Sandia Casino Rat Pack

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By Michael Kaplan, NY Post

Updated: December 12, 2020 4:35pm

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and JFK (inset).Everett Collection

In February 1960, crooner Frank Sinatra had an Oscar for “From Here to Eternity” and hit records under his belt. But he feared cultural irrelevancy. Elvis Presley was everywhere. Cool kids danced to “The Twist,” and The Beatles had just formed in Liverpool.

“Frank 100 percent knew that his window was closing. He needed something big,” Richard A. Lertzman, co-author of the new book “Deconstructing the Rat Pack” (Prestige Press), told The Post.

Sinatra’s next move would create the legend of the Rat Pack — and cement the Las Vegas Strip as an international party destination. “Before the Rat Pack’s arrival, Vegas was all Jimmy Durante and Cyd Charisse — old hat,” said Lertzman.

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Sinatra was bopping through town in ’59, mulling a big payday while his elite status still held. Meanwhile, Sands casino publicist Al Freeman was looking to take Vegas beyond its status as a cow town with some diversions.https://e66a83459a60490db479502fc9c6f3b5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html?n=0

“Al wanted a mega-act to put Vegas on the map,” Lertzman said. “Frank loved the idea and started assembling a group. He had done the movie ‘Some Came Running’ with Dean Martin and thought it would be good to work with him again. Sammy Davis Jr. had just lost an eye in a car accident and Frank wanted to back him. Then he needed a journeyman comic who would not suck air out of the room: In came Joey Bishop. Peter Lawford was married to Patricia Kennedy, and Sinatra was drawn to the Kennedy family’s power.”

Rat Pack Revue – A Night of Love That’s Amore! Join us for a night of entertainment & fine dining, great love songs performed by Rat Pack Revue, featuring the Dry Martini Orchestra straight from Las Vegas! Click here to view to the Menu. Tickets on sale now! Mar 23, 2020 The Copa Room at The Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was home base for the Rat Pack that included: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop (left to right).

So Lawford — characterized by Lertzman as “a little gossip who told Ava Gardner about [her husband] Frank f–king around” -— was improbably in as well. Lawford also came with a gift: a script for a heist movie called “Ocean’s 11” that had been slipped to him by George Clayton Johnson, a Malibu gas-station attendant and aspiring writer.

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Sinatra swung a deal where they would shoot “Ocean’s 11” in the casino by day and do two shows a night for February, an event called “The Summit.” It was an instant hit, said Lertzman: “The Sands had 2,800 rooms and 35,000 requests for reservations in February.”

Picking up on a term coined by Lauren Bacall to describe husband Humphrey Bogart and his Hollywood retinue (including Sinatra), the press called the guys the “Rat Pack.” Sinatra despised the name.

Brimming with seemingly improvised gags about liquor and womanizing, The Summit was actually tightly scripted by TV writer Don Sherman (whose daughter Amy Sherman-Palladino would go on to create “Gilmore Girls” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”).Frank Sinatra (far left) curated the Rat Pack and put Las Vegas on the map. ©Warner Broshttps://e66a83459a60490db479502fc9c6f3b5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html?n=0

“This was strictly business. Dean [who had a boozy reputation] drank apple juice on stage, and every show was identical. These were middle-aged men, working hard,” said Lertzman. “Frank made $3- to $4-million. The other guys made six figures.”

Peter Lawford

And it wasn’t even like they were truly pals: “Joey was being used, and Sinatra hated Lawford’s f–king guts.” But he loved proximity to Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy, who showed up — as did Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland — at a few performances.

Kennedy had recently announced his presidential run, and associating with the Rat Pack made him appear cool. It also helped to fund JFK’s campaign.

“Joe Kennedy [JFK’s father] promised the mob guys who ran Vegas that John would protect them in exchange for a $1 million contribution,” said Lertzman. “A satchel with $1 million was left in the suite of Carl Cohen [a mobster who was president of the Sands] for John to pick up and hand off to Joe. JFK was the bag man! Lawford brought Sammy to see [the bag]. Sammy started telling everybody.”

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Over the next year, the Rat Pack played Miami, supported Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention and were to headline his inauguration party. Bishop hosted and Sinatra sang, but Davis was barred because Joe Kennedy feared racist blowback from Davis’ engagement to Swedish actress May Britt. Martin bailed, which created bad blood between him and Sinatra.Joe KennedyGetty Images

Bishop was frozen out after he was asked to fill in for Sinatra at a gig and tried strong-arming Sinatra for $50,000. Then, Joe Kennedy put the kibosh on his son visiting Sinatra at the singer’s Palm Springs home — where a heliport had been built especially for the president — due to Sinatra’s increasingly public mob associations. Lawford was forced to break the bad news, which pretty much killed off the already hobbled Rat Pack.

