On stage at New York's Copacabana, fast thinking comic Joey Bishop was wearing a glitzy white ermine coat when Marilyn Monroe arrived. Joey laughed loudly, "I told you to sit in the truck."
Every young stand-up comedian dreamed of being Joey at the height of his popularity in the 1960s, but his career suffered fast follow-up. Joey was back performing nightclubs in his 50s.
Early in the 1950s, Frank Sinatra invited Joey to open for him, so marking his first major break from birth in the Bronx. "He performed a scowling comic act. William J. Birnes, co-author of Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, the Mob and the Summit, says he bellyached about things in a funny way. Joey traveled to Las Vegas in 1960 for an event labeled the Summit with Frank, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford. The actors would film Ocean's 11 during the day and present two shows at the Sands casino later on. The show was a big hit, making Las Vegas the nation's entertainment center and giving the group the Rat Pack moniker.