Rat Pack fast facts
What: "The Rat Pack is Back."
Where: The Starlight Lounge at the Desert Inn hotel-casino.
When: 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Tuesdays; 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; 11 p.m., Fridays; 8:30 and 11 p.m., Saturdays; dark Mondays.
Tickets: $30.
Reservations: Call 733-4566 or (800) 634-6909.
Boozin', broads and bustin' chops -- now that's a party.
And this one's bound to be gas because ol' Blue Eyes is turning 46, and nobody, but nobody, is gonna miss this bash.
It's a secret, though, so mum's the word. The boys have been planning this one a while. So mark it on your calendar: Dec. 12, 1961.
What?
It's no longer summer 1999 when you cross the threshold of the Desert Inn's Starlight Lounge. A glance at the bartender's narrow tuxedo lapels ought to be a hint, as would be the tiny little lanterns on those intimate lounge floor tables and that blaring big band sound that's promising to rock the roof off the house.
And if that's not enough of a gimme, the oversized photos on the wall of Frank, Dean, Sammy and Joey will bring it all home.
Let it be known: The Rat Pack is back.
Compliments of David Cassidy and Don Reo, that is, the masterminds who created the new "The Rat Pack is Back" stage show slated to open Tuesday for its eight-week run in Las Vegas.
Keep in mind that Cassidy and company are well aware that there was and only will be one Frank Sinatra and that the same holds true for his cohorts Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop, who, with Peter Lawford, made up the famed Rat Pack of long ago. (A show spokesperson said a Lawford-style character is not depicted because they preferred to concentrate on the "core members" of the group).
This production, Cassidy says, is about celebrating, not mimicry. The actors are not look-alikes, and are merely adopting the first names of the Kings of Cool. There will indeed be similarities, though, because no one but the Rat Pack could pull off that brotherhood's electric spontaneity that put Las Vegas on the map.
"We're not doing impersonations," Cassidy said of the hand-picked cast. "This show is going to pay homage to the time and spirit of who these guys were. The talent is what's going to carry this, and it's what carried Frank, Dean and Sammy."
Balloons and streamers will set the mood for Frank's birthday bash -- a night back in the days when anyone who was anyone to the Rat Pack crowd would show up.
Which provides an interesting opportunity for this show to have a unique flair: While there are only four scripted characters, stars from the '60s still alive today are on the show's guest list and could pop in at any time. Guys such as Buddy Grecco, Jerry Lewis and Jack Jones.
Cassidy says he might even show up some nights as Bobby Darin -- "the Frank Sinatra of my generation.
"Their material at the time was extremely racist and sexist," Cassidy said, "but that was their act and they had fun together. Most apparent, though, was that they loved each other."
When they're not ribbing each other, the Pack will be singing the tunes of their day. Cig in one hand, corded mike in the other and a cocktail close by.
"Everything will speak of and feel like 1961," Cassidy said. "It was an enormous time of prosperity, of hope and at that time, peace. The material will reference JFK and Lyndon Johnson, and some similarities and parallels between the Kennedy administration and the Clinton administration.
"In terms of what the audience saw in 1961, they came in much more naive and innocent," Cassidy said. "They wanted to see these guys -- these were the rebels, the bad boys. Smoking, drinking and gambling was their motto when they weren't boozing and hanging out with broads. That was their lifestyle. It was a world they created here in Las Vegas for them to live the life they wanted to lead."
The Rat Pack typically played at the Sands (imploded years ago) which Sinatra partly owned. But it wasn't uncommon to see them at the tables inside the now-aged Frontier.
The Desert Inn is still in its original spot, although vastly remodeled in 1997 from its old form, which stood as the fifth casino built on the Strip. Sinatra, in fact, packed the house when he sang there for the first time in 1951 when making his comeback after filming the movie "From Here to Eternity." It was also the last place 'ol Blue Eyes played in Las Vegas.
"You've got a lot of people coming in from out of town who don't know anything about the history of Las Vegas," said Tony Tillman, who will be playing Sammy. "It was almost like a private club back then. Vegas had a mystique to it. It's a perfect time now for this type of nostalgic retrospective -- to look back and see how crazy and fun it used to be."
