Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party
by Shawn Levy
List Price:
Our Price: $9.10
You Save: $6.85 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.02 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Shawn LevyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-07-20
ISBN: 0385495765
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party
Book Review: rather than aspire to a chronicle of quotidiana
Summary: 5 Stars
As I began reading Shawn Levy's Rat Pack Confidential I was worried. How tiresome to endure Levy's Ill advised attempt at the Rat Pack ring-a-ding-lingo. He seemed to have it all wrong. The pecking order of the principles was all askew: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. He struck the wrong tone repeatedly--and jarringly.
But after a jittery beginning he dropped feigning the swinger and found his true voice. A theme began to emerge, and his thesis was this: that the brief flourishing of the Rat Pack from about 1960 to 1964 was actually the historical turning point of the century, when all of the conundrums, contradictions, and paradoxes of the American Century came to a head. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a chain collision of politics, music, culture, crime, and vice. Money, Power, Fame, Glamour. The mob, Las Vegas, Washington DC., and Hollywood. Frank, Dino, Sammy, Peter, and Joey. JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Judy Campbell, Jimmy Hoffa, Bobby Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Dan Rowan, and Dick Martin.
He delved deeply into the characters and their intertwining strengths, weaknesses, and desires. Though he slashed through the narrative with the brash devil-may-care of an iconoclast, he wasn't averse to noticing what made them icons to begin with:
Frank Sinatra is at once a megalomaniacal monster and the finest singer of the century. The only singer that mattered.
Dean Martin was a tall dark charmer who acted so relaxed on stage either because he was inebriated, like the on stage character he cultivated, or more likely, because he really didn't give a rat's ___ what anybody thought.
Sammy was dynamite on stage: he sang, he danced, he laughed, he cried. He was the hardest working man in show business. Possibly the greatest entertainer since Al Jolson. But he was also Frank's whipping boy, breaking down racial barriers in Vegas and Show Business, while also the butt of Frank's crude racist jokes and belittling treatment backstage.
Peter Lawford, or as Frank referred to him, the Brother-in-Lawford, parlayed his minimal talents into a marriage to a Kennedy. He was a member of the Rat Pack more for his connection to JFK--then an up-and-coming Presidential candidate--than for his singing, dancing, or acting talent.
Finally there was Joey Bishop, who acted as MC at Rat Pack Summits like the legendary performances at The Sands. His brand of humor was an acquired taste, but Frank chose him to anchor the group, as if his anxiety and worrying were an antidote to the other Packer's excessive exuberance.
In the Acknowledgments he lays out his plan thusly:
"In defining a project that stood a chance of actually getting into print in something like a timely fashion, I made a few philosophical choices that defined my research and my orientations. The key decision, from which all others flowed, was to treat my work not as biography but as analysis. Rather than record punctiliously every date and sum of money, rather than track down every supernumerary and witness, rather than aspire to a chronicle of quotidiana, I would view the Rat Pack as a kind of organic phenomenon, a being that lived for a few years around the turn of the sixties with roots stretching back into its principals' childhoods and effects haunting them until their deaths. The emphasis would be on explaining what made them come together, what they did, why people cared, and what happened after it all unraveled."
After it all unraveled, indeed. The Bottom Line is that Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy is a fascinating historical chronicle that manages to be entertaining while explaining what made the Rat Pack come together, what they did, why people cared, why YOU should care if you want to understand the key events of the 20th Century, and what happened after it all unraveled.
Ring a Ding Ding
Nice 'n' Easy
Wham of Sam
Christmas with the Rat Pack
The Manchurian Candidate
The Rat Pack Ultimate Collectors Edition (Ocean's 11 / Robin and the 7 Hoods / 4 for Texas / Sergeants 3)
His Way: An Unauthorized Biography Of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley
Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer's Art by Will Friedwald
Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams by Nick Tosches
Sinatra and His Rat Pack by Richard Gehman
But each time I do just the thought of you makes me stop-- before I begin, 'cause I've got you... under my skin
More Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6
Summary of Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party
For the first time, the full story of what happened when Frank brought his best pals to party in a land called VegasJanuary 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 star 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 fabulouse 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.
