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Rat Pack Confidential - Shawn Levy

Rat Pack Confidential

By: Shawn Levy

Paperback | 3 January 1999

At a Glance

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First biography of the Rat Pack â" Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop et al â" the original Swingers. Brilliant and beautifully written story of their rise and fall, and their connections with the Kennedys and the Mafia, which will appeal to fans of âSwingers!â, âGoodfellasâ and Nick Toschesâ âDinoâ.


They alit in Las Vegas for a month to make a movie and play a historic nightclub gig they called the Summit; they hit Miami, the Utah desert, Palm Springs, Chicago, Atlantic City, Beverly Hills, Hollywood back lots, illegal gambling dens, saloons, yachts, private jets, the White House itself.

It was sauce and vinegar and eau de cologne and sour mash whiskey and gin and smoke and perfume and silk and neon and skinny lapels and tail fins and rockets to the sky.

It was swinging and sighing and being a sharpie, it was cutting a figure and digging a scene.

It was Frank and Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin and Peter Lawford for a while and Joey Bishop when they asked him and Jack Kennedy and Sam Giancana and tables full of cronies and who knew how many broads.

It was the ultimate spasm of traditional showbiz â" both the last and the most of its kind.

It was the Rat Pack.

It was beautiful.

âRat Pack Confidentialâ â" youâre never far from a cocktail, a swinginâ affair and a fist-fight.

Industry Reviews
A curious transformation has taken place in the public perception of Sinatra's boozing and brawling Beverly Hills clan and their much-publicized activities. From being perceived as the epitome of cool in the 1960s to being seen as an unpleasant and sexist bunch of carousers, a new generation is embracing them, once again, as being distinctly modish and admirable in their anti-authoritarian sang-froid. Levy's analysis is more than garish expose (with the Kennedy and Marilyn connections lovingly detailed), and he never forgets that however boorish their behaviour, these men had considerable talent and charisma (Sinatra's bullying antics being counterpointed by his astonishing sensitivity as the 20th century's greatest interpreter of popular song). And Levy is aware of the influential style of such cult books as Nick Tostes's Dino (which inaugurated the canonization of Dean Martin), making his prose hip but elegant. This combination of vulgarity and style makes for a totally engrossing read. (Kirkus UK)

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