There’s all kinds of laughter here, in situations expected and unexpected. In one photo Bob Hope cracks up a few of his fellow entertainers, and himself, as he tries out material before hosting the Academy Awards. But you also see general Douglas MacArthur cackling with glee the day after the successful invasion of Inchon. Whatever prompted MacArthur’s laughter in that moment, the relief following the previous day’s assault had to have been a factor.

Humphrey Bogart laughs more gleefully in a photo from the set of The African Queen than he was known to do when playing any of his memorably hard-bitten characters. Frank Sinatra, while hanging out with friends in a Miami hotel room, laughs so hard at a joke told by his pal and opening act Joe E. Lewis that the singer was literally rolling on floor laughing.

One of the more frequent celebrity laughers in the LIFE archives is Sophia Loren, represented here with three photos. No small part of the icon’s appeal is that, among her other virtues, she seemed to enjoy where life had taken her.

Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Bob Hope and David Niven laughed at a Cold War-era Russian joke from Hope during a break from rehearsals for Academy Awards show at the RKO Pantages theater, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Singer Billy Eckstine (right) having some backstage laughs with his ex-boss, orchestra leader Earl Hines (center) and trumpeter Louis Armstrong backstage, 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shuttetstock

Warren Beatty with Natalie Wood at the 1962 Academy Awards ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Broadway producer Kermit Bloomgarden with Marilyn Monroe in her Manhattan apartment, 1958.

Robert W. Kelley/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Humphrey Bogart laughed while on location for the filming of The African Queen along the Ruki River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1951.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

(left to right) George Jessel, Dean Martin, and Jack Benny at a Friars Club dinner for Dean Martin, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Elton John (right) sharing a laugh with his mother Shelia (left) and stepfather Fred Fairebrother (center) in their apartment, 1971.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lyndon B. Johnson (left) and running mate Hubert Humphrey enjoying a laugh at Johnson’s ranch after their landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

General Douglas MacArthur (center), slapped Vice Admiral Struble (left) on the knee while laughing gleefully the day after the invasion of Inchon, 1950.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy played with their children, April 30, 1957.

Paul Schutzer/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren with her husband Carlo Ponti on a boating trip off of Naples, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughing while exchanging jokes during lunch break on a movie set, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughed about her guitar-playing ability with her secretary Ines Bruscia beside her, 1964.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dick Clark on his TV show the “American Bandstand” in 1958.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American generals George S. Patton (left) and Omar Bradley (center) and British general Bernard Law Montgomery (right) laughed while discussing strategy and the progress of the campaign in France, July 7, 1944.

Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. laughed over dinner with his wife, Swedish actress May Britt.

Leonard McCombe/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rolling Stone band members Mick Jagger (left) and Keith Richards shared a laugh.

DMI

Nancy Reagan and her husband, then California Governor Ronald Reagan, walked behind Dean Martin and Phyllis Diller, California, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A rare laugh from somber Kim Novak greeted a joke by Otto Preminger, who visited Kim while she was in New York. She had great fondness and respect for Preminger, who directed her in The Man With the Golden Arm and put her genuinely at ease.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Alan Shepard laughs with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom (right) and Deke Slayton upon his arrival at Grand Bahama Island, shortly after his successful flight and splashdown, May 1961.

Paul Schutzer The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Harry Belafonte laughed during Bop City nightclub’s opening night, 1949.

Martha Holmes/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a Miami hotel room Frank Sinatra fell off his chair howling at a joke told by his opening act and longtime friend, comedian Joe E. Lewis, 1965.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Laughing With the Stars appeared first on LIFE.

When Cooper died of cancer at the age of 60 on May 13, 1961, some identified it right away as the end of an era. LIFE’s issue of May 26, 1961 quoted the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera as saying, “Perhaps with him there is ended a certain America…that of the frontier and of innocence which had or was believed to have an exact sense of the dividing line between good and evil.”

Cooper’s funeral, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, brought out Hollywood royalty. Actor John Wayne, who LIFE called in its report on the funeral “Coop’s successor as dean of cowboys,” attended with his wife. The pallbearers included good friends Jack Benny and Jimmy Stewart. It was Stewart who, at the Academy Awards several weeks prior, had accepted a lifetime achievement award on the behalf of the ailing Cooper. In his acceptance speech Stewart, nearly breaking up at one point, said, “Coop, I’ll get this to you right away. And Coop, I want you to know this, that with this goes all the warm friendship and the affection and the admiration and the deep, the deep respect of all of us. We’re very, very proud of you, Coop. All of us are tremendously proud.”

