Three mini movie posters and six film cells
This 'The Rat Pack Character' film cell is a highly collectible, limited film cell presentation,
which features a strip of hand selected original 35mm film, mounted with a photo
in a high quality frame. Each presentation bears a plaque engraved or sublimated
with the title and limited edition number. Each item comes with a certificate
guaranteeing the case authenticity.
Description:
The Rat Pack is the nickname given to a group of entertainers most active
between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. Its most famous line-up featured Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who
appeared together in films and on stage in the early 1960s. Despite its
reputation as a masculine group of people, the Rat Pack did have female
participants, such as movie icons Shirley MacLaine, Lauren Bacall, and Judy
Garland.
The Fifties Rat Pack
The name "Rat Pack" was first used to refer to a group of friends in
Hollywood first informally organized around Humphrey Bogart, a group that
included the young Frank Sinatra. The term "Rat Pack" was supposedly assigned to
the original Bogart group by "Den Mother" Lauren Bacall, after seeing them
return from a night in Las Vegas. (The term rat is presumably meant in the sense
of a dubious person or scoundrel.) According to another explanation, the term,
"Rat Pack" was not Bacall's idea at all. It had started with Humphrey Bogart,
Bacall's husband and frequent film co-star and a pal of Sinatra's, who named a
group of his drinking buddies the Holmby Hills Rat Pack, after the location of
one of Judy Garland and her husband Sid Luft's houses (a frequent hangout).
According to Stephen Bogart members of the Holmby Hills Rat Pack were Sinatra
(pack master), Garland (first vice-president), Bacall (den mother), 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, Michael Romanoff and James Van Heusen.
According to this explanation, confirmed in David Niven's autobiography The
Moon's a Balloon, the Rat Pack originally contained David Niven and did not
contain either Davis or Martin, and moreover did involve real (white) rats.
The Sixties Rat Pack
The 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin,
Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, brother-in-law of John F.
Kennedy, then a Massachusetts senator who was destined for the White House.
Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, and Shirley MacLaine were often referred to as
the "Rat Pack Mascots", a title which made these ladies feel like "one of the
boys". The post-Bogart version of the group was reportedly never called that
name by any of its members — they called it the Summit or the Clan. "The Rat
Pack" was a term used by journalists and outsiders, although it remains the
lasting name for the group.
As a result of Lawford's relation to Kennedy and Sinatra's connections to the
mafia, and the role the group played in campaigning for Kennedy and the
Democrats, the Rat Pack had not only influence in entertainment and social
circles but some influence politically as well. Sinatra expected that he would
be part of Kennedy's circle after the election but was excluded, which in turn
led to Peter Lawford's exclusion from the group after 1962. Lawford's role in
Robin and the Seven Hoods was given to Bing Crosby and spiced up with several
songs. (It wasn't the first time Sinatra had treated a Rat Packer that way;
Davis's role in Never So Few was given to Steve McQueen when Sinatra and Davis
had a temporary falling-out.)
The Rat Pack often performed in Las Vegas, Nevada and were instrumental in the
rise of Las Vegas as a popular entertainment destination. They played an
important role in the desegregation of Las Vegas hotels and casinos in the early
1960s. Sinatra and the others would refuse to play in or patronize those
establishments that would not give full service to African American entertainers
including Davis. Once Rat Pack appearances became popular and the subject of
media attention, the Las Vegas properties were forced to abandon
segregation-based policies.
Sinatra and friends had no idea this band of five would make entertainment
history. The group was remarkable for its upbeat entertainment style and smooth
musical and comedy routines, many of which were ad-libbed. Davis said when
Sinatra called the initial gathering of the Rat Pack, U.S. President Dwight D.
Eisenhower, French President Charles de Gaulle, and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev were planning a Paris Summit Conference. Not to be outdone, Sinatra
observed, "We'll have our own little Summit meeting." The Vegas Summit did not
draw diplomats, but it did draw high rollers, VIPs, celebrities, and
entertainment buffs, who responded by the thousands.
Often, when one of the members was scheduled to give a performance, the rest of
the Pack would show up for an impromptu show, causing much excitement amongst
audiences, and return visits. They sold out almost all of their appearances, and
people would come pouring into Las Vegas, sometimes sleeping in cars and hotel
lobbies when they could not find rooms, just to be part of the Rat Pack's
entertainment experience. The marquees of the hotels at which they were
performing as individuals might read "DEAN MARTIN - MAYBE FRANK - MAYBE SAMMY."
Although the Rat Pack members remained close (with the exception of Peter Lawford), the Rat Pack began to fade in popularity with the rise of the 1960s
counterculture, which sent their form of sophisticated "Establishment"
entertainment into decline. Although its individual members remained hugely
popular with the public, the Rat Pack as such had ceased to exist by the end of
the 1960s.
Size: 470x240x10mm (18.5 x 9.45)
Limited Edition: 2, 500
Three mini movie posters and six film cells
Framed
Film Strip photo is an example of what the film cells will look like. Please
note that every set is unique as they are hand picked from the original film.
NOTE: The film cells shown in the product image above are representative of the
contents, and not necessarily an exact match to the cells you will receive. Most
products are limited to 1000 items and therefore have a degree of variety. All
film cells are hand selected to include the best possible scenes featuring key
actors and moment.
What is a film cell?
