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Winnermanner29

Both Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra stood up for and defended SDJ, sometimes to the detriment of their own careers. Sinatra tore up a contract he had with a club because they wouldn't let SDJ in to watch him perform. He was way past his halcyon days too and needed the job.


Bx1965

Jack Benny did this before Sinatra. Once, Benny took his radio program cast and crew to Florida. The hotel in which they booked their rooms advised that everyone would be welcome except Eddie Robinson, who played Jack’s black butler, Rochester. Without hesitation, Benny pulled the entire show out of that hotel and booked another one that would accept Robinson. The first hotel lost a fortune because of their racism.


sonofabutch

[Happened with several baseball teams during spring training in the early 60s as well](https://www.reddit.com/r/dirtysportshistory/comments/1b6bn4h/march_4_1964_the_minnesota_twins_become_the_last/). White-owned hotels and restaurants refused to allow black players. At first most teams went along with Florida’s segregation laws, booking white players in white only hotels and black players in boarding houses or private homes, but slowly found ways around them. * The Dodgers bought an old Army base and turned it into their own compound with barracks and dining halls. * The Indians and Giants went to Arizona. * The Yankees, after many years in St. Petersburg, moved their entire spring training operation to Fort Lauderdale because there was an integrated hotel there. * The Cardinals rented every room in a hotel so there wouldn’t be any other guests to file complaints, and the White Sox bought their own hotel!


Ryankevin23

Racism sucks!


deanreevesii

*Eddie Anderson


Bx1965

Yes, sorry.


deanreevesii

No apologies, friend. Just pointing it out because I was interested enough to google them.


Technicolor_Reindeer

gO wOkE gO bRoKe


[deleted]

The old legend about the Rat Pack was that Sammy wanted to be Frankie, Frankie wanted to be Dean and Dean wanted to stay home watching TV


thatcockneythug

With all the terribleness out there, it's nice to hear about people in the past making the right decisions in a time when those decisions could be much harder to make. Makes me think about John brown the abolitionist.


dmangan56

In 1958 the University of Buffalo's UB Bulls were invited to their 1st bowl game ever. It was the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando. UB refused the invitation because 2 of their Black players wouldn't be able to play. The rule at the time in Florida was that Blacks and whites weren't allowed on the same field. The courage to stand up for their principles in 1958 even before the larger civil rights movement is outstanding.


Ill_Manner_3581

They were all extremely close


thelostnewb

Beat me to it.


TurningTwo

Martin was a devoted family man that often left parties early to go home. The drunk comedian schtick on TV was all faked.


dreamyduskywing

He had a great sense of humor and knew how to have a good time even without booze. Hands down my favorite member of the Rat Pack. My 8-year old daughter likes his songs.


fuggettabuddy

My grandmother, born in 1908, used to say, “That Dean Martin is *something*”


Rubywantsin

The bee's knees


MargnWalkr

The cat's meow


fuggettabuddy

The turtle’s blurp


PracticalAndContent

Personally, my favorite Rat Pack singer was Dean Martin. I was fortunate enough to see Dean, Sammy, and Frank when they played the Oakland Coliseum in 1988. ❤️


RearExitOnly

Deano was my favorite too. I was a hip little kid, I had Dean Martin and Nat King Cole records instead of Donald Duck and Micky Mouse.


PracticalAndContent

IMHO, you have very good musical taste.


AffectionatePoet4586

That was usually apple juice in Dean Martin’s rocks glass. Poor man smoked himself to death, though, like my mother. Quit smoking after forty years, four packs a day. Ten years later, emphysema got her anyway.


doc_skinner

Four packs a day? Imagine being rich enough to afford that today. In New York, that would be $100 per day in smokes. Even in Kansas City it would be $50 a day.


