Lauren Bacall and Frank Sinatra at the opening of Noel Coward’s nightclub engagement at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, June 1955. Though Lauren’s husband Humphrey Bogart was still alive at this point (he died on January 14th, 1957 at the age of 57), he didn’t mind if she traveled with their friends to attend an event in another locale if he was busy working on a film (he also found the bright lights and flashy Vegas lifestyle a bit overwhelming). Bogie and Bacall often hosted Sinatra at their Mapleton Drive home in Los Angeles during the difficult final years of his marriage to Ava Gardner, welcoming him for a drink and a chat if the light above their front door was on in the evening (their private signal that they were accepting guests). Lauren later wrote in her 1978 autobiography By Myself that Bogart sensed Sinatra was attracted to her, but she claimed to have no interest in him at the time beyond friendship. Following Humphrey Bogart’s death, Lauren and Frank began dating and were engaged for a time in 1958, breaking up very acrimoniously and prompting Bacall at one point to say: “I wish Frank Sinatra would just shut up and sing!” Both strong-willed, easily irritated, and capable of carrying long grudges, the former lovebirds refused to speak to each other for two decades afterwards until their mutual frostiness thawed and they were able to be courteous to one another if they had a random encounter at a celebrity event in their later years. Fun Fact: The Bogarts, their neighbors Judy Garland and her husband Sid Luft and Sinatra were the founding members of The Rat Pack, a group originally formed to thumb their nose at snobby Hollywood social circles who disapproved of their late-night shenanigans (Lauren was officially designated “Den Mother”). The Rat Pack later evolved into something entirely different following Bogie’s passing when Sinatra took it with him to Vegas and added his friends to the group, transforming it into an unofficial stage troupe that included Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and comedian Joey Bishop (among others).
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