HispanicBusiness

American Idol contestants will be doing standards made popular by the Rat Pack tonight. You know, the classic Rat Pack line-up, the version with Dean-o, Frankie, and Sammy.

Oh, sorry, let's try this again: for you youngsters, that's Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. Sure, there were other iterations of the group, and other members, but when you're talking that sweet spot where music meets cool -- as, of course they are on AI -- that's the only version that matters. Together, these guys helped usher in a new era of entertainment.

While we suffer no illusions that the Idol finalists will have the kind of cultural impact that the Rat Packers did, we're sure curious to see how the likes of Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, and Matt Giraud pay tribute to the iconic crooners. We're especially curious to see what the mature-sounding 17-year-old Allison Iraheta does tonight, both as the only female contestant and the one born farthest from the Rat Pack's era of prominence.

Of course, with the age limit of American Idol at 28, there's a good chance the contestants themselves won't know much about the icons whose dazzle they are trying to channel. So let's provide them a crib sheet.

Known as "the clan," the rat pack was first used to describe the circle of Hollywood friends who surrounded Humphrey Bogart. Ironically, he is not considered an official member.

That distinction belongs to an irreverent quintuplet: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.

Most likely, even your average twenty-something knows about Sinatra, the crooner of such hits as "New York, New York." Sinatra's legendary film career garnered four Academy Awards; his musical career that netted about a dozen Grammy Awards.

Martin, meanwhile, also was an actor and singer, but of a grittier variety. Aside from pumping out hit singles such as "Everybody Loves Somebody," he was known for his womanizing and alleged alcoholism. Even more scandalously, a biographer also alleged that he was launched into fame through connections with the Mafia.

Davis was the son of a black father, who worked in the entertainment industry, and a Puerto Rican mother, who was a tap dancer. Davis melded the two talents, and became a sensation. A Jewish convert, Davis wasn't one to rock the boat too much on race relations -- for many years he was required to room in a separate quarters from his mates in Vegas -- but he did raise objections to the use of the term "clan" to describe the group, saying it reminded him of the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra thus began referring to the group as the "Summit," but the media always preferred "Rat Pack."

Lawford is perhaps best known for being the brother-in-law to President John F. Kennedy. Lawford's acting career took off with the 1942 hit A Yank at Eton, in which he co-starred with Mickey Rooney. Like Martin, Lawford had a tendency to womanize and drink. As a result, in 1966, Patricia Kennedy divorced him. He was married three more times before his death in 1984 at age 61.

Bishop, a comedian, was the longest-surviving member of the Rat Pack, and died at age 89 in October of 2007. He starred in a sit-com called The Joey Bishop Show, which ran for four seasons in the early 1960s.

He is known for his frequent appearances as guest host of the Johnny Carson show.