Swingin' with the Rat Pack

New CDs highlight music of Frank, Dean and Sammy

The Rat Pack's three central figures -- Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra -- are featured on two new CDs released by Capitol Records.

By Douglas Cannon Hyde
Special to CNN

HOLLYWOOD, California (CNN) -- Angie Dickinson gushes when she recalls the days and nights of the Rat Pack in Las Vegas.

"They were at the top of their game, the top of their pleasure period. I mean, they loved Vegas!" the actress recalls of her friends Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., English actor Peter Lawford, and comedian Joey Bishop. In the early 1960s, the group electrified the city with performances at that era's center of cool -- the famed Copa Room of the Sands Hotel and Casino.

With the remake of the Rat Pack's 1960 Vegas heist movie, "Ocean's Eleven," opening Friday, Capitol Records has released two new CDs that take fans back to those "ring-a-ding" days.

VIDEO Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. perform on a new CD commemorating the original 'Ocean's 11' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   RESOURCES EW.com: 'Ratting out the Pack'

Both feature the Rat Pack's three central figures -- Sinatra, Martin, and Davis. "Eee-O-11: The Best of the Rat Pack," a sort of Rat Pack sampler, includes some of the trio's biggest hits and signature tunes. Dino, drink in hand, warbles "Volare," "Ain't That a Kick in the Head, " and "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You." The Chairman of the Board weighs in with standards like "Witchcraft," "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die," and "You Make Me Feel So Young." Davis's highlights include "Too Close for Comfort" and duets with Sinatra -- "Me and My Shadow"-- and Martin -- "Sam's Song."

But probably of greater interest to fans is "The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands." The previously unreleased concert CD, recorded in September 1963, captures the trio in all their irreverent glory. It's a snapshot of a bygone era, filled with the wisecracks, booze-soaked one-liners and politically incorrect repartee that were the hallmark of the Rat Pack.

'They were larger than life'

As one of the of the few females in the Rat Pack inner circle and a co-star of "Ocean's Eleven," Dickinson had a ringside seat to their antics, on stage and off.

"They were larger than life all the time. That was no act," she says.

"They were larger than life all the time. That was no act," actress Angie Dickinson says of members of the Rat Pack.

The high-living lifestyle reached its zenith in early 1960, when they filmed "Ocean's Eleven" by day and performed on stage at the Sands -- not once, but twice -- at night. If that sounds like a grueling pace, guess again, says Dickinson.

"I don't think they ever got tired," she recalls. "First of all, it was an easy shoot and Frank liked 'French hours.' He liked the 11 to 7, rather than the 6 or 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours, so they didn't have to get up early. They could go to work on the set, come back, shower, and just kind of relax and were then ready to go on stage. ... I think that was where they partied. As a matter of fact, I don't think they partied much after."

Hangin' with the president

During that time, thousands of tourists poured into the gambling mecca, hoping -- often in vain -- to get tickets to "the most famous nightclub act of all time." One of the more famous concertgoers was President John F. Kennedy, brother-in-law to Rat Packer Peter Lawford.

Kennedy, who enjoyed the company of the Rat Pack, had a voracious appetite for showbiz news and gossip and Sinatra provided a steady supply of both, as several biographies have revealed.

"President Kennedy loved the entertainment world," Dickinson remembers. "We were asking him -- he was newly in office -- a lot of political questions and he said, 'Hey, I don't want to talk politics, I want to talk movies!' And he loved to talk movies, so certainly he loved being with Frank, because Frank was the most exciting man there was to be around."

Time hasn't dimmed Sinatra's appeal -- and, judging from the new movie, the CDs, and retro chic, the Rat Pack still has its backers as well. What was the secret to the group's charisma?

Dickinson ventures a guess. "They're diverse and yet they're very similar in that they were entertainers. Frank and Dean were Italian, Sammy was African-American, Peter was English, Joey was Jewish, so the combination was wonderful," she says. "But I don't know, it was that magic that can't be explained. They were great talents, maybe that's the key to why they were so interesting ... and that has carried on for 40 years."