Who were The Rat Pack

With so many Rat Pack tribute acts out there performing Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davies Jr. we thought as the British Rat Pack are not tribute artists we could help and inform those seeking an excellent show in their search for that kind of entertainment while being unbiased  with back ground information into the their origins.

1^st off we’ll start with a popular search question as in “ Who was in the Rat Pack ” which simply answered is of course, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Joey Bishop & Peter Lawford, though the conceptual source of the name is believed to have come from Humphrey Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall.

The name “The Rat Pack” was first used to refer to a group of friends in New York with several explanations offered for the famous name over the years. According to one version, the group’s original “Den Mother,” Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of “You look like a goddamn Rat Pack.”may also be a shortened version of “Holmby Hills reference to the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall which served as a regular hangout.

Visiting members included Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney and Cesar Romero.

According to Stephen Bogart, the original members of the Holmby Hills Rat Pack were: Frank Sinatra (pack master), Judy Garland (first vice-president), Bacall (den mother), Sid Luft (cage master), Bogart (rat in charge of public relations), Swifty Lazar (recording secretary and treasurer), Nathaniel Benchley (historian), David Niven, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, and Jimmy Van Heusen In his autobiography The Moon’s a Balloon, David Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but not Sammy Davis, Jr. or Dean Martin.

Moving on to Swing music in which “The Rat Pack” now generically refers to the fabulous trio of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davies Jr who with great humour and talent stormed Las Vegas and the world with live entertainment, record/CD and DVD sales that are still selling worldwide today!

Unfortunately Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davies Jr are no longer with us though their legacy is still thriving with many tribute shows around the world.

Today Dean Martin’s daughter Deana Martin deanamartinandtheratpack.co.uk/ is an accomplished singer, actor and author who performs worldwide and in the UK with the big band.

Moving on down the tribute scene there are two shows that particularly stand out from the crowd, The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas with Stephen Triffitt as Frank Sinatra. Another great show is The Rat Pack is Back not to be confused with the UK outfit who use the same name. These shows have received much acclaim as the ultimate tributes in that the artists all sound, look and behave similar to the original Frank, Dean and Sammy.

The British Rat Pack are a refreshing change from the norm as their approach to swing is delivered by a fabulous cast of original artists at  http://www.britishratpack.com/. These Kings of cool bring a 21^st Century lilt to swing music as seen in the amazing Legend of Swing show http://www.legendofswing.com/  . Here we have the artists Paul-Hayden, Joe Corrigan, George Anthony and Val Kelly performing what can only be called the penultimate swing show.
The British Rat Pack production in the Legend of Swing show covers everything from sing musics inception to current day. Their unique performances shed new light on the classic hits of Billie Holliday, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davies, (the original Rat Pack), Bobby Darin right through to Michael Buble without a tribute artist in sight. The only comparison to The Rat Pack is the naturally hilarious British humour and banter between the guys that makes this show stand out from the rest.

It’s fair to say if you want an excellent tribute show then follow the recommendations mentioned above… If you’re wanting something very special and uniquely British then The British Rat Pack and Legend of Swing shows deliver a 1st class Swing party like no other.