“JFK flew, instead, to Bing Crosby’s place in Palm Springs,” said Lertzman. Sinatra was furious. “He grabbed a mallet and started wrecking things in his house. He cut Lawford from [his film] ‘Robin and the Seven Hoods’ and tried to blackball him in Hollywood.”

Despite the Rat Pack’s brief shelf life, the legend of their ring-a-ding Vegas good times persists. Marveled Lertzman: “People just love the world that those guys represented.”

Sandia Pueblo (/sænˈdiːə/; Tiwa: Tuf Shur Tia) is a federally recognized tribe of Native AmericanPueblo people inhabiting a 101.114-square-kilometre (39.040 sq mi) reservation of the same name in the eastern Rio Grande Rift of central New Mexico. It is one of 19 of New Mexico's Native American pueblos, considered as one of the state's Eastern Pueblos. The population was 427 as of the 2010 census.^[1] The people are traditionally Tiwa speakers, a language of the Tanoan group, although retention of the traditional language has waned with later generations. They have a tribal government that operates Sandia Casino, Bien Mur Indian Market Center, and Sandia Lakes Recreation Area, as well as representing the will of the Pueblo in business and political matters.

Name[edit]

The Tiwa name for the pueblo is Tuf Shur Tia, or 'Green Reed Place', in reference to the green bosque (Spanish: forest). However, older documents claim that the original name of the pueblo was Nafiat, (Tiwa: 'Place Where the Wind Blows Dust').

It became known as Sandía (Spanish: 'watermelon') in the early 17th century, and possibilities abound as to why. Some claim that a type of squash cultivated there reminded the Spaniards of the melons they knew from the Eastern hemisphere. Others suggest that explorers found an herb called sandía de culebra, or possibly another called sandía de la pasión there.^[2]

But the most convincing and most-cited explanation is that the Spanish called the mountain Sandía after viewing it illuminated by the setting sun. The Sandia Mountains have a red appearance to them, and the layer of vegetation gives it a luminous 'rind' of green when backlit, giving it the appearance of a sliced watermelon. The village closest to the range took on the name of the mountain, changing from throughout the years from San Francisco de Sandía to Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Sandía to Nuestra Señora de los Dolores y San Antonio de Sandía before ending up as simply Sandia Pueblo or Pueblo of Sandia.

Geography[edit]

The pueblo is located three miles south of Bernalillo off Highway 85 in southern Sandoval County and northern Bernalillo County, at 35°15′17″N106°34′23″W / 35.254731°N 106.573146°W. It is bounded by the city of Albuquerque to the south and by the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, a landform the people hold sacred and which was central to the traditional economy and remains important in the spiritual life of the community, to the east. A forested area known as the bosque surrounds the rest of the reservation, and serves as a source of firewood and wild game. A resident population of 4,414 was reported as of the 2000 census. Two communities located on its territory are Pueblo of Sandia Village and part (population 3,235) of the town of Bernalillo.

In 2014, the United States Congress passed the Sandia Pueblo Settlement Technical Amendment Act (S. 611; 113th Congress).^[3] by which the federal government would transfer 700 acres of land to the Sandia Pueblo.

History[edit]

Antiquity[edit]

The Pueblo culture developed from 700–1100, characterized by its distinctive religious beliefs and practices and a large growth in population. The period from 1100 to 1300 CE is known as the Great Pueblo Period, and is marked by cooperation between the Pueblo peoples and the communal Great Kiva ritual. The Sandia Pueblo has resided in its current location since the 14th century, when they comprised over 20 pueblos. They were a thriving community, numbering 3,000 at the time of the arrival of Coronado in 1539 (in the Pueblo IV Era).^[4]

Encounter with Westerners and life under New Spain[edit]

SpanishconquistadorFrancisco Vásquez de Coronado 'discovered' the Pueblo of Sandía in 1539 while on an expedition to discover the Seven Cities of Cíbola.

In 1610, Fray Esteban de Perea arrived. A descendant of a distinguished Spanish family, he was Guardian, Commissary, and Custodian of the friars in New Mexico, and was responsible for the implementation of the Inquisition in the territories under his authority.

In 1617 the area became home to the seat of the Mission of San Francisco. The Spanish exacted tribute and enslaved members of the Sandía Pueblo people for labor in the building of churches and in Mexican mines. As a result of the resentment against this abuse, the Sandía, who had already offered sanctuary for Zía and Jémez rebels, were one of the pueblos involved in the August 10, 1680 Popé-led Pueblo Revolt against Spanish rule that drove the Spanish from the region until its reconquest by Diego de Vargas in 1692. They did not find freedom, however, as Popé and his successor Luis Tupatú exacted as heavy a tribute as the Spanish and the raiding tribes had. By way of punishment for their insurrection, then governor of the territory, Antonio de Otermín, ordered the village, which by that time had been abandoned, burned on August 26. Having fled to neighboring Hopi lands, the rectory at Sandía was left unprotected and was looted.^[5]

