LIFE With the Rat Pack: Rare Photos of Frank, Dino and Sammy
LIFE With the Rat Pack: Rare Photos of Frank, Dino and Sammy
2 minute read
Not published in LIFE. Sinatra and Martin take a cigarette break during the recording of Sleep Warm in 1958. The album was re-released in 1963 with a much more direct title: Dean Martin Sings/Sinatra Conducts.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
That, legend has it, is what Frank Sinatra joked upon hearing the plot for Ocean’s 11, the 1960 Vegas heist flick that went on to become the Rat Pack’s signature big-screen adventure.
It’s no wonder Sinatra and his kindred crew of high-living, hard-drinking, skirt-chasing buddies — Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., especially — were gassed to make such a movie: just like their characters, they loved a good caper. From the late ’50s until they began to splinter apart in the mid-’60s, they were showbiz’s unrivaled kings of swing, quick-with-a-quip cats who could swagger into any joint — from the Sands to Sardi’s — and make it the most.
LIFE magazine’s photographers trailed the Pack through those smoky, magical years, coming away with priceless material for some of the best celebrity photo-essays the magazine ever ran. But of the thousands of shots taken, many were never published — until now. Here, in celebration of sharkskin sits, Scotch on the rocks, smoke-filled rooms and fedoras tilted just so, LIFE presents a slew of rare photos of the Rat Pack, together and apart, during their boozy heyday.
Not published in LIFE. Sinatra and Martin take a cigarette break during the recording of Sleep Warm in 1958. The album was re-released in 1963 with a much more direct title: Dean Martin Sings/Sinatra Conducts.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Dean Martin adjusts his cuff links backstage before a performance in Las Vegas in 1958.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin share a light moment during their recording sessions for Sleep Warm in 1958.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Frank Sinatra savors a drink and a smoke backstage at the Sands Hotel and Casino in 1964, where he sang with the Count Basie Band. Out of that landmark collaboration came the great live album Sinatra at the Sands.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Frank Sinatra and his friends, including comedian Joe E. Lewis, take a shortcut through the kitchen to get to the stage of Miami's Eden Roc Resort in 1958.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. eats spaghetti in his Golden Boy dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. "My only contact with reality," he told LIFE. "Whatever I'm doing, I stop to watch these guys." Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. visits Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin at MGM Studios, where the duo were making Some Came Running in 1958. The movie co-starred Rat Pack "mascot" Shirley MacLaine, who years later would affectionately describe her old friends as "primitive children who would put crackers in each other's beds and dump spaghetti on new tuxedos."Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Dean Martin entertains a crowd in 1958.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sinatra offers a light in Davis' crowded Golden Boy dressing room in 1964. "It was six a.m. before the party got to Frank's suite. But the evening was not over because Frank hadn't said it was over. 'Everybody have a little more gasoline,' he ordered. Everybody did." —From "The Private World and Thoughts of Frank Sinatra," LIFE's classic photo-essay on the superstar, published in April 23, 1965John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. onstage during rehearsals for his high-stakes performance in the Broadway musical Golden Boy in 1964.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Though he often joked about his race, Sammy Davis Jr. (here fiddling with a trumpet in 1964) was a serious, high-profile civil rights activist, and his refusal to play segregated venues helped lead to the integration of Miami nightclubs and Vegas casinos.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. clowns backstage during Golden Boy's run in 1964. "As soon as I go out the front door of my house in the morning, I'm on, Daddy, I'm on! But when I'm with the group I can relax. We trust each other. We admire each other's talent." —Sammy Davis Jr., describing the fraternity of the Rat Pack in "The 'Clan' Is the Most," published in LIFE on Dec. 22, 1958.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. tries to grab some shut-eye on a hotel-room floor during the tour to preview Golden Boy in 1964.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. counts money backstage during Golden Boy's Broadway run in 1964. "Sammy gets paid more than any Broadway star in history — a total of about $10,000 a week plus fringe benefits. He's worth it. —From "Sammy Davis Jr.," published in LIFE on Nov. 13, 1964Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Dean Martin enjoys one of the perks of fame before his act at the Sands in Las Vegas in 1958. "I can't stand an actor or actress who tells me acting is hard work. It's easy work. Anyone who says it isn't never had to stand on his feet all day dealing blackjack." —Dean Martin, date unknownAllan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Frank Sinatra shaves in a sauna in Miami in 1958.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin tool around the Warner Bros. lot while making 1965's Marriage on the Rocks for the studio.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra crack up during the Sleep Warm sessions in 1958.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra do their drunk shtick for a charity event in 1960. From a LIFE reporter's notes, filed with Allan Grant's photos of the show: "After Dean does drunk fall, Sinatra claps on baseball cap and cries: Safe!"Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
