Las Vegas Weekly

November 19, 2009 · 2:58 PM

Lawsuits fly as Hackett’s show brings back The Rat Pack’s legacy

By Robin Leach

Sandy Hackett.

Photo: Courtesy

A tale of treachery and the horrific history of a lengthy legal battle lay behind tonight’s opening of Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show in the legendary Congo Room at the Sahara, known as the last of The Rat Pack hotels. It’s a fresh, exciting take on the comedic and musical legacy of the veteran Las Vegas institution.

Sandy, who stars as the comic catalyst Joey Bishop to the famed Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, is the son of legendary comic Buddy Hackett. Sandy even has a tape from his late father introducing the show.

As a kid, Sandy hung out with The Rat Pack during their heyday, as Buddy was a friend of the Pack, and Sandy knew Joey Bishop as Uncle Joey. The connection to the Congo Room where members of The Rat Pack performed is even stronger. Sandy’s Rat Pack show, which he wrote, produced and directed, made its debut in the late 1990s at the showroom before going on tour across America.

It winds up full circle tonight with Frank played by David DeCosta, mega-talented Doug Starks as Sammy and newcomer Tony Basile in the role of Dean. “This is a wonderful homecoming for my dad who worked on the Strip for 50 years, and myself,” said Sandy.

For a dozen years, Sandy also produced his Talent Showcase at the Sahara in the Casbar Theater Lounge, helping shine the spotlight on such then-rising stars as Howie Mandel and Andrew Dice Clay.

Sahara Vice President Bill Tremper commented: “It’s the work of entertainers like Buddy Hackett, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Frank Sinatra that have made not only the Sahara but Vegas itself what it is today. We are excited and honored to pay tribute to these legends of Las Vegas.”

Sandy told me: “Over a decade ago, Joey Bishop called me and asked me to portray him. I felt an honor and a pride that’s never gone away. He personally passed the torch. I feel as though I am now the keeper of the flame. What a gift, what a privilege.”

However, a rival producer, Dick Feeney, is fighting Sandy in court over the show, claiming he paid $40,000 for Sandy’s share of the show they both presented at the downtown Plaza Hotel. Feeney also is battling a court appeal to a U.S. District Court ruling that says The Rat Pack is a generic phrase not exclusive to his trademarked show title downtown.

So behind the scenes of tonight’s laughter is a nasty copyright infringement battle over Sandy’s show that has run for more than seven years. Sandy says he was “terminated” by his former partner from the very show he created and also says it exploits his creation without permission, thus resulting in fraud, breach of contract and misappropriation of Sandy’s right of publicity.

Sandy was the production’s writer, producer and director and played Joey in the other show, and assumes the same duties in his new show but producing this time with his wife, singer-songwriter Lisa Dawn Miller.

Attorney Howard E. King, who filed Sandy’s lawsuit, said: “Sandy wrote the script and created the show. Sandy is the registered owner of the copyright in the manuscript for the production, the creator of the characters and author of the dialogue created after his copyright registration. He is the author of the play. Feeney cannot discard Sandy while keeping the fruits of his labors and creativity. The lawsuit seeks damages from those who have deprived Sandy of his interest in the show.”

We’ll have our interview with Sandy and Lisa next week now that their new production is settling into the Sahara tonight.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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