If you're not inclined to read individual biographies of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., Shawn Levy's Rat Pack Confidential is a perfect one-stop resource. Less a group biography than a series of impressionistic snapshots, the book is loaded with can't-miss material--the dirt on the making of Ocean's Eleven, information about Sinatra's wild stint as a casino owner, deep background on Peter Lawford's habit of introducing Jack Kennedy to glamorous starlets, wiretap transcripts of mobsters Sam Giancana and Johnny Formosa discussiong Dean Martin's lack of respect.
Levy, whose previous book, King of Comedy, is a serious consideration of Jerry Lewis's life and career, offers similarly well considered insights into the members of the Rat Pack. He covers Davis's lifelong struggle against racism and the complicated intertwinings of the Kennedy political machine and "the Clan," as the performers preferred to be called (they often denied anything like the Rat Pack even existed and resisted collective references).
The book's debts to its predecessors are often apparent; much of the material on Sinatra's friendship with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, for example, appears to have been gleaned from recent Bogart biographies. The writing style, which tries to capture the ring-a-ding-ding feel of the era, also owes serious debts to Nick Tosches by way of James Ellroy, while only intermittently reaching their level of mastery. But these are minor quibbles. As a synthesis of thirty years worth of journalism and celebrity biography, Rat Pack Confidential succeeds in portraying the supernova blowout of old-school showbiz in all its dazzling glory.
Performing Arts Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Performing Arts Books
The Film Director: Updated for Today's Filmmaker, the Classic, Practical Reference to Motion Picture and Television Techniquesby Richard L. Bare
Wiley; Published: 2000-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.75
Price in other shops:
How Movies Workby Bruce F. Kawin
Allyn & Bacon; Published: 1987-03-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $271.53
The Sun Soap Quiz Book: 2,000 Questions on Your Favourite TV Soap Operasby Chris Bradshaw
HarperCollins UK; Published: 2008-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Make Your Own Adult Video: The Couple's Guide to Making Sensual Home Moviesby Petra Joy
Collins; Published: 2007-01-03; Paperback; Book
Blessings in Disguiseby Alec Guinness
Fontana; Published: 1986; Paperback; Book
Irish Dancing (Collins Pocket Reference)by Tom Quinn
Harpercollins Pub Ltd; Published: 1998-11; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Harmonyby Heinrich Schenker
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1980-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.90
Price in other shops:
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, Second Editionby Steven Louis Shelley
Focal Press; Published: 2009-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $38.82
Price in other shops:
The Theater Experienceby Edwin Wilson
Mcgraw-Hill College; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.94
Price in other shops:
Bill Hicksby Kevin Booth
Harpercollins Entertainment; Published: 2005-03-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Similar Books and other products
The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'by Bill Zehme
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 1999-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.27
Price in other shops:
That's Amore: A Son Remembers Dean Martinby Ricci Martin, Christopher Smith
Taylor Trade Publishing; Published: 2004-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Memories Are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyesby Deana Martin
Crown Archetype; Published: 2004-10-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.54
Price in other shops:
Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frankby Barbara Sinatra
Crown Archetype; Published: 2011-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.43
Price in other shops:
The Rat PackEMI; Release date: 1998-12-22; DVD
Best price: $2.14
Price in other shops:
When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murderby Steve Fischer
Berkline Press; Published: 2005-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops:
Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreamsby Nick Tosches
Delta; Published: 1999-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops:
Dean and Me: (A Love Story)by Jerry Lewis, James Kaplan
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2006-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.78
Price in other shops:
Live & Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack CollectionRelease date: 2003-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $15.24
Price in other shops:
Memories Are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyesby Deana Martin
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2005-11-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.27
Price in other shops: