delanceyplace.com 1/20/12 - the girls who hung around the rat pack, hoping

• 0 COMMENTS

In today's excerpt - the young women of the early 1960s who wanted to gain the attention and favors of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the other members and attendants of the Rat Pack. In spite of the hopes of these women, they rarely gained the attention of the Rat Pack, and when they did, it was usually only for a short, sexual moment in the whirl that accompanied the Rat Pack celebrity:

"Like the food at a party, flashy girls come in a variety of shades and sizes, but it's always the same variety. They are presented as 'actresses,' that's the standard line whether they are starlets or hookers. In New York, the term is model." - Judith Campbell Exner

"The women, who didn't seem to mind being referred to as 'broads,' sat up straight with their legs crossed and little expectant smiles on their carefully made-up faces. They sipped white wine, smoked, and eyed the men, laughing at every joke. . . . A long time would pass before any of the women dared to speak, then under the main male conversation they talked about their cats, or where they bought their clothes; but more than half an ear was always with the men, just in case. As hours passed, the women, neglected in their chairs, drooped; no longer listening, no longer laughing." - Mia Farrow

"Could they see women as real beings with needs and intelligence? Did they ever communicate on a fulfilling level? I was secretly grateful that I didn't really see them as potential lovers. Had anything like that developed, I would have been in real trouble." - Shirley MacLaine

"It seemed to me that the married men were worse than the single ones. They were always looking, always hunting. You'd see them at par­ties with different girls and every once in a while you'd see them at a party with their wives. As far as I was concerned, I had made up my mind that if I got married again, I'd have to accept the fact that my husband would cheat." - Judith Campbell Exner