The Sandía returned after each Spanish attack, with the 441 surviving Sandía resettling permanently in November 1742. In 1762, Governor Tomás Cachupín ordered the rebuilding of Sandía Pueblo (although his concern was primarily the housing of the Hopi who had found refuge there) as a buffer between the settlement at Albuquerque and the raids of the semi-nomadic Navajo and Apache. As a result, Sandía was raided continuously, the most deadly of such events occurring in 1775 when a Comanche raid killed thirty. The Hopi suffered the brunt of the attack as a result of their segregation from the Sandía, which has minimized their influence in the Pueblo. As a result of wars with Spanish conquistadors and raids from neighboring indigenous nations, the Sandía Pueblo diminished, numbering 350 by 1748, and dwindling to 74 by 1900.

Life in Mexico and the United States[edit]

Rule of the territory passed to Mexican hands at the end of the Mexican War of Independence in 1820. It proved difficult to establish a new republic and govern outlying territories with a history of insubordination at the same time, and New Mexico enjoyed a brief semi-autonomous period resembling the salutary neglect of the American colonies. In American history, this period is often referred to as the 'Wild West', in reference to relative absence of Mexican authority, which left the region open to incursion from and settlement by American pioneers.

With the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, the territory of New Mexico was ceded to the United States. Zebulon Pike made note of the Sandia Mountains during his 19th century expedition, calling them the 'San Dies'.

When Indian schools were built in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Sandía pupils were in attendance. Nonetheless, American culture did not have a strong effect on the tribe until World War II, when the tribe sacrificed eight of their young men to the national defense.

Tribal authorities have sometimes had conflicts with state and federal authorities. They have sought to assert their longstanding claim to the Sandia Mountains east of the ridge, and they strongly opposed the construction of the Sandia Peak Tramway in 1966.

The tribe opened a casino in 1994, and have since expanded and added a hotel to the facility. The casino's amphitheater hosts many acts passing through Albuquerque, and its proximity to the state's main urban center has made it a popular attraction among gamblers.

Government[edit]

The tribal government has educational, police, maintenance, health and human services, environmental, and economic development departments. 'A Governor, Lt. Governor, Warchief, and Lt. Warchief are appointed for annual terms according to Sandía's cultural tradition. Each man can be appointed to consecutive terms. The Governor and Warchief will become Tribal Council members for life. The Warchief and Lt. Warchief are responsible for all religious activities held in the Pueblo. The Governor oversees day to day government operations, while the Lt. Governor is the Tribal Court Judge.'^[6]

Culture[edit]

Religion[edit]

The Sandía are a deeply religious people. Early reports discuss devotion to santos, or effigies of saints, a syncretic phenomenon common throughout the Southwest.

Though nominally Catholic, they preserve many of their pre-Catholic traditions. Their feast day, a tradition common to most Pueblo people, is celebrated yearly on June 13, the feast day of St. Anthony. This feast, or fiesta, as it is called, is open to the public. Music and dance are big parts of the ceremony, and it is considered an honor to participate.^[7]

They use the mountain as their official symbol.

Sandia Casino Rat Packs

Language[edit]

Today, English is the common language of the Pueblo, although it is sprinkled with Southern Tiwa and Spanish words and expressions. Older generations speak Southern Tiwa, Spanish, and English, but younger generations have reportedly not preserved linguistic traditions as well as their elders.

Many Spanish words incorporated into common usage, such as horno (Spanish for 'oven') and bosque (Spanish for 'woods'), are now pronounced with an 'American' accent. (Horno, referring to the ceramic outdoor oven still in common use, is pronounced ['hor no] (cf. Spanish ['or no]), and bosque is pronounced ['bas ki] (cf. Spanish ['bos ke]).

At Sandía, Southern Tiwa is still used in music, ceremony, and daily life.

References[edit]

1. ^Census 2010 American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File (AIANSF) - Sample Data, Pueblo of Sandia alone (H56)
2. ^Stanley, Francis (1968). The Sandia New Mexico Story. Pep, Texas: P.O. Box 11. p. 3. OCLC2783530.
3. ^Cox, Ramsey (12 March 2014). 'Senate passes bill giving Pueblo Indians forest land'. The Hill. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
4. ^'History of Sandia Pueblo'. Sandia Pueblo website. Pueblo of Sandia. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
5. ^Hackett, Charles Wilson (1970). Revolt of the Pueblo Indians. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
6. ^'Government'. Sandia Pueblo website. Sandia Pueblo. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
7. ^Sweet, Jill Drayson (2004). Dances of the Tewa Pueblo Indians: expressions of new life. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. ISBN1-930618-29-8.

External links[edit]

• Sandia Pueblo, official site
• Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico United States Census Bureau