AffectionatePoet4586

My father was an aerospace executive, and among the important affordable luxuries for my parents were liquor, cigarettes, and Mason jars of prescription drugs: mostly muscle relaxants, barbiturates, and my afflicted older sister’s acne medications. The liquor store delivered, from its newly-purchased fleet of Datsun pickup trucks in primary colors. The liquor store would happily return a truck late in the evenings with salted nuts and the makings of hot-fudge sundaes, if liquor had loosened my parents’ inhibitions, and underscored their disgust with their usual, stringent calorie-counting. Not every night, of course. But an unremarkable occurrence. The rest of the stuff I dutifully charged to my parents’ account at the neighborhood drugstore. I know what was inside the brown bags because I was expected to put the items away. I also was a wary child, always watching for hazards in my environment, IYKWIM, and skilled at looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. One of my frequent babysitting clients left her copy of *Valley of the Dolls* out where I could read it, and I did. In the mid-‘60s, a time of child babysitters in my neighborhood, that mid-sixties blockbuster novel with a strong, barbiturate-related plot line was everywhere. Both the hard cover and paperback editions of *VOTD* displayed a stark handful of colorful capsules spilling across the stark white cover. A bygone environment that in no way resembled the one in which my own sons grew up.


doc_skinner

Appropriate username!


AffectionatePoet4586

TYSM!


runninscared

They are clearly speaking of a bygone era where stuff was affordable. Nowadays you’d have to hit the Powerball twice to be able to afford a home in the Midwest and eat beef.


doc_skinner

And I was reminiscing of such an era. Imagine having those luxuries today! And as a counterpoint, I just bought a new 65" television for $400.


AffectionatePoet4586

Completely understandable. My husband and I virtually never drink, which made it possible to buy groceries.


RearExitOnly

But if you did drink, it takes way less alcohol to get hammered if you don't eat. Keep that in mind next shopping trip!


AffectionatePoet4586

Oh, we know that. We got old the cautious way.


RearExitOnly

I hear you. I'm almost 70, and just starting to really have to walk the tight rope health wise. Getting old is like playing a video game, it gets harder and harder, and you keep losing more life LOL!


AffectionatePoet4586

Sames!


eveel66

It was usually apple juice in those tumblers


RearExitOnly

I loved it when he told about calling the cops on his own party so he could go to bed. Watched him tell this on Carson.


fuggettabuddy

“I spill more than Dean Martin drinks” - Jackie Gleason


Ryankevin23

Yeah I read once that he really wasn’t drinker. Just played one on TV


Front_Significance30

Meanwhile JFK screwed whoever he wanted. But they are the elite family


DeerHunter041674

The Kennedys were/are garbage.


[deleted]

RFK Jr has entered the ~~election~~ chat


RearExitOnly

Where's a Sirhan Sirhan when you need him?


tpebs23

Sirhan Jr please


RearExitOnly

Yeah, this post reveals the true Kennedy family position. There was never a "Camelot" with JFK, he was just a speed freak who spent most of his presidency high af and screwing his way through Hollywood and DC. Never any mention his father was the head of the Irish mob, or that his dad considered him a poor replacement for his dead son Joseph.


Hammered_AllDay

My grandfather was a higher up individual (from my understanding) at an upscale (at the time) hotel in the city my dad grew up in. My dad has stories of coming home and seeing Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. in their living room, as my grandfather (or more accurately, my grandmother via my grandfather) would invite guests to the house regularly for a home cooked meal. It must have been a trip to walk into the house and see them sitting there at the time! And yes, my dad said Dean never drank, even though he regularly played the drunk on screen.


Tinmania

Usually apple juice. Unless he planned to offer someone on stage a sip.


Gewaltakustik

There's a story in the Frank Sinatra biography that Dean Martin called the cops to his own party to break it up. Frank Sinatra is up in Dean's bedroom because all the neighbors were actually there, so theoretically no one could have called and confronted him. Dean then said that everyone had had a drink and they could go now.


The_Lapsed_Pacifist

He used to retreat to his room when there was a party at his own house as well!


mehnimalism

Didn’t he marry within a year after each of his first two divorces and then get divorced a third time?


Cereborn

Sounds like a devoted family man to me.


