Bishop was droll and much loved

The droll voice on the telephone should have registered, but who expects Joey Bishop to call out of the blue.

It was Dec. 12, 2001, on what would have been Frank Sinatra's 85th birthday, and Bishop, the last surviving member of the Rat Pack, was saying how much he appreciated being remembered.

I had mentioned him in a Sinatra birthday blurb that morning, and his old pal Sonny King, the Las Vegas lounge legend, had passed it along.

Bishop couldn't have been more of a gentleman, even when I pressed my luck by turning a thank-you call into an interview (no regrets on that one).

He fielded every question, from how he met Frank Sinatra to the Rat Pack years.

"In 1951, I was working in the Latin Quarter in New York. Frank was seeing some chick who was working there. He came in and saw my act. He was working at Bill Miller's Riviera (in Fort Lee, N.J.)," said Bishop.

That was the start of the Sinatra connection and it didn't hurt that every future member of the Rat Pack also worked the Riviera in Jersey.

His first gig in Las Vegas? "The El Rancho. I think Sammy (Davis Jr.) was working there at the time when he had his accident and lost his eye. I recall I pinch-hit for him that night."

Sinatra's Rat Pack included Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Davis and Bishop. "Ad libbing was my forte," said Bishop, who provided many of the punch lines when the guys started sharing the stage at the Sands, where Bishop worked for decades.

"That's where the fun came from, that's what made the Rat Pack. I gave Dean his opening line: 'Good evening, how long have I been out here?' I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was."

In the process, they lifted entertainment and Las Vegas to a new level.

They were so hot that President-elect John F. Kennedy asked Sinatra to put together the entertainment for the 1961 inauguration.

"I emceed it and Frank produced it," recalled Bishop.

The next time I called Bishop, he was cranky from a longstanding back problem. And the topic of conversation didn't make him any perkier.

With shooting for the remake of "Ocean's Eleven" getting ready to start in Las Vegas, I called to get his take.

He was not happy that "some no-name actors -- whoever heard of these guys" -- could cash in on the Rat Pack's fame from a film made 40 years earlier.

"If I sound pissed off, it's because I don't understand how this can keep happening," he groused.

I called Peggy King, Sonny's widow, on Thursday after hearing the news that Bishop had died Wednesday at age 89 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif.

Sonny opened for Bishop for a number of years, including his last show in Las Vegas in 1989. Sonny died on Joey's birthday, Feb. 3, 2006.

"About six years ago, we were down there (Newport Beach) and they got up and started doing their act in Joey's living room. It was Joey who got Sonny to bring the comedy out (and perfected his lounge act)," Peggy said.

She saw Bishop a month ago.

"He was adorable. He was wearing a gray velvetine jacket and he looked so debonair," she said.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

After weeks of rumors, it became official Thursday: "The Beauty of Magic," starring illusionist Hans Klok and Pamela Anderson as his magician's assistant, is closing Dec. 8 at Planet Hollywood Resort.

MAY I RECOMMEND...

Andre Agassi will be honored at Rino Armeni's sixth Epicurean Charitable Foundation Las Vegas fundraiser tonight at Mandalay Bay Beach. The rock group Chicago will be performing. Proceeds fund four scholarships each year for hospitality students who don't have the financial means. Tickets start at $500. Ticket information: 932-5098 or via e-mail at info@ecflv.org.

SIGHTINGS

Colorado Rockies slugger Matt Holliday, celebrating at Tao (Venetian) with friends on Wednesday. ... Harrah's headliner Rita Rudner, catching breakfast at Hash House A Go Go on Thursday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"If you would like to find out if you are related to Dick Cheney, there's a very simple test. Here's what you do. You go out to a shooting range, and if you can't tell the difference between a lawyer and a quail ... you could be related." -- Jay Leno

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.