Portland, Oregon.