Frank Cullotta Dies: Las Vegas Mobster Who Was Key Adviser On 'Casino' Film Was 81 PrestigeThe Rat Pack Now is a world-class tribute show recapturing the music, style, comedy, and camaraderie of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.When pack rats become a pest problem in and around structures, exclusion can be the most effective method. Kennedy, but the core group was always. Peripheral members included actors Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and Shirley MacLaine and honorary member John F. During the late 1950s and early ’60s, Sinatra frequently appeared on stage and in films with his close-knit band of friends known variously as The Clan, The Summit, or, most popularly, The Rat Pack.
The authors leave the impression that it’s a wonder it didn’t happen sooner.Bishop’s biggest backer was Frank Sinatra, who used him as an opening act that would warm up a crowd without stealing the show. That Bishop’s show business career fell off a cliff isn’t surprising, given the depth of animosity and the many bridges burned detailed in the book. Combined with a volatile temper and a tendency to scapegoat others, he leaves a legacy that’s a mile wide and an inch deep, at least from the book’s perspective.Many of the people who worked with Bishop are quoted on the record with extreme vitriol, despising him for various and sundry tantrums and firings, along with a massive ego that erased credit from others. Were also in on the fun, which took place on stage at the Sands Hotel and Casino and on screen in Oceans 11 (1960).It’s a tale of a man whose talents didn’t adapt well to a changing cultural and entertainment landscape. Since several species of pack rats are nimble climbers, all entrances to building should be closed.Lertzman and Davis’s well-researched book includes details of mob-run Las Vegas, as well as extensive time spent interviewing Bishop, whose bitter fade started at the relatively young age of 50, leaving him practically forgotten upon his death in 2007 at age 89.Who was in the Rat Pack, the famous club of entertainers who ruled Las Vegas in the late 1950s and 1960s Frank Sinatra was the ringleader, and Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Do you see any parallels with 2020?A: There are. This explains why his career was essentially over when he was still in his early fifties.Q: You made much of the Rat Pack’s influence on the 1960 election. By the time his star had begun to fade, he had burned so many proverbial bridges that no one wanted to work with him.
PrestigeQ: Did you like Joey Bishop? I realize you spent a lot of time with him, but did that make him any more likeable?A: I was quite disappointed during my first meeting with Joey Bishop. Today, sixty years after the formation of the Rat Pack, there is a large, right-wing renaissance, with seventy million American citizens voting for Donald Trump, a man who adores the Rat Pack, and who has a questionable reputation as someone who subjugates females, including those accusing him of sexual abuse. These paternalistic attitudes began to be questioned with the advent of the women’s rights movement. It was a time when misogyny was the norm, and a woman’s place was in the home, or in some guy’s bed.
At the time of the assassination, in late 1963, a new era in pop music was being ushered in, courtesy of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the drug culture. So, when he was killed, and so brutally, it took the wind out of the sails of the mindset established by the antics of Sinatra and his cohorts. JFK, a noted womanizer, was a natural fit for a group of middle-aged men who perceived themselves as playboys. He didn’t want to be questioned about Sinatra and “that fucking Rat Pack.” Still, when he relaxed, he could be quite funny, in a smart-alecky sort of way.Q: Why was the assassination of JFK portrayed as the end of the Rat Pack?A:The Rat Pack was so associated with JFK that for a time it was known as The Jack Pack. Although he realized that ongoing legend of the Rat Pack was the cause behind interviewers reaching out to him in his retirement, he resented the fact that the other aspects of his career were being ignored.
When his fame skyrocketed in the early sixties, Joey was thrust into the headliner position, starring in his own sitcom. Sinatra used him as his opener for years for the simple reason that Joey was dependable, and he did not wear out an audience before the headliner came on. Unlike his contemporaries Don Rickles and Shecky Greene, he did not project the type of energy needed to sustain a ninety-minute performance. The fact of the matter is that Joey Bishop was perfect as an opening act. He was also low-key enough to sustain a talk show for two years, taking a backseat to his more dynamic guests. This carefully calculated image, which earned Bishop the moniker “The Frown Prince of Comedy,” caught on with the public.
It was at that time that he asked Joey to fill in for him at the Cal Neva Lodge (of which Frank and Dean were part owners) during the summer of 1964. Had been kidnapped in December 1963. What happened with Frank? Any theories?A: Frank had just been through a very rough patch: his son, Frank Jr. The style that Joey Bishop had, however, would seem very dated in these harder-edged times.Q: In the book, you hint at something that happened with Frank Sinatra that ended their friendship. Dreesen even opened for Sinatra in the crooner’s sad, final years as a performer. The circle was complete.Q: Who is Joey’s parallel in today’s show business world?A: Perhaps someone like Tom Dreesen, who has been a standup comic for decades.
In our many discussions, Joey never took responsibility for his career upheavals—it was always the “cheap bastards” at the network, or some other scapegoat. As Joey makes clear in his lengthy conversation with comedian Larry Wilde (who was kind enough to grant us permission to reprint that 1968 interview from his book, The Great Comedians Talk About Comedy), he had no sense of perspective on what made him a success. Joey was no longer part of the Rat Pack.Q: If Joey objectively read the book and didn’t take it personally, do you think he would have done things differently?A:No. And once the Chairman was offended, that was it. Frank, who had been responsible for Joey’s success in the first place, was incensed.
Obviously, it was the quest for the most possible profits by playing before twenty thousand fans (many of whom were not even around during the Rat Pack’s original run) instead of the more relaxed environment of a Las Vegas showroom. After dropping out of the tour soon after it was launched, he went back to performing in casinos. Dean Martin made it clear that he was uncomfortable playing the stadium venues that Sinatra favored late in his career. As to the preferred venues, that is hard to say.
Joey, still on Sinatra’s blacklist apparently, was not even considered as a member of the tour. Sammy would soon be diagnosed with throat cancer and would be gone within two short years. Frank’s voice was weak, at times, and his memory lapses were becoming more frequent. Dean had recently lost his son, Dino Jr., leaving him deeply depressed.
Also, it was while researching the archives that I found proof that it was Sands’ Hotel promoter Al Freeman who crafted the blueprint for what later became known as the Summit (ed: Sinatra’s preferred name for the Rat Pack).Richard Lertzman is the author of several books, including The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney and Beyond Columbo: The Life and Times of Peter Falk. Much of the information in the book comes from the eighty-five individuals I interviewed over a more-than-forty-year period. What was the Holy Grail of items that you discovered along the way?A:Thank you for saying that.
0 kommentar(er)
