Occasionally they were joined by a woman, perhaps the singer Keely Smith, whom Sinatra dated, or Shirley MacLaine, who had a walk-on part in Ocean's 11, the film that celebrated their camaraderie. Sinatra sang, Martin boozed, Davis danced, Bishop did the standup thing and Lawford was Lawford, a handsome English actor of aristocratic background and indeterminate talent who happened to have become the brother-in-law of the next president of the United States. During one four-week season at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, 34,000 people flocked to see Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford exude the glow of an effortless hedonism, behind which flickered the shadows of organised crime and political corruption. The more they drank onstage, the more they indulged a liking for obscure in-group nonsense, the louder the audience cheered. Nothing, surely, could be as much fun as the life of the Rat Pack at the dawn of the 60s. From Las Vegas to Palm Springs to Miami, they lived in a world of endless sunshine. The handmade suits, the swimming pools, the automatic welcome into the backrooms of restaurants owned by men of discretion.
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