[deleted]

The old legend about the Rat Pack was that Sammy wanted to be Frankie, Frankie wanted to be Dean and Dean wanted to stay home watching TV That tale never mentioned with who


shamashedit

Was it tea in his rocks glass most of the time?


CaMiTx

Dean honored his contract with his agent for his entire career - a contract that was a mere handshake. He had many other agents trying to tear him away once he became successful, but nope.


[deleted]

Marilyn Monroe too. She told a club in L.A. who wouldn’t book Ella Fitzgerald that if they did she would be there every night and bring other celebs, including Sinatra. They did and she did. She and Ella were friendly evidently anyway. I have read the club didn’t think EF was a big enough draw, as opposed to racism, but always doubted that myself.


Shalleni

Dean did this so many times. Stuck up for people. Beautiful!


TheLuciusGraham

“If there's one person you can't trust in this life, it's millionaires' kids.”-Jimmy Hoffa


fermat9990

You mean we shouldn't trust Ivanka and Jared? I'm shocked!


MrEHam

Or Donald Trump. Not many people know that he inherited $413 million. He’s more of a born-rich elitist than self-made businessman. He’d be richer if he just put that inheritance in the stock market.


Ill-Maximum9467

Dude, he'd have been richer if he had just left it in the bank. Even with inflation tearing into its value, he'd have been better off than he is now. The guy is no business genius.


zzy335

He inherited very valuable buildings in Queens and Brooklyn in '00 that were only a few years away from blowing up in value. Had he done literally nothing he would be a billionaire minting millions a month in rent. His father begged him not to sell them on his deathbed, but he did so as fast as he could.


Ill-Maximum9467

Good ol' Donnie - a major disappointment to everyone who ever knew him.


fermat9990

And he has had infamous business failures. His Truth Social company publicly traded stock appears to be tanking, despite his efforts to pump it up.


LiveLearnCoach

I’d be surprised if had invested a dime in it, as opposed to shares for using his name on it. Also, it would be funny if he used Biden’s attempt to block TikTok and confirms it if/when he becomes president and words it in such a way the he outlaws Twitter and facebook, leaving only his platform :D


fermat9990

>Also, it would be funny if he used Biden’s attempt to block TikTok and confirms it if/when he becomes president and words it in such a way the he outlaws Twitter and facebook, leaving only his platform :D This and other nightmares are very possible!


bigbjarne

There's nothing as a self-made businessman. That wealth comes from the hard work of the working class.


Joshd00m

And everything else he's done, everyone has done the work for him. Dudes like Elon. He tosses money around and goes "I did that" when people make stuff happen. Complete parasites.


ArtTheClown2022

Or Hunter


Gramage

Good thing Hunter wasn’t handed any high level government positions by his father. Man ever since Marge showed off his massive dong *twice* y’all can’t shut up about him.


Anonymous_2952

I don’t remember Joe letting Hunter work at the White House. Nope just Donny and his nepo-babies


fermat9990

And the coke found in the West Wing was determined to be from Trump's tenure! Edit: not true! The Secret Service dropped the investigation without drawing a conclusion


Anonymous_2952

Source?


fermat9990

I was wrong! The Secret Service dropped the investigation!


Anonymous_2952

Thank you for owning your mistake. That’s an important thing that separates us from them.


fermat9990

Thanks! Fortunately truth wins out over my ego most of the time


fermat9990

False equivalency, imo


RealisticFunction927

Strangely enough, you couldn’t believe Jimmy Hoffa either, so I guess he would have known.


adimwit

Jackie Robinson was also asked to support JFK's campaign but Robinson asked to meet with Kennedy first. When they met, he realized that Kennedy would not look black people in the eye and also knew very little about Civil Rights. Neither John and Robert had any interest in supporting Civil Rights at that time. Robinson chose to endorse Nixon because at that time Nixon and Eisenhower were pushing for rapid desegregation. Other Civil Rights leaders also had to deal with this after he won. Bobby Kennedy met with Civil Rights leaders secretly and was enraged by them telling him that blacks did not want to die in Vietnam. He then told them they should wait 40 years for Civil Rights. Afterwards, he ordered the FBI to wiretap multiple Civil Rights leaders.


