Rat Pack relations), Swifty Lazar (recording secretary and treasurer), Nathaniel Benchley (historian), David Niven, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, and Jimmy Van Heusen. In his autobiography "The Moon's a Balloon", David Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but neither Sammy Davis, Jr. nor Dean Martin. The 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, Buddy Greco, and Shirley MacLaine were often referred to as the "Rat Pack Mascots". The post-Bogart version of the group (Bogart died in 1957)
Frank Sinatra artists were promised creative control over their music, as well as a guarantee that they would eventually gain "complete ownership of their work, including publishing rights." Under Sinatra the company developed into a music industry "powerhouse", and he later sold it for an estimated $80million. His first album on the label, "Ring-a-Ding-Ding!" (1961), was a major success, peaking at No.4 on "Billboard". The album was released in February 1961, the same month that Reprise Records released Ben Webster's "The Warm Moods", Sammy Davis, Jr.'s "The Wham of Sam", Mavis River's "Mavis" and Joe E. Lewis's "It is Now Post Time".