Tillman knows first hand. He spent many a day hanging with Davis after the two met in 1976 at a club called the Hamburger Boys in Stockholm, Sweden. Both had been hired to work the stage short term, along with Johnny Cash, the Kingston Trio and Victor Borge.
"Within a year, I'd left the (band) I was with because I couldn't conceive of entertaining any other way than Sammy's way," Tillman said. "Sammy was the person I modeled my entire approach after. I've always admired him."
The two met again about eight years later when Tillman was opening for Bill Cosby at Caesars Palace. Davis walked in, the two got to talking and from then on Tillman had a standing invitation to join Davis whenever they were in town together.
"He knew that my whole thing was to emulate him. Not to be him, but to entertain in the style in which he entertained, do the kinds of songs that had meat to them," Tillman said.
Tillman has shared the stage with the best in the business, and always brings Davis with him when he performs -- if only in spirit. He sings "Mr. Bojangles" as part of a medley, along with "Candy Man" and "What Kind of Fool Am I." Davis showed him the way to do a show the right way, he says, and he's honored to share with Las Vegas the man he knew best.
"Each time I'd see him, it got to be a running joke. Sammy would ask me, 'So what are you here to steal now, my attitude or my material?' I would say, 'Hey, boss, anything you want to give me, I'm taking.' He was such a great man, he had so much class."
Bobby Caldwell said it was the highest compliment to be chosen to play Frank. His velvet vocals have often been likened to those of Sinatra, who proved a major influence in the younger singing sensation's life.
Caldwell was born in Manhattan and raised in Memphis and Miami. His mother and father both sang and hosted of one of the first television musical variety programs.
As a boy, Caldwell played piano, and the guitar in Little Richard's band for two years. A hit in Japan, Caldwell also collaborated with the Commodores, Chicago, Boz Scaggs, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant, and his songs have been sought by a host of artists including Al Jarreau, Roberta Flack and the Yellowjackets.
He was a child when he saw Sinatra perform at Miami's Fountainbleu hotel.
"For men and boys, he taught us how to live," Caldwell said. "For women, especially those whose men went to war, Sinatra became their songbird."
Caldwell says the challenge in playing Frank will be mastering the master's ability to cover with polished diction the Hoboken accent he tried to hide.
Steve Apple's already got a handle on Dean, who he's been impersonating for three and a half years. He was playing Groucho Marx the night he was "discovered" at the White House, a nightclub in Anaheim, Calif., by a Sinatra impersonator looking for a new partner.
"He said he thought I'd make a good Dean. I told him, 'you're absolutely nuts!' He said he could see through the makeup," Apple said. Three months later, Apple became Dean for the first time on stage at the Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs and hasn't looked back since.
Esquire magazine used him in their six-page fashion layout as a young Dean, modeling vintage clothes outside the studios where Martin recorded "Everybody Loves Somebody." The E! channel hired him in 1998 to reenact Martin during the last three years of his life.
Apple has done a multitude of characters during his 14 years of acting and doing voice-overs with Universal Studios, but Dean is "like trying to be silk or velvet.
"He was the king of cool," Apple says. "I got the voice fairly quick, but literally studied for months after that to try and grasp the subtleties of it, the nuances, the crooning style, the vibrato. I wanted to get the voice down so good that people would want to dust off their old (Martin) records and play them again."
Hiram Kasten, who plays Joey, had his own Pack of sorts, starting out in comedy with Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser.
"We all started the same way -- where you had to learn to get a laugh at 2 in the morning with four drunks in the audience," Kasten said. To make ends meet he drove a cab, waited tables and was a bill collector.
Seinfeld was the emcee the night he auditioned at the Comic Strip off Second Avenue in Manhattan. Within a year he was a full-fledged standup. He's guest starred on "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Cybill," "Mad About You" and the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and gained a reputation for his ad-libs and elegant put-downs -- classic Joey Bishop traits.
"Joey really knew his way around a joke," Kasten said. "He was great, witty, dry. He's a little more deadpan than I am. He didn't smile a lot but he was very funny.
"These are rough guys, these old guys," Kasten said. "They came up in a tough business in a tough time. They're not like Seinfeld or Reiser from Long Island, upper middle class families. These were real men, every one of them. They were solid in their appearance, their word was their bond. They were tough guys. Who would be better to have as a friend than Frank Sinatra?"
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