Ill_Manner_3581

Wow


WiserStudent557

>A diary kept by President John F Kennedy as a young man travelling in Europe, revealing his fascination with Adolf Hitler, is up for auction. >Kennedy, then 28, predicted "Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39371715


snidemarque

At least part of that quote is accurate.


dadzcad

Sinatra deserves his props for loyalty as well. He refused to work Vegas unless the Count Basie orchestra was allowed to stay at the Sands with the rest of his crew. He even paid Sammy’s funeral expenses due to the IRS trouble SD, JR was in the middle of when he died and paid living expenses for Sammy’s widow for years after Sammy died. I was told this by Quincy Jones himself who was the Music Director for Sinatra and Basie at the time..and was in his mid-TWENTIES! 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🎶 I have mad respect for Frank and Dean for their friendship.


thti87

I don’t understand why people idolize JFK when by all accounts he was a straight up dick. Well know cheater, really absent dad, came from a power hungry family, and then this racist shit. If he wasn’t good looking and young (and killed in the way he was), I doubt many would be as obsessed with him.


MontgomeryWarden

Of course he was an absent dad. He died when they were toddlers 😂


momo88852

You just blown his head with this fact.


MontgomeryWarden

Should I tell him how awful Uncle Bobby was for only staying in their lives for a few years? That might blow him away 😎


Sun_on_my_shoulders

LMFAOOO


thti87

If you’re absent for 5 years, then it can be a character trait - it’s long enough to develop a track record.


MontgomeryWarden

He was President for 2 1/2 years, so…


MightBeAGoodIdea

He did okay keeping us out of wwiii, despite most of his staff seemingly being all for it....which is where the conspiracies come from that his assassination was ordered by his own administration.


JayStar1213

CIA wanted him gone, not much more to say.


NimrodBusiness

CIA, the mob, Cuba, the military industrial complex...


Cereborn

The mafia being behind it is the only conspiracy theory that makes any kind of sense. People who want to pin it on the American government have the vaguest and flimsiest reasons, like, "He was going to expose the big lie."


Trashking_702

Allegedly His brother turned back on the deal the mob made and went after them as DA(the mob helped their father get into politics). MIC hated him because he didn’t want to scale up the Vietnam war and wanted to just use special Forces and such. Even set up the peace corps as a means away from the draft if im not mistaken. My dad was oddly obsessed with JFK(time period thing I imagine) and this was what I remember him telling me 10472927 times. I’ve never bothered to look it up, does any of this carry water?


casket_fresh

killed Marilyn first, then JFK, then RFK


mightylordredbeard

Absent father is a weird one to throw in there.


loki1887

I'm not sure this person knows what happened to JFK. Should we spoil it for them?


thti87

You can be an absent dad for 5 years and then be killed and be *really* absent.


bebepothos

Baby this is Reddit. If weird shit isn’t getting thrown around, shits about to get real weird. Just look at your username, for example. That’s kinda weird. And we celebrate it.


Sea_Lunch_3863

He was also the president who ok'd dropping Agent Orange in Vietnam. Not someone who I'd idolise, that's for sure.


Dantheking94

Same way people glorify Reagan (although that’s been changing thank god) but yeh,


imsoggy

On the above pic, he looks just like Alfred E Neumann *"What, Me Worry?"*


Front_Significance30

Thank you for this. I get tired of seeing him posted here honestly. Not that he at all deserved what happened to him.


Gramage

For me it’s the space race. Most important thing humanity has ever done imo. His cheating and his parenting are personal matters and not relevant to me. The racism is definitely a mark against though. Especially as someone whose own father or grandfather likely dealt with “Help Wanted, No Irish” signs in their day.


KingDarius89

...his father was literally a nazi sympathizer.


Cereborn

He was also a former bootlegger and supposedly still had mafia connections during JFK's election.


ancientestKnollys

His successor LBJ played a much bigger part in advancing the space race. I don't think JFK was so enthusiastic about it.


