Rat Pack back to full houses

Press, 20 April 1988, Page 54

Rat Pack back to full houses

By

ANDREW GELLER

NZPA-Reuter New York Three decades on from their heyday as American entertainment and society trend-setters, The Rat Pack is back — but will it ever be quite the same? Of the three remaining members of the group of stars dubbed the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra is 72 and recently had intestinal surgery. Sammy Davis, jun., is 62 f and recently had a hip replaced. Dean Martin'is 7-1 and has a liver problem. Martin’s problem , acted up soon after the three launched a 29-city Rat Pack United States reunion tour and Martin was forced to leave. He is not expected back before the summer, if then. /Nevertheless, the tour is continuing and audiences don’t seem to mind. , The Rat Pack was a group of Hollywood stars who were friendly in the late i 1950 s and early 19605. They starred in each other’s movies, teamed up in politics and threw lavish parties. Two of the original' members, Humphrey Bogart [ and Peter Lawford, have died. Before the present tour, • Sinatra, Davis and Martin last performed together in [ 1960 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. In the years that followed, they did benefits together and guest appearances at each other’s concerts and television shows, but they never did a paying concert together. ! About a year ago, Sinatra suggested they do so. "Dean and Frank and. Sammy and some people were having dinner one night at Frank’s house and Frank said, ‘We all ought to do' a tour together; And that was it,” said Mort Viner, Martin’s agent. “It took pretty close to a year to put it together because everybody has so many commitments of their own. You had to wait until they could clear time.” Last December, the three donned tuxedos and

held a news conference to announce the tour. The inevitable question about the Rat Pack came up. “Now it’s a little mice pack,” Martin said. The idea was a big success. All 40 concerts sold out quickly. Those at Radio City Music Hall in New York, from April 6 to 9, were sold out in 45 minutes. The tour began in Oakland, California, on March 13. When the three mounted the stage, Davis announced that he and Martin had whipped up a golden age cocktail for Sinatra. “What the hell is a golden age cocktail?” Sinatra asked. “Geritol (a tonic for the elderly) and prune juice,” Davis said. "Gets you going and it keeps you going,” Martin said. The audience of 14,500 exploded with laughter. Davis was in full voice, but Sinatra and Martin were not. Martin, adopting his; “happy drunk” persona, looked at his watch a lot. The “Washington Post” wrote: “They all have grey in their hair ... Martin pitches forward a i little when he walks, and Sinatra looks sort of fleshy and stiff. None, of that seemed to matter at all; they were funny and self-mocking and the audience, whooping with pleasure at the onset of nearly every song, loved them.” After the three performed in Chicago, Martin became ill and returned to Los Angeles, where he was diagnosed as suffering a recurrence of an old liver problem. His doctor recommended that he take a month off. Susan Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the tour which will run into October, said Sinatra and Davis had revamped, the show and there were very few requests for refunds. In Detroit, 15,000 people showed up and in Pittsburgh, there were 14,000. She said Sinatra and Davis got rave reviews.