Monday, August 31, 2020

DEAN MARTIN – Mr. Nice Guy.


Alan Royle
Hey pallies, likes welcome back for yet 'nother wonderful week of liftin' up the life, times, and teachin's of our most beloved Dino here at our humble little ilovedinomartin waterin' hole.
Today we are once 'gain totally totally thrilled to share more Dino-adulation of the international source as we hear from historian Alan Royle at his powerful pad, "Historical Move Info, Movie Trivia, Fascinating  Hollywood Facts."

Mr. Royle hails from Fremantle, Western Australia where he was born and has now returned to upon his retirement.  Alan has swankly scribed a noteworthy number of valiant  volumes and if you click on the tag of this Dino-gram and then click on the tab "My Books" you came view them.  Let it be sweetly stated that Royle's credentials are top shelf!

Likes today we deeply delighted to share Alan's supreme salute to our one and only Dino,  "DEAN MARTIN – Mr. Nice Guy."   As all youse Dino-philes will see below, it is an incredible intro  to our Dino with potent pixs and perfectly powerful prose.   Royle hits many of the Dino-highs includin' his partnership with Mr. Jerry Lewis; a nod to our Dino's boypallie, his beloved Dino Martin, Jr.; his friendships with Mr. Frank Sinatra and Miss Marilyn Monroe; our Dino's fame and fortune on both t he big and small screen.

We shout out our absolute appreciato to Mr. Alan Royle for helpin' his remarkable readership
be drawn to growin' deeper and deeper in our most most most beloved Dino.

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters

btw, we're wonderin' how many of youse Dino-holics can point out the one error that Royle has made in his salute to the Matt Helm flicks?!?!?!?






DEAN MARTIN – Mr. Nice Guy.







Dino Crocetti was an Italian from Steubenville, Ohio, and Joseph Levitch was a Jewish boy from Newark, New Jersey, and nearly nine years his junior. From the moment they joined up in 1946 to form the comedy duo of Martin & Lewis they were a hit. Within three years they were in the movies; My Friend Irma (1949) and At War With the Army (1950) being their first, and on their way to screen superstardom. Together they were a terrific combination, Dean the straight man, good looking and possessed of a smooth, romantic singing voice, and Jerry the goofball comic, outrageous, physical and very funny. Together they would make 16 movies in eleven years, some hilarious, some much less so, but their vastly diverse personalities would ultimately drive them apart. And the biggest difference between the two men was apparent for all their acquaintances to see – ambition. Dean had scarcely any and Jerry had enough for twenty men.

Dean and Jerry pictures - Untitled Part 1 - Page 1 - Wattpad
the early days on radio
Almost from the very beginning it was Jerry who handled business. Dean wasn’t interested. When people came to him with a proposition, regardless of how lucrative it might appear, Dean’s standard response was, ‘Talk to the Jew.’ So they did. From 1949-53 the duo enjoyed weekly acclaim on NBC Radio with their own show, and it was Jerry who set up the 1950-55 Martin & Lewis Show on the Colgate Comedy Hour on US television when the medium was just finding its legs. A decade later (in 1965) Dean (alone) would commence a 19 year TV career with his own show that was enormously popular world-wide.

Martin and Lewis at the Copacabana, 1950
Headlining at the Copa
In his youth Dean boxed under his real name (36 fights, 25 wins). In other words he was OK, but that’s all, and he knew it. He told friends that he used to fight under the name of ‘Kid Crochet’, but there is no record of that, so it was probably just Dean poking fun at himself. He also delivered bootleg liquor, and ran numbers and crap games for hoodlums whenever he needed money. It was mobster Frank Costello who booked Dean and Jerry at his Copacabana Night Club in 1948, the night Sinatra saw their act for the first time. ‘The Dago’s lousy, but the little Jew is great,’ were Frank’s first impressions. Indeed, most of the duo’s early engagements were at mob joints. Jerry was initially unaware of this, but Dean knew most of these guys from the old days. Even when they moved from the east coast to California, they did so with financial backing from gangster Mickey Cohen.
Lucie & Desi Jr. on Pinterest | Desi Arnaz, Nu'est Jr and Lucille Ball
Dean’s son, Dean Paul Martin, revealed how his father nearly always had apple juice in his ‘booze’ glass when performing on stage with the ‘Rat Pack’ in Vegas, or on his highly successful television show, stating that his father could never have performed had he drank the liquor he seemed to be drinking. Known to his pals as Dino, Dean Junior formed a pop band called Dino, Desi & Billy that enjoyed some chart success in the sixties. Later, he  was briefly married to world figure skating champion Dorothy Hamill, but it ended in 1984. Tragically, Dino would die at just 35 when he flew his Phantom F-4 jet fighter into the San Bernardino Mountains during a snowstorm while serving in the National Guard in 1987. His devastated father never got over his death.
Dean & Frank
Dean and Frank Sinatra were close friends, despite Frank being something of a party animal and Dean, more often than not, happy to relax in his hotel suite with a few comic books or watching his favorite westerns. He also needed early nights so that he would be fresh and fit to pursue his passion – golf – next morning. Friends genuinely liked Dean’s easy-going good nature, his willingness to enjoy a good laugh and, above all, his naturally hilarious sense of humor. It was generally agreed by those who knew both Martin and Lewis that off-screen Dean was by far the funnier of the two, something that was not lost on Jerry for a moment. Jerry was far more serious, all business, business, business, and not much fun to be around. He also had a monumental ego that needed to be fed. The two men were bound to clash – and they did so, many times. A lot of people think they became life-long enemies following their break-up, but that is not quite so. They reunited a few times over the years, usually via the efforts of their pals, and eventually got back on friendly terms towards the end of Dean’s life.
Marilyn Monroe on Pinterest | Milton Greene, Marilyn Monroe and ...
with Marilyn
One of Dean’s many likeable qualities was his loyalty to friends. This was never more evident than when 20th Century Fox decided to fire his pal Marilyn Monroe from their movie Something’s Got To Give in 1962, and replace her with Lee Remick. He reminded the studio that he had contractual approval of his co-star, and he would only continue with the picture if Marilyn was reinstated. She was. Sadly, she died before it could be completed. Despite this genuine display of support for Marilyn, Dean and all the Rat Pack members were banned from her funeral by her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio, presumably because he blamed them all (in varying degrees) for being responsible for introducing her to the Kennedys whom he blamed for her death.
after their gone ! on Pinterest | Funeral, Casket and Marilyn ...
DiMaggio at Marilyn’s funeral
In the sixties Dean played H.A.R.M. Agent Matt Helm in three spy spoofs called The Silencers, Murderer’s Row (both in 1966) and The Wrecking Crew (1968). Dean’s co-star in the third of these was the ill-fated beauty Sharon Tate. There was supposed to be a fourth in the popular series, to be called The Ravagers, but it was never made. Dean was so distraught over Sharon’s brutal murder at the hands of the Manson Gang in 1969, he refused to ever play Matt Helm again.
Coolness Is Timeless: Dean Martin & Sharon Tate On The Wrecking ...
Sharon and Dean in The Wrecking Crew
Dean’s recording career was stellar indeed. Overall he had around 40 hit singles, most of them with Capitol Records, until he signed with Sinatra’s label Reprise in 1962. Surprisingly, he only had three Number Ones in his career – That’s Amore (1953), Memories Are Made of This (1956), and Everybody Loves Somebody (1964). After his break-up with Jerry, Dean quickly secured a singing/stand-up comic engagement at the Sands in Las Vegas and was an immediate success. For the next thirty years he did two six-week stints a year there for an annual fee of $300,000. The workload suited his golf game to perfection. Similarly, in 1965, when he was offered $40,000 a week for a single day’s work on his own TV show, he just couldn’t say no. By 1967, such was the show’s popularity, his pay packet had escalated to $285,000 an episode, an extraordinary amount for the time. Oddly, as Dean went from success to success and seemed to get funnier and funnier. Jerry, on the other hand, tried everything to recapture the success they once had, but he could not do so. Dean probably summed him up as well as anyone when he said: ‘At some point he said to himself, ‘I’m extraordinary. Like Charles Chaplin’. From then on, nobody could tell him anything. He knew it all.’
Dean lost interest in living after the death of his boy in 1987, and would only live another eight years. Sitting alone in his private booth at his favorite bar, quietly drinking, he would listen to his albums playing quietly in the background. When asked what he was doing he would reply, ‘waiting to die.’ After declining major liver and kidney surgery to prolong his life, Dean Martin passed away on Christmas Day, 1995. He was 78. Three days later the city of Las Vegas turned off the lights on the Strip for one minute as a sign of respect for the popular entertainer. The only previous time this had happened was when Sammy Davis Junior died.  








































    

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Danny G's Sunday Serenade with Dino: Once In A While"



Well hey there, pallies 

Looks like the smolderin' Summer heat is lettin' up!

August is windin' down...& dare I say it...Fall is slowly creepin' on in.

Now, tell me pals...what's a TRUE, TRUE Dino-holic s'posed to do...with what's left of a Cool Cool Summer?!

Well...what else, mi amici?!
Keep the Dino-ball rollin' with nother' hot & sultry SWOON by the One & ONLY King of CROON! Haha!!
That's what!
Haha!!

Or...is it the King of Cool?

Oh Well...either way pals...this week's Serenade, "Once In A While",  is nother' one of those great, great Summertime tunes...that REALLY heats thins' up & at the same time is sure to calm & relax your very soul!

I just am So So sure...that it set the mood on many a moonlit,  balmy night, in good ol' Stu'ville...for many young lovers!
Hahaha!!! 

I can picture a young...suave...Dino Crocetti serenadin' some lucky young chicalina with this very tune!

Now listen pals...Dean ain't askin' for much here. Just a quick thought every now & then.

I guess, pals...we all would like to think...that a once special someone thinks 'bout us...every now & then.

Maybe pals...just maybe...there's someone out there that you haven't seen in a while...and maybe...just maybe...THAT somebody might be worth a quick thought...as well.

At least...once in a while.

Enjoy! 

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Tomorrow In Dino-history: August 30, 1969


Desert Radio AZ

Hey pallies, likes we loves! loves! loves! to find new sources of devotion to our Dino, and we loves even more to learn more 'n more details of our Dino's life, times, and teachin's includin' more historic dates in Dino-history.  Likes today we gets to do both of 'em at one Dino-time.  From the new-to-ilovedinomartin blog for Desert Radio Az KDAZ-db located in Hereford, AZ comes the noteworthy news that it was 51 years 'go on this date, August 30, in the year of our Dino 1969 that our great great man's great great al-b-um "Gentle On My Mind" went pure gold!

Gentle on My Mind was  produced by Jimmy Bowen and arranged by Ernie Freeman, and released in November 1968 on the Reprise label.

Likes the track listin' included 10---count 'em---10 delightful Dino-croons includin':

 "Not Enough Indians"
"That Old Time Feelin'"
"Honey"
"Welcome to My Heart"
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
"Gentle on My Mind"
"That's When I See the Blues (In Your Pretty Brown Eyes)"
"Rainbows Are Back in Style"
"Drowning in My Tears"
"April Again"

We shares with all youse Dino-holics  the front  cover coolest of cool Dino-pose as well as our Dino' havin' the bestest of best times croonin' this tune live on the Dino-show.  We thanks all the pallies at Desert Radio Az KDAZ-db for puttin' us on to this important date in Dino-history and addin' to our Dino-edification.  Likes to checks this out in it's original form, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report.

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters

Gentle on My Mind (Dean Martin album) - Wikipedia







In 1969 Dean Martin's album "Gentle On My Mind" is certified gold.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

“Let me deal to him,“ Dean says.....

Image result for dean martin blackjack


Image result for Tom Junod
Hey pallies, likes today we gets a blast from the Dino-past coolly courtesy of the marvelous male mag GQ where while google divin'  for deep deep Dino-treasure we delightfully discovered a June 2007 awesome article from GQ, first published there in 1996, tagged "My Father's Fashion Tips" by Mr. Tom Junod.  (son Tom is pictured on the left and Father Leo on the right).  Tom is an American journalist and is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors, the most prestigious award in magazine writing.

Today we fantastically feature extremely excitin' excerpts from Tom's powerfully potent prose that, of course,  awesomely accent his father Leo's encounters with our most most beloved Dino.  We are totally totally thrilled to fabulously feast on Tom sharin' of a noteworthy number of his daddy-o's first person experiences with our King of Cool...at the Copa where Dino and Jerry were makin' funnyand at our Dino's playground 'Vegas baby 'Vegas...both in a coffee shop and at a casino's blackjack table.

We here at ilovedinomartin lives to be able to impart such beautiful bits of Dino-lore to Dino-philes who gather 'round our little Dino-waterin' hole day by day and today's Dino-devotion is some stunnin'ly stellar Dino-remembrances that bring the biggest of big Dino-buddha grins to our faces, and so so much deep deep Dino-happiness as well.  We can't thank Mr. Tom Junod and all the pallies at GQ for these remarkable reflections on our Dino's encounters with Junod's father.  To checks this out in it's original source, likes simple clicks on the tag of this Dino-message.

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters


My Father's Fashion Tips

As we celebrate fifty years of GQ, we look back at some of the greatest writing the magazine has published. In 1996, in a piece that was nominated for a National Magazine Award, Tom Junod wrote not only of his dad’s impeccable style but also of the secrets—and underwear rules—of a lost generation.


BY TOM JUNOD
June 7, 2007

As far as I know, my father never made a dime from his voice—but to put himself across. And when he went to see Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis one night at the Copa and Dino passed the microphone around to patrons and asked them to sing a verse, my father was prepared: He took the microphone in hand and sang to such effect that Dean Martin had to take it back. “Hey,“ Dino said, his voice whittled down to a point of low warning. “Hey,“ he said, glaring at my father over his shoulder, with a squint, with a glance of sudden, alarmed appraisal, sparked by his knowledge that there was now another man in the room, and to this man attention must be paid.

 “ 1957: My father goes to Vegas for the first time, in the year before my birth. He rents a convertible and drives across the Arizona desert with the top down, and by the time he gets there he is, well, black, and of course, and vibrant with the pulse of the elements themselves. He goes to a coffee shop, and Dean is there, and Dean recognizes him—a nod. And then the next day, my father goes down to the casino, to play at the blackjack table, and Dean walks over, tan like my father, but not of course as tan as my father, and asks the dealer to step aside. “Let me deal to him,“ Dean says (or maybe, preferably, “Let me deal to him“), and for the next twenty minutes that’s what he does—Dean Martin deals cards to Lou Junod. It’s just the two of them, two men wearing suits and shirts with French cuffs at twelve o’clock noon, in the middle of the freaking desert, and somewhere along the line it must occur to them—well, at the very least, it occurs to my dad—that they are men who very easily could have lived each other’s lives…which is why my father always told me never to ask for autographs (“They should be asking for your autograph“)

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Dino "was a colossus in Las Vegas."


Image result for Greil Marcus
Hey pallies, likes we never ever tire of sweetly searchin' the incredible internet for  mucho more immensely incredible insights on the life, the times, and the teachin's of our most beloved Dino.  Today we are profoundly pleased to introduce all youse Dino-philes to the remarkable reflections of Mr. Greil Marcus, who wiki tells us "is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics."

Likes back in the year of our Dino 1992, Mr. Marcus supremely scribed an absolutely awesome rad review of Mr. Nick Tosches' bold bio of our King of Cool, "DINO" Living High In The Dirty Business Of Dreams."  Likes the review was tagged "DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS: ‘DINO’ (1992) and 'bout two years 'go it got reprinted in the blog "GreilMarcus.net," that showcases "some of the archived writings of critic Greil Marcus, pulled from as many sources as possible (magazines, newspapers, liner notes, books, fanzines, websites, podcasts, etc.) and posted in a more or less random fashion. This blog was created by Scott Woods with Greil Marcus’s knowledge and assistance."

Greil wonderfully weaves quotations  from Tosches' tome with his own intense insights. Likes pallies it's profound prose that is worthy of any Dino-phile's absolute total attention, so dudes prepare yourself to be awed yet once 'gain by our mighty marvelous majestic DINO!  We energetically extends our total thanks to Mr. Scott Woods who awesomely administers "GreilMarcus.net" and, of course, to premier proser Mr. Marcus himself.  To checks this out in it's original source, likes clicks on the tag of this Dino-gram.

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters








DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS: ‘DINO’ (1992)


Dean Martin turns seventy-five this month. For almost fifty years, since he first teamed up with Jerry Lewis for a nightclub act in 1946, he has been a sort of bad conscience of American show business: the “holy ghost of tastelessness,” Nick Tosches calls him in his deeply empathetic new biography, Dino(Doubleday). Yet when you try to fix the contours and dimensions of such a strange role, a great void seems to swallow all the details of Martin’s career—a black hole from which no light, which is to say no meaning, can escape. If anything is left, it is the specter of a drunken swain bestriding the Strip (the Sunset Strip, the Vegas Strip, it hardly matters), signifying nothing. It’s a specter that lacks only the quality of intent to stand as an authentically modernist work of art—the work of an artist who in any case could have taught the Sex Pistols something about nihilism.

Born Dino Crocetti, in Steubenville, Ohio, Martin started out as a Crosby-style crooner in Cleveland Mob joints in the late ’30s, and through the ’40s, as a singer, he was never more than that. He needed Lewis to rescue him from the small-time of an already dead genre, to draw out what Lewis would describe to Tosches as Martin’s “comic awareness… not just a sense of humor, but a sense of humor that applied to anyone and everything around him.” By 1951, with hit records and movies part of the package, Martin and Lewis were the biggest thing in the country: the most casual stud and gibbering moron imaginable, the pomaded Italian-American love god and the buck-toothed Jewish nerd as brothers under the skin. “Can you pay two men $9 million to say, ‘Did you take a bath this morning? “Why, is there one missing?'” says Lewis today. “Do you dare contemplate such a fuck-and-duck? Yet that’s what we did. We did that onstage, and they paid us $9 million.” But while Martin always got the girl, Lewis got the laughs, the praise, the credit—and sometimes Martin, too. You can hear it on their 1948 disc “That Certain Party” (included, along with most of Martin’s biggest numbers, on the CD Capitol Collectors Series—Dean Martin); when Martin tries to sing the song, Lewis’s idiot act makes Martin sound like the cretin, as if he’s too full of himself, seduced by his own plummy tones, to get the joke.The partnership dissolved in loathing in 1956, but by then Martin was in place. He scaled the charts: the catchy “Memories Are Made of This,” number one in 1955; the entrancing “Return to Me” in 1958, a moment of soul music; the lugubrious “Everybody Loves Somebody,” which knocked the Beatles out of the top spot in 1964. He made more than fifty movies, from sixteen flicks with Lewis to such serious pictures as Edward Dmytryk’s The Young Lions in 1958 (Martin’s character got to kill Marlon Brando’s: “All I ever killed in my other movies,” he said, “was time”) and Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo in 1959, to the Matt Helm thrillers in the ’60s. He was a constant presence on television. Despite often not bothering to finish his songs onstage, he was a colossus in Las Vegas.

He was. You can’t make a case for the claim of the Dean Martin Story on our attention based on what it left behind. All together the songs and movies add up to mediocre culture and boundless renown—and one of those figures whose name elicits the response “Is he still alive,” Martin was, finally, overwhelmingly famous, though he was never exactly a celebrity, someone famous-­for-being-famous, not even near the end of his career as an entertainer known to all, hosting sleazy television celebrity roasts, walking through blank songs and stupid skits. Rather, he was famous for doing nothing.That was how it seemed. “No idler works harder,” film critic David Thom­son writes, “no drunk retains such timing.” Nearly every one of Martin’s movie co-workers whom Tosches spoke to said the same thing: he knew his own lines and everyone else’s. Nevertheless, what Martin communicated, in the moments for which he is most immediately and indelibly remembered, on record, on film, and onstage, was ease, effortlessness, repose—and something more, or something less. What he really communicated, as even in the midst of “Return to Me” a cloud of cynicism seems to rise from the preternatural smoothness of his phrasing, was that he didn’t care—and it is this that must be at the source of his appeal in his own time, and of his fascination today. “Dean, of course, had no use for any of this shit,” Tosches says, about something else, but as he retrieves Martin from his own silence—Martin has, Tosches notes, given one substantial interview in his entire career, to Oriana Fallaci—the line serves anywhere. It can finish a quote from Martin’s second wife, Jeanne Martin (“Dean doesn’t have an overwhelming desire to be loved. He doesn’t give a damn. He doesn’t get involved with people because he really isn’t interested in them”), or frame a comment on works and days, in this case the early ’50s:

[Dean] did not know the new and improved from the old and well-worn. Homer, Sorel-II the Mystic: it was all the same shit to him. The Trojan War, World War II, the Cold War, what the fuck did he care? His hernia was bigger than history itself. He cared as much about Korea as Korea cared about his fucking hernia. He walked through his own world. And that world was as much a part of what commanded those audiences as the catharsis of the absurd slapstick; and it would continue to command, long after that catharsis, like a forgotten mystery rite, had lost all meaning and power… Ajax was no longer a Homeric hero: he was the Comedy Hour‘s sponsor’s foaming cleanser, no longer a contender with Odysseus for the arms of Achilles, but a consort of Fab, which had itself transplanted Melville’s musings on “The Whiteness of the Whale” with the dictum “Whiter Whites without Bleaching.”

To not care and still be present—physically present in public, or spectral­ly present in the public imagination—is to take on a role that is not only strange but irreducible. It can be to make a black hole at the heart of culture itself, and this may be what Martin did, in moments—his work of art. Not caring, after all, is the other side of “a sense of humor that applied to anyone and everything.” “The world was a dirty joke to Dean,” Tosches says, “and he seemed to perceive it anew in every breath he took.” Describing Martin’s role in their act, Lewis called him “the leader, the boss”; what the boss perceived, when he looked at the world, may have been what Lewis described as his own role in the act: “…all of the other things that sat in that audience.”More than anyone, Lewis ought to know. It’s a commonplace that Buddy Love, Lewis’s cosmic lounge-lizard alter ego in The Nutty Professor, his best film, is a version of Martin—but so, I think, is Lewis’s Jerry Langford in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, the most complete, all-exits-barred American horror movie since Psycho. With that dead Jerry Langford face, erased of all emotion save the wish to kill, this time Lewis played his old partner not on the surface, but from the inside out.

Interview, 1992 (month unknown)

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Returning to the “voyeur song” by Dean Martin, whom my mother adored.......

Image result for dean martin standing on the corner

Hey pallies, likes today we have yet 'nother delectable Dino-mention to share all 'cause our pallies at google Dino-'lerts keeps us here at ilovedinomartin up-to-Dino-date!  Today we stop by the online presence of the bodacious blog "VillageSoup • Knox County Maine" where contributor Dr. Ralph Doc Wallace in his prose "Words and culture" speaks his piece on the issue of political correctness  and just so happens to awesomely accent our darin' Dino in the process.  Likes as you read 'long it won't take youse long to realize that Dr. Wallace is obviously no fan of PC.

Likes Wallace's prose begin lettin' his readership know that recently he found himself "humming along with Dean Martin singing “Standing on the Corner” and how he was "thinkin’ – wow, this tune is probably way outside the politically correct acceptance of today’s cultural police."  Just to know how much pleasure this Doc  was havin' hummin' while our Dino was croonin' give us such Dino-pleasure as well.  And, likes it that was not 'nough Dino-delight, a bit later Dr. Wallace coolly confinds that his mother "adored" our most beloved Dino.

Musta be that mother Wallace passed her Dino-adoration on to her son and once 'gain we are profoundly please to know the incredible importance of one generation passin' on their Dino-devotion to the next...indeed that is wonderful way that will help each new generation to be beautifully brought into the Dino-fold.

We sez our thank you very much to Dr. Ralph Doc Wallace for openly and affirmatively liftin' up our Dino in  his wise words shared in the "VillageSoup."  To checks this out in it's original source and to read all of Dr. Wallace's thought provokin' reflections, once 'gain, simply clicks on the tag of this Dino-gram.  And, we just couldn't resist sharin' a youtube vid of our Dino and other members of the Rat Pack croonin' the tune, "Standing On The Corner."

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters


VillageSoup • Knox County Maine

Ralph Doc Wallace



Words and culture

By Doc Wallace | Aug 29, 2019


Driving down Route 1 recently and listening to golden oldies on the radio, I found myself humming along with Dean Martin singing “Standing on the Corner” – a 1950s pop song originated by the Canadian group The Four Lads. The lyrics go, “Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by. Brother, you can't go to jail for what you’re thinkin’ …” Suddenly, I caught myself thinkin’ – wow, this tune is probably way outside the politically correct acceptance of today’s cultural police. Just as Frank Loesser’s Christmas classic, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” written in 1944, is now excoriated by the PC warriors as invoking rape, I am sure that old Dino would be chastised for extolling voyeurism.

.....Returning to the “voyeur song” by Dean Martin, whom my mother adored.......

 


Monday, August 24, 2020

Dean Martin, the most likeable of performers, gets to play Dino, the evil twin version of his persona.


Profile photo
Hey pallies, likes today we gets to take 'nother look at what is considered our most beloved Dino's most controversial big screen effort, the 1964 Billy Wilder sex farce, "Kiss Me Stupid."  This latest review has been scribed by blogger Mr. Rick Gould, who hangs his reviewer hat at his self-tagged blog, "Rick's Real/Reel Life."

Likes, while Mr. Gould has nothin' negative to say 'bout our Dino, taggin' our main man as "the most likeable of performers," he is clearly not a fan of this Dino-flick, and makes this completely clear in his prose.  We gotta 'fess up that while we ain't in agreement with his sentiments are KMS, we do understand why he has the perspective that he does. Likes truthfully we are chosen to share Rick's remarks is not so much for his prose, but mucho more so 'cause of the powerfully potent pixs he has assembled to coolly compliment his written words.

The first image of the party on the set of KMS,   is new to us, and we never ever tire of seein' 'n sharin' the other Dino-images included, 'specially the one of our Dino and Miss Farr in the shower.
We thanks Mr. Rick Gould for his candid comments on "Kiss Me Stupid" and for the swank selection of Dino-poses he has included in his work.  To checks this out in it's original source, likes simply clicks on the tag of these Dino-thoughts.

We remain,

Yours in Dino,

Dino Martin Peters


Billy Wilder’s 'Kiss Me Stupid': Sizzling Satire or Stale Sitcom?
*Spoilers ahead—Only needed if you’ve never seen any episode of Three’s Company!


After Peter Sellers left due to multiple heart attacks, filming of 'Kiss Me, Stupid' was a cakewalk for Billy Wilder. Visiting the set are 'Some Like It Hot' stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

Billy Wilder is one of my favorite filmmakers, who has directed some of my all-time favorite movies: Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment. Wilder’s adult, smart, uncompromising, yet witty storytelling paved the way for modern moviemakers. Imagine my surprise when I finally watched the director-screenwriter’s sex comedy Kiss Me, Stupid, starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston.

Kiss Me, Stupid was a notorious 1964 flop that in retrospect was the kiss-off to Billy Wilder’s career as Hollywood’s hottest comedic director. Like Hitchcock’s Marnie that same year, or Joseph Mankiewicz’ Cleopatra the year prior, or George Stevens’ The Greatest Story Ever Told in ‘65, Billy Wilder joined this elite club with Kiss Me, Stupid. They were all long-time, big-name directors whose stellar reputations were never the same because of one film.


Dean Martin as 'Dino' and Cliff Osmond as Barney, gas jockey & songwriter!

After a string of hits, right up through Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Irma LaDouce, Wilder was renowned for sexy comedies with stinging social satire, wit, and intelligence. These qualities vanished with his next project, Kiss Me, Stupid. The premise is about Orville Spooner and Barney—two would-be songwriters struggling in Climax, Nevada—everybody and every place in this movie have a cartoon name. When Dino, a lecherous and drunken crooner played by—surprise!—Dean Martin, is stranded en route from Vegas, the dim duo envision stardom.


Ray Walston, Dean Martin, and Kim Novak on a three-way love seat.

Dino doesn’t want to hear their pitch, and complains of needing “action” every day—to prevent headaches. Pervy Barney prevails on Orville to pimp his wife, Zelda, out in exchange for the crooner’s pop music consideration. Did I mention Orville is so jealous of his wife, he comes off like a comedic Othello? Married man Orville balks, so Barney prevails on a local cocktail waitress/hooker, Polly the Pistol, to pose as Orville’s wife and do the dirty deed. After provoking a fight with the little woman to get her out of the house—on their anniversary—the wife decides to celebrate solo at The Belly Button, the sleazy bar where Polly plies her trade. The married man, with the floozy’s help, wines and dines the crooner. All goes awry when the jealous Orville gets possessive over the spurious spouse and kicks Dino out. The hubby and the whore spend the night together in mock marital bliss.


The songwriter hubby and the "wife"/whore enjoy some faux-marital bliss.

The crooner ends up at The Belly Button, where Zelda has been drowning her sorrows. The wife is now passed out in Polly’s trailer next door. Guess who pays her a visit, thinking she’s the local whore? Dino listens to Zelda’s pillow talk, praising her hubby’s tunes. She in turn puts out for the crooner. Zelda passes on Dino’s payment to Polly, so she can move on, post-Climax. Orville and Zelda are reunited, Dino sings his song, and Spooner’s jealousy is finally over. Zelda gets the last word, the movie’s title. Everyone say awww.


And the real wife gets to play whore for a night with celebrity customer Dino!

Awww as in awful, that is. Typically, I go light on film plot recaps, but it’s one of this movie’s major flaws. The storyline of Kiss Me, Stupid is so one-dimensionally sleazy that it’s like 126 minutes of Playboy cartoons strung together. Billy Wilder frequently walked the tightrope of taste with risqué plot points in The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment. What elevated these classics were smart dialogue, empathetic characters, and appealing performances by their stars. Kiss Me, Stupid has none of these qualities. What’s really amazing for a Wilder movie is there’s not a single memorable line of dialogue, just a string of low-brow one-liners.


Dino as a most disruptive dinner guest. Kim as the "wife" doesn't seem to mind.

I will give Billy Wilder this: the opening and closing scenes of Kiss Me, Stupid show off his storytelling style admirably. And Wilder and his long-time screenwriter, I.A.L. Diamond, tell the story with great clarity—everything is nimbly wrapped up by Stupid’s final scene. Too bad the story and dialogue in between are so low-brow. There are stretches in Kiss Me, Stupid that are endless, the worst is when Orville and his “wife” are entertaining Dino.


Felicia Farr as the patient wife, Ray Walston as the insanely jealous husband.

This film was blasted by critics, censors, and the Catholic Church when it was released during the Christmas holidays, 1964. After the plot described above, is it any wonder? The Hollywood era was near the end of compromising with censors. Still, during the first half of the ‘60s, mainstream movies came on as provocative, but often ended up pussy-footing around. Wilder deserves credit for not being a tease, I suppose. While the targets of the director’s derision are admirable—moral hypocrisy, greed, and celebrity worship—the humor is about on par with a crass celebrity roast. The intelligent wit of Wilder is woefully lacking. The other big liability is the stars of Stupid. Wilder always worked with stars of great comedic flair and charisma—Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, etc. In a film that desperately needs Wilder favorites Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe as the jealous married man and the hooker with the heart of gold, we get Ray Walston and Kim Novak. Walston as Orville Spooner is grating, performed by a one-note Hollywood ham who fared better as a sitcom Martian. At 50, Walston was neither attractive nor appealing enough to believably attract gorgeous Felicia Farr or Kim Novak. But hey, we still have sitcoms starring homely comedians and their hot wives! Jack Lemmon was not available for this lemon, so Peter Sellers was originally cast as Orville, but suffered a series of heart attacks and dropped out.


Kim Novak as Polly the Pistol, who works at bar called
The Belly Button, in a town named Climax. Hilarious, right?

Marilyn Monroe was the original choice for Polly the Pistol, but famously expired before pre-production. So Kim Novak made her first film in two years as Polly. In her heyday, Novak was routinely panned as the most plastic kind of studio-manufactured star. In recent years, some film historians/writers now see nuances in Novak’s performances. To me, Kim certainly possessed vulnerability, which, when cast in complementary roles like Vertigo, was very effective. Yet Kim Novak’s limited range and lack of genuine charisma only makes me appreciate how Marilyn Monroe made sexy comedies seem effortless. Novak’s New Jersey accent makes her unfunny punch lines seem even flatter. And who thought it would be hilarious to have Novak play Polly as suffering from a stuffed up head cold? Kim sounds like a female Tony Curtis here.


Director Billy Wilder and star Dean Martin were a mutual admiration society.

Dean Martin, the most likeable of performers, gets to play Dino, the evil twin version of his persona. Martin’s brutal self-parody seems more foolhardy than brave, and only solidified his increasingly rancid Rat Pack image. Billy Wilder raved about Dean Martin’s untapped talent…but cast him as a dirty joke version of himself?

The great supporting cast is wasted as sitcom stereotypes. The worst is Cliff Osmond as Barney, the songwriting pal who concocts the whole sleazy scheme. Osmond is not just over the top, but totally repellent, looking and acting like Charles Laughton in slobbering villain mode. Osmond and Walston, as the untalented songwriters, are so frenetically unfunny together that I kept wishing somebody would magically give them the Bugs Bunny cartoon-style hook.


Felicia Farr is a lone bright spot as the sexy, sensible wife in 'Kiss Me, Stupid.'

The sole saving grace of Kiss Me, Stupid is Felicia Farr as Zelda Spooner, the Orville’s wife. Farr is lovely, sexy, smart, fun, and real—everything this film is not. The charming actress must have decided that starring as Jack Lemmon’s wife in real life was better than appearing in movies like this, because she acted only occasionally thereafter.


There’s a wave of current day film theory that defends Wilder as breaking barriers with his unvarnished, tough take on middle-class morals in Kiss Me, Stupid. Unfortunately, Billy Wilder presented the material in such a puerile, obvious manner that it comes across as trying to have your cake and eat it, too. And over 50 years later, Kiss Me, Stupid is still one stale slice of comedy.


We don't blame you for hiding, Felicia!

Posted by Rick Gould at 2:46 PM

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Danny G's Sunday Serenade with Dino: "They Didn't Believe Me"



Hey pals!
It's Sunday!
Now...that can mean only ONE thin'!
Uno!
Yup...time to do some Sunday Serenadin' with our BESTEST pallie, Dino!

Ain't nothin' wrong with that, mi amici!

After all...what's a BEA U TI FUL summery day without some FUN FUN summery Dino-jams?!

Just average, I thinks.

Gotta make it FUN, pals!

Man...it's gonna be September soon!
Crazy how the days go by.
Hey...guess what?!
No problem!

We're still partyin' with our pallie!

Summer ain't over yet, my friends!
We gots PLENTY of HOT HOT days ahead!
Simply add a little Dino-croonin' to the mix...& thins' will keep on SIZZLIN'! 

Anyways, mi amici...gonna play a tune that...as I've mentioned here before...has never been recorded on a record by our pal.
At least not to my small amount of knowledge.
Haha!!

Not to fear though, my friends!!!
There are a few times he sang it on the air...& we is LUCKY 'nough to have a couple right here!!!  

"They Didn't Believe Me" is a hidden treasure & def i nate ly PURE & TRUE Dino-magic!
SO SO much fun watchin' Dean do his thin' to this cool cool number!

NO WAY I was just gonna play one vid!

Now THAT is what Summer is ALL 'bout!
Over-indulgin' in Dino!
Hahaha!!!

It's a Completely Cool Cool Concoction, pals!
Youse just gotta grab some Fun Fun  Friends or Fam...Get outside, in this Beautiful weather...& throw on some Smooth Smooth Swingin' jams by Dino! 

Nice...simple equation, pals.

Virus or no virus...we'll keep the party goin! 

Enjoy!

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Dean Martin has been on bloody repeat on YouTube since getting home otherwise Jamie has a fit.


The Mummy Diaries: Two babies - Week 12
Hey pallies, likes this very Dino-day we are absolutely abundantly awed to share with all youse Dino-philes a touchin' true tale of a wonderful wee  little laddie tagged Jaime who at a very tender age  has already found himself supremely smitten by our most beloved Dino and completely, coolly craves to listen to, sing a long with, and dance to the croonin' of our King of Cool.

Likes today we are powerfully pleased to  transports youse to the mommy blog "The Mummy Diaries." where sweet Scottish scriber Miss Emma Hargan (pictured on the left with youngen Jaime) has wisely written 'bout wee Jaime's introduction to our most beloved Dino by his "gramps" durin' a car ride and how Jaine's deep deep delight in our Dino has beautifully blossomed likes incredibly instantaneously.

We invites all  youse Dino-holics to read all 'bout how Jaime, at the time not quite 3 years old, has fallen for our one and only Dino.....once 'gain provin' the transformin' power of our Dino whether you're three or 33 or 93.  And, likes pallies the earlier one get's introduced to our Dino we just know the deeper the devotion to Dino will be!

We thanks mother/writer Miss Emma Hargan for sharin' Jaime's deepest of deepest Dino-delight.  To checks this out in it's original format, simply clicks on the tag of this Dino-gram.  We conclude this Dino-tale with a youtube vid of our Dino's croonin' of the Dino-tune that completely captured wee laddie Jaime's heart....."Go, Go, Go!"

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters

The Mummy Diaries: Two babies – Week 52   "Think Scotland"
by Emma Hargan

article from Tuesday 2, July, 2019

THE FIRST WEEK BACK to the old routine after our lovely holiday. I absolutely love going on holidays but I also love coming home too. Two weeks of sun, eating bbq’s, ice creams and as much alcohol that I would usually consume annually, all packed into a fortnight. Mmm, yeah who am I kidding, I’d be back on a plane tomorrow if could!

I always find the first week home flies in. The kids were still so exhausted after all the excitement that they couldn’t wait to see bedtime every night. Jamie was super excited to get back to creche on Wednesday morning and see his friends and Lily was back to her toys that she hadn’t seen in two weeks – so it was like Christmas again for her! James had no time to relax as he was back to work straight away on Monday morning. And me? I was up to my neck in unpacking suitcases, washing clothes, food shopping, changing nappies, breaking up fights over who gets to play with Buzz Lightyear, explaining the importance of having to wear socks (yet again) – and why we say ‘Uh oh’ after we wet our pants and not ‘Fox Ache.’

Yes things were back to normal. With one slight twist… we now have to listen to re-runs of Dean Martin on a daily basis.

ALL. THE. TIME.

Have you heard of Dean Martin? I had – just. Well, I recognised the name but it wasn’t until I heard his famous songs that I knew who he was. Now? I hear Dean Martin’s voice more than my own and I have Jamie’s Gramps to thank for that!

One of the days we were in France, my Dad said he was popping out for a bit to get some messages and that he’d take Jamie for the run while Lily was sleeping so we could have a bit of time to chill ourselves. We got Jamie strapped into his car seat and he was all excited for going out. Excellent! Kids sorted, bikini on, beers opened, sun out and pool time! Mum and Dad live quite a bit away from any shops so I knew that they would be gone for a wee while. So, James and I had a nice swim, a couple of beers and some sun before Dad and Jamie appeared back with the music blaring out of the car and Jamie with a big smile on his face. Jamie saw us at the pool and couldn’t wait to get out and come over to us as he wanted into the water asap! Dad said he’d been as good as gold and was happy singing in the back of the car.

“He was singing?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, he was loving it. Does he not sing when he’s in the car with you?” Dad replied.

“No I’ve never heard him singing, he just blethers away usually.” I said while giving Jamie a cuddle and getting him into his swimming shorts. Just in time for Lily to wake up from her nap and we then spent the next couple of hours messing about in the pool and having a great time.

Later that day after we came back into the house and Dad was starting to prepare dinner, Jamie was running around the kitchen table singing, ‘Go go go go!’ and humming a wee tune over and over. Dad smiled and disappeared out of the room while me and James were trying to figure out what Jamie was singing. The next minute, Dad came back into the room with a CD, put it in the player and pressed play. The crackles of a record from 1951 started up and blared ‘GO GO GO GO!’ out of the speakers. Jamie smiled and shouted “Yeah! Go go go go!” and started dancing.

“What on earth is that?” I asked Dad.

“It’s Dean Martin’s album, I had it on in the car and Jamie started singing away to it.” Dad says laughing.

“Who the heck is Dean Martin?” I replied.

James shot me a look and says, “Aw now come on, you must know who Dean Martin is?”  he said in disgust. “He’s so famous.”

‘Mmm, nope, I’ve never heard this song before in my life!’ I exclaimed.

“Ok well , you must have heard this one..”

When marimba rhythms start to play

Dance with me, make me sway

Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore

Hold me close, sway me more

“Oh yeah I’ve heard that one, I know who you mean now.” I said.

And that was it. Dean Martin has been on bloody repeat on YouTube since getting home otherwise Jamie has a fit. I’m actually at the point where I don’t know what listening to is worse? Jamie whinging or Dean Martin singing.

Wednesday morning and Jamie was back at creche. I was going to miss him but I was also looking forward to having a few hours of peace without the kids fighting and having to listen to Dean Martin. Lily and I set off to the shops to get some food in to the house and as the weather was so nice, we sat out in the garden for an hour before we had to leave and pick Jamie up. Jamie was exhausted when we arrived home so it was a case of a drink of juice, a trip to the bathroom, change of clothes and down for a nap. Luckily, Lily was tired as well and fell asleep in her bouncer chair. Bliss! Back out to the garden for me and enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts.

Thursday was definitely the biggest challenge of the week. The kids were tired and grumpy, I was tired and grumpy and the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was bucketing down with rain outside. By 11.00am, I had exhausted all my ‘surprise toys’ that I had hid in the cupboard for emergencies in keeping them occupied and the fighting commenced. We were also on the second run of Dean Martin’s album. I was ready for the mental. Raining or not, I couldn’t cope with being in the house for another minute. Rain coats on, buggy board clipped on, Lily strapped in and rain cover on – good to go (go go go). Even though it was raining, it was still pretty warm and but were dressed for Niagra Falls so we went on our usual walk. It did everyone good, and by the time we got back, the sun was out so I just let Jamie and Lily play outside in the back garden until dinner time and James came home to take over amusing the kids until bedtime.

Before we knew it, Friday had landed. Another busy day of dropping James off at work in the morning so I can take the car and do creche runs and other wee errands and shopping trips. The day had flown in and I was busy making dinner when I heard a commotion in the sitting room. I shouted on James but he had gone upstairs to get changed, so I went into see what was happening. They were fighting over Jamie’s car.

“Aw Jamie, let Lily play with your car, you have lots of other toys?” I asked.

Jamie roars at me, ‘GO GO GO GO!’

“Okay.” I said sighing. I switched Dean Martin on again. Anything for a quiet life

Just as I had switched it on, James walks into the room.

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…”and says, “Aw we’re not listening to that crap again?”

Lily lets out a shriek and after splitting up what seemed like the umpteenth fight of the day, there was definitely no “That’s Amore!” lost between these two. More like “Ain’t that a kick in the head!”

Thanks Gramps!

Friday, August 21, 2020

10 Times Dean Martin Said It Best

YouTube | Comedians, Dean martin, Actor

Hey pallies, likes as all youse Dino-philes know the vid pad youtube is coolly completely chocked full of darin' 'n delightful Dino-adulation....a groovy gold mine of Dino-treasures just waitin' to be minded.  Recently while hangin' 'round youtube we were lovin'ly led to a virile vid created by none other then our pallies at Esquire mag......"10 Times Dean Martin Said It Best."