Cooper’s memorial was also attended by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Those leading lights of the Rat Pack had hosted a dinner for Cooper in January 1961 at the Friar’s Club. Bob Hope came to the church to pay his respects to Cooper, as did Marlene Dietrich, who had costarred with Cooper in the 1930 films Morocco and Desire. Alec Guinness, Karl Malden, Dinah Shore, Rosalind Russell, and many others were in attendance as well.

LIFE’s tribute to Cooper, which was headlined “Hollywood Mourns a Good Man,” ran for eight pages. The story on his life and career included an anecdote about the actor’s surprising encounter with a very different icon of his day, Cubist painter Pablo Picasso. “When Cooper met Pablo Picasso in France, he said `You’re a hell of a guy, but I really don’t get the pictures. The great artist was delighted.`That doesn’t matter,’ Picasso said. “If you really want to do something for me, get me one of those hats you wear in the movies.” Picasso (who got the hat and sent Cooper a painting) was not alone in being charmed by Cooper’s directness and his refusal to be what he was not.”

Most photos of LIFE’s photos of Cooper’s funeral focused on the mourners, but some showed the crowd. While some onlookers were no doubt attracted by the celebrities, many look as if they too were lamenting the passing of the actor who personified the strong, silent type.

Funeral services for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

J.R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

John Wayne and wife arrived for funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin (left) arrived at the funeral service for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Bob Hope arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Alec Guinness (center) and Karl Malden (back left) arrived at church for funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Marlene Dietrich arrived at funeral services for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Rosalind Russell and her husband, producer Frederick Brisson, arrived at church for the funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Singer Dinah Shore arrived at the funeral service for actor Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961,

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart (right) and Jack Benny (two behind Stewart) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jack Benny (back left) and Jimmy Stewart (back, right) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at Gary Cooper’s funeral, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart (back left) and Jack Benny (front left) were among the friends who served as pallbearers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Photographers and police at the funeral for Gary Cooper, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Onlookers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Onlookers at the funeral of Gary Cooper, Los Angeles 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Veronica Balfe, widow of Gary Cooper, arrived at his funeral, Los Angeles, 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Saying Farewell to a “Strong, Silent” Star: The Funeral of Gary Cooper appeared first on LIFE.

Many take the broad approach, of course. The Three Stooges, for example, appear in their photos with eyes popping, arms akimbo and so forth. The masters of slapstick rode that shtick into the hearts of comedy-loving children for generations.

But there are other ways to get a laugh. Look at Bob Hope for example. His expressions in this photos capture his signature style: he is smart, aware, amused by it all. He was funny in large part because of how he reacted to what was going on about him.

You could say the same for Jacques Tati, the adored French comedian who came to New York in 1958 for a movie premiere and brought a LIFE photographer along to for a day of his distinct version of clowning as he moved about the city, in a befuddled battle with the modern world (including modern art, when he stops by MoMA).

Phil Silvers is the impish trickster, always working a hustle, and he did in his most beloved character, Sergeant Bilko.

Phyllis Diller, it becomes clear in her pictures, was really ahead of her time, and not just because of she was a pioneering figure for female stand-up comedians. In the photos of her with a giant mink and with her preposterous collections, she looks like she was parodying the Kardashians a half-century before their show came on the air.

Another lesson to take from this collection is that while comedy can be heavily verbal, so much of a performer’s particular style and wit can come through in a still photograph. Consider the picture of photos of Ernie Kovacs, the inventive and influential satirist who was the subject of a 1957 LIFE cover story. The photos include a staged shot of Kovacs eating dinner with his family, with everyone, and especially his wife Edie, looking quite distant and miserable. In another photo Kovacs and Edie are in bed together, watching separate televisions, in another subversion of expectation. No canned versions of domestic bliss here, although the caption for that photo did quote Kovacs as saying, “Edie’s never said `Get that cigar out of here before I tear your arm off,'” and for that I am grateful….I love her for that.”

And in a postscript note: the search for photos of comedy legends showed a surprising number of photos in which they were dancing: Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Lewis—even Johnny Carson tries out some steps on stage with soul legend James Brown. Jack Benny’s body language shows a physical grace as he entertains the troops. Perhaps it’s a throwback to when the comedy world’s proving grounds were vaudeville rather than standup or Saturday Night Live. Whatever a case, some of these the old-time funny people knew how to move.

Bob Hope during the rehearsals for the 1958 Academy Awards.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Hope, 1962.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Hope on the set of the 1958 television movie version of Roberta.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian Bob Hope (left) with Soupy Sales (second from right) and Shirley MacLaine, their faces covered with remnants of cream pies, 1962.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Milton Berle joke slayed Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, and publicist Warran Cowan. “Show Miltie a curtain, he takes a bow,'” said Dean.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Bob Hope with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1950

Howard Sochurek The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Three Stooges performed a skit, 1959.

Michael Rougier The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Three Stooges performed a skit, 1959.

Michael Rougier The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Pickle Queen posed with the Three Stooges during National Pickle Week, 1949.

Francis Miller The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian Phil Silvers, in the character of Sgt. Bilko, shuffling cards on his television show.

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gracie Allen and George Burns, 1958. On the wall behind them is a photo of the pair, in a similar pose, from their days as vaudeville performers.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Actor George Burns (R) and actor Jack Benny (L) rehearsed a scene on the George Burns Show, 1958.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Entertainer Jack Benny performed bits for troops stationed in Korea, 1951.

Michael Rougier/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Jack Benny and Carol Burnett in a comedy skit, 1962.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The Marx Brothers–(Fore L-R) Harpo, Chico, Groucho and (Rear L-R) Zeppo and Gummo), 1938.

Peter Stackpole/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comedian Martha Raye, rehearsing for her TV show, 1954

Michael Rougier/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Martha Raye rehearsed for her TV show with boxer Rocky Graziano, 1954.

Michael Rougier/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comedian Martha Raye on her TV show, 1954

Michael Rougier/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comedian Dick Gregory, 1961.

Robert W. Kelley/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Bob Newhart in 1961.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Peter Sellers, played the piano at home with his wife, Britt Ekland, in Beverly Hills, 1964.

Allan Grant The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Actor Flip Wilson took his Rolls Royce on a road trip, 1972.

John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment, 1960.

Grey Villet The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French actor Jacques Tati in New York City, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

French actor Jacques Tati looked at the high ceiling of a New York City lobby, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jacques Tati examined a sculpture by Max Ernst at the Museum of Modern Art, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mike Nichols and Elaine May doing skit on recent TV scandals during “Fabulous Fifties” TV special, 1960.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comic Ernie Kovacs having dinner at home with his wife, Edie Adams, and his two daughters by a previous marriage, 1958.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Barbara Loden had her face made up for spoof of a cosmetics ad to appear for an Ernie Kovacs special, with a TV filter helping to complete the gag, 1958.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comic Ernie Kovacs at home in bed watching twin TV sets with his wife Edie Adams, 1958. Kovacs remarked, “Edie’s never said `Get that cigar out of here before I tear your arm off,'” and for that I am grateful….I love her for that.”

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures, Shutterstock

Phyllis Diller, wearing a fox fur coat and high-heeled half boots, is picked up by a driver sent by her husband at the St. Louis airport, April 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Phyllis Diller sits amid a large collection of hat boxes in the basement of her St. Louis home, 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Phyllis Diller read the names of the well-known (including Frank Sinatra, Vic Damone and the Vagabonds) and the not so well-known on a wall after circling her own name (center), 1963.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Entertainer Jackie Gleason (C) executing his famous How Aweet It Is dance wlhile the chorus girls are taking a bow behind him, 1953.

Lisa Larsen/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Actors Jackie Gleason (L) and Gene Kelly (C) casually tap dancing Ed Sullivan during visit to Gleason’s studio, 1967

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Singer James Brown (R) teaching talk show host Johnny Carson how to dance, 1967.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show, 1967.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Johnny Carson in his Manhattan apartment, 1967.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Johnny Carson and his Tonight Show cohost Ed McMahon, 1967.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Rodney Dangerfield (left) and Joan Rivers (right) wrapped up Dick Cavett in a scene from Portnoy’s Complaint, 1969.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Comedian Henry Youngman (left) in a steam cabinet in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Henry Youngman drying out after steam bath in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Funny Faces: LIFE’s Classic Stars of Comedy appeared first on LIFE.

In 1958 when the pictures in this gallery were made, Dino—while famous as one-half of the Martin & Lewis comedy duo—had not yet crossed over into superstardom. But he was certainly enough of a draw that LIFE magazine devoted a photo-filled seven-page feature to the man they dubbed “Make-a-Million Martin.”

[To] his skillfully used musical and comedy talents, he adds an ebullience that pervades everything he does. . . . Uninhibited, spry of mind and muscle, he maintains a state of relaxation that “makes Perry Como look like a nervous wreck.”

Keeping carefree appears to be the common denominator of the many Martins — showman, businessman, prankster, family man, self-styled hell-raiser and Hollywood social lion. In each role he works hard at making hard work look easy.

Here LIFE pays tribute to one of show business’ enduring, and most laid-back, superstars.

Dean Martin swung a golf club in order to stay loose on the set of the film Some Came Running, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. visited Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra on the set of Some Came Running, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., 1958

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin with Shirley MacLaine, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin listened to music at home, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin in the steam room, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

After a steam bath, Dean dined on beef and beer before his Sands act. With him are songsmith Sammy Cahn (seated) and helper Mack Gray.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin, 1958

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin charged onto stage, followed by Frank Sinatra, at a performance by Judy Garland. To make amends for heckling Garland from the audience, they contributed their talents to the show.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin on stage, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin, 1958

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin hosted a dinner at his Hollywood Dino’s Lodge restaurant. The menu before guest Edith Adams had been altered by her husband, TV’s Ernie Kovacs.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin advised Jimmy Van Huesen (foreground), Johnny Grant (left), Leo and Mrs. Durocher that the dinner would be “on separate checks.”

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin took a turn running a Sands roulette wheel. He pushed chips to a winner, telling her, “Either take it or get out of here.”

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin signed autographs, Las Vegas, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin with his wife, Jeanne, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin at home with his wife, Jeanne, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean inspected his daughter Claudia’s hair. ‘Comb it with a broom?” he asked.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young Dino flexed for his father, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pop’s perplexity was registered as Gina strolled pensively in shoes large enough for two.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin at home, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Poker pals at Martin’s home included (clockwise from Dean at left) agent Jerry Gershwin, Tony Curtis, Milton Berle, Ernie Kovacs with 85-cent cigar, and director Billy Wilder.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin gave his son Dino a kiss and a dish of ice cream. “Eat it, it comes on the dinner,” said Dean.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Milton Berle joke slayed Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, and publicist Warran Cowan. “Show Miltie a curtain, he takes a bow,'” said Dean.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dean Martin with his wife, Jeanne, at home, 1958.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE magazine, Dec. 22, 1958.

LIFE magazine, Dec. 22, 1958.

LIFE magazine, Dec. 22, 1958.

LIFE magazine, Dec. 22, 1958.

The post Dean Martin: Rare and Classic Photos of a Laid-Back Legend appeared first on LIFE.

“Forget the movie, let’s pull the job!”

That, legend has it, is what Frank Sinatra joked upon hearing the plot for Ocean’s 11, the 1960 Vegas heist flick that went on to become the Rat Pack’s signature big-screen adventure.

It’s no wonder Sinatra and his kindred crew of high-living, hard-drinking, skirt-chasing buddies, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., especially, were gassed to make such a movie: just like their characters, they loved a good caper. From the late ’50s until they began to splinter apart in the mid-’60s, they were showbiz’s unrivaled kings of swing, quick-with-a-quip cats who could swagger into any joint from the Sands to Sardi’s and make it the most.

[Buy the LIFE book, The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys.]

LIFE magazine’s photographers trailed the Pack through those smoky, magical years, coming away with priceless material for some of the best celebrity photo-essays the magazine ever ran. But of the thousands of shots taken, many were never published until now. Here, in celebration of sharkskin sits, Scotch on the rocks, smoke-filled rooms and fedoras tilted just so, LIFE presents a slew of rare photos of the Rat Pack, together and apart, during their boozy heyday.

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin took a cigarette break during the recording of Sleep Warm in 1958.

Allan Grant Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin smoked a cigarette beside his dressing room door backstage before his performance in Las Vegas in 1958.

Allan Grant Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin shared a light moment in the recording studio, 1958.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra at the Sands Hotel and Casino, where he sang with the Count Basie Band in 1964. Out of that landmark collaboration came the great live album Sinatra at the Sands.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra and Joe E. Lewis walked through the kitchen to get to the stage at the Eden Roc Resort in Miami in 1958.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. ate spaghetti in his backstage dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. “My only contact with reality,” he told LIFE. “Whatever I’m doing, I stop to watch these guys.” Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. visited Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin at MGM Studios, where the duo were making Some Came Running in 1958. The movie co-starred Rat Pack “mascot” Shirley MacLaine, who years later would affectionately describe her old friends as “primitive children who would put crackers in each other’s beds and dump spaghetti on new tuxedos.”