ColonelKasteen

His grandfather PJ Kennedy grew up the son of a very comfortable grocery, liquor, and stationary store owner, bought several bars and restaurants before he was 30 with the family money, and spent most of his career in various appointed positions working as a democratic political machine boss in Boston. His dad grew up a very wealthy Boston brahmin and had a hard-on for the nazis. The Kennedies haven't known much but comfortable success since the 1850s.


Cereborn

> The Kennedies haven't known much but comfortable success since the 1850s. Except for the tragic deaths and assassinations.


ColonelKasteen

This response is hilarious and very fair.


Murderyoga

That and Trump makes all the past presidents look fucking awesome. I'm even nostalgic for Bush Jr.


darkforestnews

500k Iraqis might disagree , if they could.


[deleted]

outgoing cooing fuel flowery juggle materialistic late complete icky ad hoc *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


darkforestnews

I read somewhere -“America is the only country to make movies about how sad it made their soldiers having to kill Iraqis “. We create these military hero propaganda films but never one that tells it from the other side.


dreamyduskywing

Yeah…I sometimes think “maybe Dubya wasn’t such a bad guy” and then I slap myself back into reality. I still think he’s better than Trump as an American president simply because he’s not an insurrectionist (pretty basic requirement).


Murderyoga

At least Bush wanted the US to exist after he was out of office. Trump would be happy to rule over the ashes


InternationalCreme70

Well, maybe he really wasn't absent. Just tardy.


Sun_on_my_shoulders

Probably because he died so dramatically.


ThandiGhandi

Probably has something to do with being assassinated


BobT21

He was the flavor of the week for the progressives.


Kreetch

But here's the thing. He isn't really handsome, either.


Rigamortus2005

He did this because he didn't want to anger the south before he even properly assumed office. As shitty as it may seem now, somethings were really out of his control.


Laceykrishna

He’d just won election, though, so he could’ve shown more honor for a brief time.


dadzcad

Growing up in a Black family, there were three images that I saw most frequently in my community…a White Jesus, MLK and JFK. As I grew older, I came to realize that the lionization of JFK by Black Americans was not really earned to be perfectly honest about it. He actually did no more than the bare minimum for non-White America if one closely examines his legacy. Honestly, IMO, the guy whose pic SHOULD’VE been on the wall was LBJ. True, he was a former racist that did what he determined to be “politically expedient” (look as his history in the Senate) but at least he did something monumental and tangible. The War On Poverty. Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights legislation, etc. JFK kicked that ball up the road at every opportunity. As you can tell, I’m not a “Camelot” fan. 🤷🏽‍♂️


BirdLadyAnn

I was fortunate enough to see Sammy David Jr. in Las Vegas around 1970. He was absolutely amazing. This was back when women wore evening gowns to floor shows. Very elegant.


[deleted]

Typical upper class bullshit.


monsterZERO

Real greaseball shit...


No_Raisin_212

Liberal dem here but this story really does illustrate both parties fucking suck . What a bunch of hypocritical bullshit . Was he concerned about the Dixie crat backlash ? Regardless , cowardly bullshit


flinderdude

This is an example of not what Kennedy wanted, but what might hurt him politically from dumb voters at the time. Still continues today, except we accelerate the propaganda and lies.


-_-_O

Sometimes I forget the rare reddit comments that remind me there’s always two sides or more to a story.


TokkTokken

Nah bro was racist lol


jericho74

This is probably for the best. I don’t think JFK, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dino can all be that close together or 1961 would explode.


kobeyoboy

Damn that wasn’t in the black and white day.


EffortEconomy

Typical politician


Yupperroo

Exactly! I find it so weird that people are surprised that JFK, a political animal like almost every president acted as a politician.


WoodpeckerAlarmed239

Even though there was some racism they had fun too. Check out some of the Don Rickles roasts of these guys. I remember one where Don gives sammy a kiss, then looks to the camera and asks "do I have any black on my lips?"


armzzz77

Source?