Likes we are in absolute awe of the complete creativity of this wonderfully wise powerfully potent presentation of some of our most beloved Dino's incredible insights.  Likes some of the swank sayin's come for the wit and wisdom of our King of Cool while others are lyrics lifted from some of our Dino's classic croons.

To us, what makes this Dino-media so so supremely special is that the bodacious backgrounds of each of these Dino-sayin's are a vast variety of Dino-images and Dino-clips....and, likes they coolly cover the various ages and stages of our Dino's life and times.  We just know all youse Dino-holics will eagerly enjoy imbibin' freely of these Dino-libations.

Hats off to the fantastic folks at Esquire for offerin' up wise words, incredible images and the coolest of cool clips....what a wonderful way to increase our Dino-knowledge and Dino-edification!





10 Times Dean Martin Said It Best
 Esquire

Take a look back at some of Dean Martin’s most memorable quotes.

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Whether virtual on in-person, LaRue hopes to play some Dean Martin music for her students...

Hey pallies, likes we so often sez 'round these Dino-parts, "Youse just never know where our Dino will turn up next.  Today thanks to the swank scribin's of Mr. Tim Crow writin' for the local newspaper of Taylor, Texas, "TAYLOR PRESS," we learn  of 8th grade  social studies teacher, Miss Melissa LaRue's love of our most beloved Dino.

In Crow's perfect prose below, we hear news of how Miss LaRue in tryin' to help her new class of students get to know her better as they study there virtual lessons durin' the pandemic has incorporated her powerful passion for our Dino into the declaration 'round her desk.  As you will vitally view in the intriguin' image below a powerfully potent pix of our Dino is on the wall behind Melissa's desk on her left.

We are totally totally totally thrilled to have this excitin' educator be so open and affirmin' of her devotion to our Dino with her charges to the point that as the article below points out, "Whether virtual on in-person, LaRue hopes to play some Dean Martin music for her students..."  Likes think of the neat number of her students that Melissa will be awesomely aidin' in there Dino-discovery.
Miss LaRue's wonderfully witnessin' to her devotion to our Dino will surely help others be welcomed into our Dino's wonderful world...and likes how fantastically fabulous is that pallies?!?!?!?!?!

We shouts out our awesome appreciato to the pallies at "TALYOR PRESS," to writer Mr. Tim Crow, and to terrific teacher Miss Melissa LaRue for sharin' yet 'nother way of helpin' today's youth to get into the Dino-groove.  To checks this out at it's original source, likes simply clicks on the tag of this Dino-report.

We Remain,

Yours In Dino,

Dino Martin Peters


Opening school safely, effectively, virtually

Tim Crow tcrow@taylorisd.org Aug 15, 2020  0

0816.SchoolStarts01.JPG

When students log in for their first virtual lesson in Melissa LaRue’s eighth grade social studies class at Taylor Middle School, it won’t take long for them to know they are in for a fun year of learning. The colorfully decorated teacher’s desk matches LaRue’s cheerful personality, and there are obvious clues that she loves Dean Martin, Barbie Dolls, theater and Texas.

“I think every teacher has their theme, and the kids get to know you by your theme. Mine is Barbies and Dean Martin,” said LaRue. “You can’t just be the teacher. You’re a real person, and this is my way of letting them know something about me. It’s a fun thing, and hopefully they’ll see something about me that will pull them in.”

Preparing for a virtual start of school has required teaching staffs across the district to step out of their comfort zone, but LaRue says everyone has been incredibly positive and supportive.


“Some of us have more technology strengths than others, and others have other strengths that can help those who are more efficient with technology,” said LaRue. “So if I have an activity that works really great in the classroom, I’m going to a technology person for help in figuring out how to put this into a digital format.”

When COVID-19 hit in the spring, teachers at all levels had to switch to virtual instruction very quickly. Since then, the district has had time to look at some of the best online practices and implement a quality program for the fall.

“Teachers and administrators have been up here all summer doing hundreds of hours of professional development to prepare for virtual learning,” said Megan Wendler, TMS instructional specialist. “We revamped our entire professional development schedule to target everything for that virtual aspect.”

Wendler and Sue Engelke, also an instructional specialist at TMS, said the school’s virtual master schedule includes teacher collaboration time, time for working with small groups of students through Google Meet, and teaching live synchronous lessons as well as recording videos to post. During training, teachers were able to see the online learning platforms from the student’s perspective.

“We are expecting our students to use Google Classroom as a platform, so we are using that with the teachers,” Wendler said. “We are collaborating through Google Meet with our teachers because that is what they are using for their live classrooms with their students.”

In physical education, coaches will post workouts into Google Classroom with demonstrations of exercises and explanations of proper form. Students will then answer questions after an assignment or activity.

TMS teachers will be available after hours on a set schedule for parents to have their questions answered. The majority of daily assignments will be submitted through Google Classroom, and teachers will be able to track student progress through the online curriculum.

“For students that can’t participate at the exact time of the live presentation, those presentations will be recorded so that they can access them at a time that works for their family,” Engelke said. “We want families to know that if they have any questions to please ask. We are here to help.”

Along with all the academic plans, safety continues to be the top priority.

“TMS and TISD are working tirelessly to ensure that we are providing a safe environment for students and staff as we plan to transition to in-person education,” said TMS Principal Chelsey Ellison. “This is not an easy feat, but one we are dedicated to committing to and could not accomplish without the support of our phenomenal custodial staff. We will follow the TISD ‘Start of School Plan’ that can be found on the district website as it covers all safety and health aspects in detail.”

School starts in Taylor Aug. 20 with the first four weeks being virtual only. During those four weeks, a decision will be made to either continue instruction as virtual only or to give parents the option of traditional in-person attendance. Students will keep school supplies at home for now, and when in-person attendance in possible again, they will each use their own supplies.

The district has added a COVID-19 tab to the website where updates and additional information are posted. Included on that tab is the school’s Start of School Plan, which outlines procedures and safety precautions that are in place across the district.

Whether virtual on in-person, LaRue hopes to play some Dean Martin music for her students and turn on the Christmas lights that are in her room year-round. Her first virtual unit will be “Thinking like a Historian,” and she is looking forward to meeting each one of her classes.

“I think everyone needs to know that we really miss our students,” said LaRue. “As much as I’m looking forward to learning new technology, I really like it when the kids are here. I want parents to know that whether their child is at home or in school they will receive the same love, care and quality instruction. My goal is to reach my students on a level that makes them feel safe and secure and that they want to learn.”