Rat Pack article

[majordag]

<h1 align=center><a Name="ratpak">Crumbing the pack</h1>



The Good News Week team is heading to town to revive the spirit of Hollywood's hell raisers.


Rat Pack comedian turned crooner Paul McDermott must hve been predetined for fame - even his birth was front-page news. Paul and his twin sister, Sharon, were the first children born in Adelaide on Mother's Day, 1962, and were printed with their parents on Page 1 of [i:post_uid0] The Advertiser [/i:post_uid0] the following day.


Department store John Martin's had offered a giant teddy bear and a layette - valued at 55 pounds ($110) - to the first Mother's Day baby born, but doubled the prize when the winners turned out to be twins. "My mother had a caesarian section one minute past the hour of 12," jokes McDermott, who actually followed his sister into the limelight by one minute at 12:55am on May 13. "I reckon she was ready for about five hours beforehand."


The McDermott family left Adelaide for Canberra when the twins were three but returned each year to spend Christmas and Easter with their extended clan, which included Paul's cousin, former Crows football captain Chris McDermott.


McDermott remained a regular Fringe visitor, first as a member of hit comedy trio Doug Anthony Allstars and later with his own dance/music/comedy creation, [i:post_uid0] Mosh.[/i:post_uid0]. Now he is fronting the sellout hit of this month's Adelaide Caberat Festival, [i:post_uid0] The Rat Pack[/i:post_uid0] with his former cohorts from television's [i:post_uid0] Good News Week,[/i:post_uid0] Mikey Robins and Sandman.


The show evokes the spirit of the legendary shows - and after-hours revelry - performed by Hollywood hell raisers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. It was born out of the audience warm-up sessions before tapings of [i:post_uid0] Good News Week.[/i:post_uid0]


"Then when we started doing [i:post_uid0] Good News Week Night Lite[/i:post_uid0] with Steve (Abbott, alias Sandman) and the brilliant Mr Paul Livingston (Flacco), it just got to epic proportions," McDermott says. "People were coming along to see shows, but they were essentially coming to see the warm-up and the gabble in between."


The comics mused how it would be great to dispense with [i:post_uid0]GNW[/i:post_uid0] and just improvise with the audience.


"The idea was to look at the Vegas years of Sinatra and Co, do a few songs, a bit of banter....and ostensively just get us in really good tuxedos," McDermott says.


"That was an incredible period of American entertainment, where the entertainer became more important than the entertainment."


The show includes a mix of such old standards as [i:post_uid0] Fly Me to the Moon[/i:post_uid0] and [i:post_uid0]The Lady is a Tramp[/i:post_uid0], some original songs and "bastardisations of old forms".


Robins gets the ball rolling by mixing drinks on stage and serving them to the audience. "Mikey's martinis, they're just shocking. If you're anywhere near the front row, bring your own mixer." McDermott warns.


The first [i:post_uid0]Rat Pack[/i:post_uid0] show was held in Wollongong last year, followed by Surfers Paradise and Toowoomba. Abbott believes the whole feel of the Rat Pack era is back in vogue with the resurgence of cabaret clubs, late-night cocktail bars and the essence of being cool.


"I think there is a kind of lounge aesthetic, for sure," Abbott says.


"We saw video footage of Dean Martin and all those guys doing their stuff and they looked to be having such a great time, pushing the boundaries of indulgence."


McDermott is set to return to Adelaide next year in the musical adaptation of [i:post_uid0] The Witches of Eastwick,[/i:post_uid0] In "the Jack Nicholson role" of Darryl Van Horne, opposite Marina Prior, Pippa Grandison and Angela Toohey. He is also writing and illustrating a second children's book, [i:post_uid0]The Girl who Swallowed Bees[/i:post_uid0], following the success of his first, [i:post_uid0]The Scree[/i:post_uid0], which is also being made into a short film.


Robins is working full-time on Sydney's Triple M radio. Abbott, meanwhile, is preparing to go with his mother and his second cousin to Siberia, where his grandmother was born, to film a documentary. It will form part of an occassional series on SBS in which comedians revisit their ancestral homeland.


McDermott says, fringe, comedy and caberat festivals double as opportunities for performers to join forces and raise merry hell.


"I'd finish at midnight then go down to the bar and catch up with all my mates, people that I hadn't seen for five years, who were on the circuit in Britain when we were there with the All Stars." he says.


[b:post_uid0]The Rat Pack performs two shows at the Festival Theatre next Saturday 8 June at 7pm (sold out) and 9.30pm.[/b:post_uid0]



Edited By Spoofy on June 05 2002 at 08:49

[Boof]

thanks for that spoofy... &nbsp;much apresiated! &nbsp;



boof

[pj]

is there a pciture??? can i get a copy. i have some articles to swap.. the one of gud at metro from drum media.
anyone?

[majordag]

the picture is the normal rat pack one....there is one on my site....or on the adelaide caberat site

picture but it is just bigger.....

bigger one on my site &nbsp;but i can't link to spaceports here.... &nbsp;

[Sam]

Oh wow, thanks Spoofy, bet you're getting excitied right now - bet you'll be looking over your shoulder or under your foot (depending on the time of day/night) as well. &nbsp;You never know - he could be anywhere.
That's a hell of an article, although a bit weird at the end - laughs uproariously at Adelaide hanging onto McDermott, Jesus he's never gonna escape the fact he was born there. &nbsp;Can't wait for the show review (from you of course) - will he stand there and give you lot heaps or what? &nbsp;Have a fantastic time girl!

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Is Rat Pack coming to melbourne or has it already been?
Can some one end my confusion and hope fully make me dance around in excitement! &nbsp;

[majordag]

CC - it hasnt been to Melbourne yet, but I would have thought with the Witches starting soon, he would be winding down on touring around with this for awhile.



Sam - I am going to both shows &nbsp;:p and I will write a review but i will NOT be taking photos. We have already been advised by Andrew, Paul's Manager that photos/cameras will not be tolerated, and besides I believe the Festival Theatre has a no camera policy anyway.

ROFL...I would expect that he would fly in on Saturday, but if he does fly in early (like Friday) then I might have to hang around some of the hotels *giggles* hope he stays in the Hilton cause then I can just walk past all the time with an excuse since I work in the Courts next to the Hilton &nbsp;

[Spawn of Satan]

It was originaly never suposed to go to Melbourne, so if it goes there you'll be very lucky.

SoS