Joey's father believed in strict discipline and Joey could catch a hiding for the slightest thing, maybe contributing to his straight and narrow lifestyle compared to his fellow Rat Packers. He met up with a couple of local kids when still young and formed a comic, singing and dancing act and coaxed a coloured kid from the area to drive them around, but only on the condition they used his surname for their stage names, they were known as the Bishop trio, a name Joey would use for the rest of his career.
He married a girl from Chicago, Sylvia Ruzga, whose first words to him were "you're not funny". For the next four years he served in the American army in the special services division. Joey was spotted by a musician Russ Carlyle who invited Joey to perform during the intervals in his act, his act went down well and was kept on for a couple of years. By 1949 he was earning a $1000 a week, but his luck was about to change big time. A dinner was being held at the Friars Club in honour of Frank Sinatra and Frank loved Joey's act and took him on to perform with him in his shows. Finally Joey had hit the big time and started playing the big casino's in Vegas. He appeared in three films in 1958, he also appeared in quiz shows and also got a slot on “The Tonight Show” as Jack Paar's sidekick and coined the phrase "son of a gun".
By 1959 Joey was the emcee for the Rat Pack and was starring in the Summit shows in Vegas at the Sands Hotel. In 1960 Frank got him a part in "Oceans 11" and continued to open for the Rat Pack, but he shunned the party scene the others loved, people also started to ask what's Joey Bishop doing with the Rat Pack?. His lifestyle didn’t seem to fit in, he was the black sheep of the group – and that’s the way he liked it.
Joey was the hard working and conservative Jewish man who was very loyal to his wife and child. The Rat Pack were known for their parties, broads and booze, however, with Joey, this was not the case. He wasn’t a playboy like the rest of the members were or were stereotyped as being. Joey didn’t cheat on his wife, drink excessively or have late nights. He preferred instead to spend time with his family, or have an early night.
In Vegas, the Rat Pack shows were unpredictable. One star may have been billed, and then the others would be in the audience and join the star on stage. Joey was often supposedly on stage for a solo act, but was rapidly joined by his fellow packers, first as onlookers then participants. Joey often joked that, “You have to go through the Bishop to get to the Pope (the leader Frank) What most people don’t realize is that Joey was the architect of all Rat Pack stage craft. He is an extremely talented ad lib writer, and scripted the entire shows and ad libbing on stage to give the act that fresh adrenalin feeling.
"Segeants 3" was his final appearance with Frank. The comedian was abruptly dropped from the circle after a disagreement that saw him dropped from the movie "Robin and the Seven Hoods" and performing with Sinatra and the Summit shows. In 1967 he got his own late night chat show which was to run for two years before it was dropped, but he still made regular appearances on “The Late Show” and quiz shows, but the golden years were behind him and he decided he'd had enough of Hollywood and moved to Florida and spent his days golfing and fishing. Joey owned two small boats and named them "son of a gun1" and "son of a gun 2".
Joey Bishop - The Man Behind The Laughs