Sammy Davis Jr(22)
“That’s sweet, Pop.” I said.
“I watched Frank’s climb to fame, his fall, his comeback, his obsession with JFK, and through it all he was always the voice. I can see him now, onstage, perched on the bar stool with his brim hat tilted back, jacket languidly tossed over one shoulder, with that smooth sultry voice that made girls scream.
“During the Rat Pack days, Frank and I had a close camaraderie of musicians and entertainers, stage hands—colors and ranks would fade away. It was our home. Never a regret. That’s why I called one of my autobiographies, Why Me? I always looked to God, during the good times and the bad, and would say, ‘Why Me?’ Frank was a blessing from God. We got so in sync onstage, all I had to do was raise my eyebrow a certain way and he knew what I was saying. We honed our craft.”
The great comedian Milton Berle later said, “Every one of them that were in the Rat Pack was dedicated to their art. I wasn’t part of the Rat Pack but I was friends with them all. They were so relaxed. Everything was ad lib. Everything was impromptu. I think that the success of the Rat Pack—besides loving what they did, making people laugh, and truly liking each other—was fun.”
My father continued his stories about the Rat Pack. “After the shows at the Sands, baby, we were wild. Innocent compared to today maybe, but we were wild. Hey, we were the headliners, the ladies were the most attractive, the cats the coolest, the booze the best, the celebrities the highest profilers, the ragtag misfits the freakiest. But you learn. Now that I am older, wiser, it’s payback time, boy, on my body—for all those good times from the ’60s. Years later, every once in a while when I tried to get out of one of those low sports cars, my body said to me, ‘I told you to take it easy.’ I’d be like ew, ah, ow . . . well, I think I’ll just sit here for a while then!” Pop chuckled.
All five core members of the Rat Pack teamed up to star in the movie Ocean’s 11, which went into production in Las Vegas in January 1960. The original writer of the story, Jack Golden Russell, was a gas-station attendant in Vegas, and handed Sinatra the script while he was filling up. Just like Frank to accept it. There was, of course, a famous remake of Ocean’s 11, made in 2001 starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, and other hot stars of the day. In the 1960 edition, Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) gathers a gang of World War II 82nd Airborne compatriots to pull off the ultimate Las Vegas casinos heist. The plan is to rob five casinos on New Year’s Eve (Sahara, Riviera, Desert Inn, Sands, and The Flamingo).
Pop always said, a huge portion of Ocean’s 11 was improvised, ad-libbed. The Rat Pack knew each other and the Vegas casinos better than any screenwriter could ever attempt to write. Much of the Rat Pack ad-libbed dialogue turned out to be far better footage than what they would have shot from the written script, so the producers went with it. Even Shirley MacLaine ad-libbed a tipsy uncredited cameo with a classic Dean Martin line, “I’m so drunk I don’t think I could lie down without holding on.” I’ve read that MacLaine received a brand new car from Warner Bros. as compensation for her memorable contribution.
Angie Dickinson was the female lead in the movie. She later said, “Sammy is the one who recommended me for the movie . . . so Sammy told me. And I believe him! I was under contract to Warner Bros. and he said to Frank, ‘You know who’d be a gas as your wife? Angie!’ I got the part.” Frank had a lot of pull in the industry. Angie Dickinson continued to say that “Frank was a very kind man. We think he was all gruff . . . he could throw you out the window and over the balcony if you did something to deserve that, but he was a very tender guy—very!”
Pop played a garbage collector, Josh Howard, in the movie. He said he needed wooden blocks attached to the pedals on the garbage truck he drove in the film so he could reach them. He also said the production team’s most challenging task was trying to get Nevada’s Clark County officials to lend them a garbage truck for the movie. Needless to say, they finally got the truck. Peter, Dean, and Frank have a scene near the end of the film where they attempt to disguise themselves by blackening their faces in the garbage truck. Pop, as Josh, says, “I knew this color would come in handy someday.” Forever more, Uncle Frank and Uncle Dean joked with Pop about that line, all in good fun.
During the filming of Ocean’s 11, Pop’s schedule was insane. The ensemble continued to perform concurrently at the Sands Hotel each night, in an extravaganza they referred to as “the Summit.” I heard it was a reference to the East-West Paris summit that took place that year between the United States, the USSR, United Kingdom, and France.