02/16/2025
"Sammy Davis, Jr.: “One day Frank laid it on the line. 'We're not setting out to make Hamlet or Gone with the Wind. The idea is to hang out together, find fun with the broads and have a great time. We gotta make pictures that people enjoy. Entertainment, period. We gotta have laughs.'
That really was what the Clan was all about. We never discussed money, neither how much we made from the films nor how much we might be losing by cancelling other dates. Money was not the motivating force. Frank made all the arrangements. He always had a brilliant business mind, and an excellent set of advisers.
When he showed me the contract I saw my salary was to be $100,000, which was then extremely good money unless you were a leading star. In 1960 I needed it. By my third film my wages were upped to $125,000. But it was never discussed. Frank just fixed it, and that was that. I was naturally grateful, but I would have made those films for next to nothing. It was just nice to have some cash rolling the tills as well.
No one would suggest that any of the Clan films were historically important in terms of cinema. But none of us was ashamed of them. They made a great deal of cash and they still turn up in the annual Variety list of all-time money-makers. People took them for what they were – good, amusing entertainment. They picked up the fun we were having ourselves and it was infectious.
Frank was very easy to work with. He was always at the helm of things and we kept it that way. He made the actual filming as painless as possible because he got bored easily and couldn't bear hanging around the set. When we worked together there was a feeling of close camaraderie and we seemed to move as one force. We managed to carry that onto the screen. None of us Clan members had ego problems with the others. A few people on the fringes came with their problems hanging all over the place. They weren't invited again. That wasn't the name of the game.”
Note: Most people know these five entertainers as the “Rat Pack.” They never called themselves that. Davis always used “Clan.” Sinatra preferred “Summit” when they were onstage together. The press used “Clan” at first, but started using “Rat Pack” later, a name that originally belonged to a different group of friends of Sinatra’s that, amongst others, included Humphrey Bogart and Judy Garland.
Excerpt taken from Sammy Davis, Jr.’s third book Hollywood in a Suitcase.
Photo: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and Sammy Davis, Jr. for Ocean’s 11, 1960. Photo by Sid Avery."