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin entertained on a narrow stage with couples dancing around him in 1958.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra offered a light in Sammy Davis Jr.’s Golden Boy dressing room in 1964. “It was six a.m. before the party got to Frank’s suite. But the evening was not over because Frank hadn’t said it was over. ‘Everybody have a little more gasoline,’ he ordered. Everybody did.” From “The Private World and Thoughts of Frank Sinatra,” LIFE’s classic photo-essay on the superstar, published in April 23, 1965

John Dominis/ Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. onstage during rehearsals for the Broadway musical Golden Boy, 1964.

Leonard McCombe/ Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Though he often joked about his race, Sammy Davis Jr. (here fiddling with a trumpet in 1964) was a serious, high-profile civil rights activist, and his refusal to play segregated venues helped lead to the integration of Miami nightclubs and Vegas casinos.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. clowned backstage during Golden Boy’s run in 1964. Davis once said, “As soon as I go out the front door of my house in the morning, I’m on, Daddy, I’m on! But when I’m with the group I can relax. We trust each other. We admire each other’s talent.”

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. rested on his side with a pillow on the floor of a New York City hotel room during the tour to preview Golden Boy in 1964.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. counted money backstage in Golden Boy, 1964. At the time he was being paid more than any Broadway star in history.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin had a massage at The Sands in Las Vegas, 1958. Said Martin once, “I can’t stand an actor or actress who tells me acting is hard work. It’s easy work. Anyone who says it isn’t never had to stand on his feet all day dealing blackjack.”

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra shaved in a steam room in Miami.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin tooled around the Warner Bros. lot while making 1965’s Marriage on the Rocks for the studio.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra cracked up during the Sleep Warm sessions in 1958.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra pretended to be drunk on stage for a charity event in 1960. After Martin fell, Sinatra put on a baseball cap and cried, “Safe!”

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post LIFE With the Rat Pack: Rare Photos of Frank, Dino and Sammy appeared first on LIFE.

But no mismatched duo in showbiz history so reliably or profitably convulsed eager-to-roar audiences as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the middle part of the 20th century. For ten years (in fact, for almost exactly ten years, from July 25, 1946, to late July 1956), Martin and Lewis performed their manic magic on nightclub stages, the radio, television and the silver screen.

Here, LIFE.com offers a series of photos by Ralph Morse, most of which never ran in LIFE magazine, of the berserk superstars at their most frantic, during a series of shows at New York’s Copacabana club in 1949.

With Martin playing his suave but jokey singer role to perfection and Lewis acting like a cross between a vaudevillian chimpanzee and a sugar-addled 8-year-old, the pair positively owned the entertainment world for the better part of a decade. In the early 1950s, especially, the two were nothing less than the most popular showbiz act in America, selling out theaters and legendary nightclubs, making hit movies and guest-starring on countless TV variety shows. They worked nonstop, with an act that drew much of its energy and its appeal from the fact that the two were very, very close friends. (They would famously fall out after the act broke up in 1956, and even more famously reconcile in later years, before Martin died in the mid-1990s.)

As LIFE told its readers in an August 1951 issue:

During a personal appearance tour to promote their newest movie, That’s My Boy, the young comedy team of Martin and Lewis made history inside and outside theaters in new York, Detroit and Chicago. The tour began at New York’s paramount Theater, where the comedians were guaranteed $50,000 a week plus 50% of the the theater’s profit over $100,000. This meant that rapid audience turnover was the key to a big take, but after their first show few patrons budged from their seats. Lewis finally got the happy fans out of the theater by advising them that the next performance (free) would be presented from the dressing-room window.

From that time on the comedians put on short alfresco acts after each stage show, and the ruse worked so well jamming traffic but emptying and refilling the house that they repeated it, sometimes in windows, sometimes on fire escapes, everywhere they went. Indoors or out, the kind of bedlam that distinguished their tour was wilder than anything provoked by Bob Hope at his zaniest or Frank Sinatra at his swooniest. Clowning outrageously, throwing themselves and their clothes about with maniacal energy, they broke up their audiences, broke all attendance records and nearly broke themselves down.

After four weeks Martin and Lewis had earned $260,000 in the theaters, establishing them as the highest paid act in show business… The comedians, who have been together five frantic years, already are planning more movies, more TV shows and more nightclub appearances. Asked why they bother when their income (the 1951 gross should reach $1.5 million) will go mostly for taxes), Lewis replies, “The government needs tanks.”

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Original caption: “At Copa, Martin (under hat) and Lewis (falling at right) barge in on quartet and end on the floor in late show called ‘3 A.M. Mayhem.'”

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the Copacabana, 1949.

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Martin and Lewis: Rare and Classic Photos of Madcap Comedy Stars appeared first on LIFE.