On June 20, 1965, a once-in-a-lifetime concert was televised as a closed-circuit event to raise bucks for Dismas House of St. Louis, a halfway house for ex-convicts. It was a meeting of the fabled "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis sharing the stage at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, doing pretty much what they did in Vegas, only this time with cameras taking it all in. There isn't much footage of the Rat Pack in Las Vegas…and certainly no complete performances. The St. Louis event is pretty much the best record of those gents in action.
Unfortunately, they were without the services of fellow Rat Packer Joey Bishop, who was out with a bad back. Fortunately, they got a kid named Johnny Carson to take over Joey's role in the proceedings. Our clip today is a few minutes of a musical number and it's notable that Johnny, who was never much of a singer, agreed to try and perform alongside the big boys.
After the '65 telecast, the show was never seen again…not until the nineties when producer Paul Brownstein tracked down a print of it that had been sitting in a closet in St. Louis. Every time I run into Paul, I find myself thanking him for finding and/or preserving some old TV show which would otherwise have been lost. I don't think I've thanked him for this one…so thanks, Paul. Here's a few minutes of the Rat Pack at their rattiest and packiest…