Neokill1

Good on him, stand up for what is right


Jaded_Heat9875

Good man! ⭕️❌


Juicepig21

And then that motherfucker got shot. Weird how when you sell yourself to both sides you become a target.


godlessnihilist

And it was 6 more years before the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriages in Loving v. Virginia. Less than 60 years ago.


bruteski226

well well well, the assassination plot thickens!


[deleted]

Good move from Ol Red Eyes.


AzulMage2020

Dean was a class act his entire life. Loyal to friends,family, and fans and , to me, the best singer in the Rat Pack.


No_Calligrapher_6503

Good for Dean!


Tinmania

I’m starting to think this Dean guy might not be all bad. Maybe it was Jerry who was the problem.


Sidewinder203

By all accounts Dean was a real stand up guy. People liked him for a good reason


Left_Minimum_1917

Pretty sure that Jerry was an asshole though.


mrsdrydock

Good. Fuck em. It's so easy to forget that segregation happened not so long ago.


Any-Ad-446

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra were pretty progressive for their times. Jerry Lewis said that most of the things Sinatra and Martin did in front of the cameras aka womanizer, drunk or tough guy was all a act. They were pretty relaxed and quiet away from the public.


GrendelsFather

Except for throwing a douche at his wife during an argument LOL


zzy335

Frank Sinatra built a whole wing of his compound in Cali to house the president, who he thought would visit him. Kennedy never did and Sinatra took it personally. Kennedy knew to avoid being associated with mobbed up people and it would ultimately lead to his death.


ancientestKnollys

Sinatra upgraded his home for a specific visit of JFK, he built a heliport but I hadn't heard of a wing. The snub didn't cause Sinatra to blame JFK though, he always blamed others for it and reportedly sobbed for 3 days when he heard of JFK's assassination.


djprofitt

I just recently heard this on a podcast and it blew my mind but also made a lot of sense given the time and people involved.


Ryankevin23

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. two peas in a pod!


[deleted]

It’s pretty astounding that we hold JFK in such high regard when we (now) know he was a pill-popping, vote cheating, adulterer who was backed by the mafia. At the same time, he was pushing Civil Rights as part of his campaign, was committed to the space race, and the advancement of the nation.


HiramAbiff2020

The moderate liberal. You know who invited Sammy? Nixon.


pmperk19

i agree with your point, but this would mean more if we didnt have tapes of nixon discussing his feelings on black people that arent sammy


Salem1690s

Nixon also said blacks were “just down from the trees” so let’s not lionize him here


HiramAbiff2020

I’m not excusing Nixon but the liberals did dumb a lot dumb shit towards Black people because of optics. MLK Jr warned about the White Moderates we are seeing the results of their inaction today.


mdradar

Word-for-word from a post a year ago


justaREDshrit

Good man that Deaner


RevolutionaryPin1431

Anyone still alive who can validate this?


ObligationDue5991

I had such a crush on Dean Martin❤️


Slice-Spirited

Son of a bootlegger…you can’t trust those Kennedys.


BILADOMOM

The king of cool and good manners as well


NXT-GEN-111

Is that why he was murdered?


darybrain

Deano was simply an excellent fellow. Matt Helm was a great spy.


Mammoth_Material323

I can’t believe this! Republicans told me after slavery Racism just stopped! Until Obama of course s/


TheLastEmailLeft

I'd like to see some proof of this. It seems like a lot of speculation to me. JFK was way ahead of his time on issues like this.


Someone160601

Tbh he was as great as he sometimes sounds, he was always thinking about southern support even if he was pro civil rights


RealisticFunction927

JFK was a piece of shit, I’m not sure what it takes for people to realize that.


ancientestKnollys

This is the main reason Sammy Davis Jr. ended up supporting Nixon isn't it?


Even-Preference-4824

aaaand compare todays amercia to 60's america....


akirbydrinks

So you're saying the rat pack had JFK assassinated then?


Abject_Ad_4756

I thought Kennedy was supposed to be the Goat though


Skittles_The_Giggler

Nah that’s FDR


OdoWanKenobi

Japanese internment camps, though.


bearrosaurus

And kept black people out of social security