Dean Martin and some biggies!

Hey pallies, likes today we get to return to a blog of one of our most sold-out Dino-devotees. His tag is Mr. Otto Bruno, and he hangs his hat at his self-tagged blog, "OttoBruno.com." In his post "Dean Martin and some biggies!," Mr. Otto shares his thrill at the "much more access" that pallies likes us have to clips from our great man's great TV show via sites 'specially likes youtube.

In this Dino-entry, Bruno shares wonderful moments with our wonderful man interactin' and croonin' with the likes of the Mills Brothers and Mr. Louie Armstrong. These clips are just a little sample of the magic contained in each and ever moment of each and every Thursday night's viewin' of the Dino-show.

So, sits back and enjoys our Dino and company havin' the times of their lives! ilovedinomartin sez our thanks to Mr. Otto Bruno for 'gain puttin' the accent on our most beloved Dino...and givin' his readership 'nother great dose of Dino-delight! To view this in it's original format, likes just clicks on the tag of these Dino-thoughts. Dino-reportin', DMP

Dean Martin and some biggies!

October 19th, 2011 | Classic Television, Great American Songbook

If you read this blog then you know I’m a big Dean Martin fan. It makes me very happy that in recent years we been given much more access to the great material from his 1960s variety show than we had in the previous 25 years. In recent days, I’ve spent a good deal of time on YouTube for something I’m working on for my radio show. (Sundays, 12-2 p.m. Eastern, right HERE). In between my fits of hysterical laughter provided by the likes of Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett and Dino has been some great musical numbers with Dean and friends.

Dean’s variety show in the sixties was quite unusual because, among other things, they often kept in the mistakes. It usually lead to even funnier circumstances. There was never any shortage of mistakes because Dean did not rehearse. He’d come in the day of the taping and quickly run through the musical numbers with the musicians and then watch stand-ins run through the sketches and the numbers that he was scheduled to perform with his guests who’d been there rehearsing all week long. Whatever the case, the end result was magic that is still fun to watch today.

I’ve pulled three particular clips to show you for a very specific reason. Dean did the variety show for about seven or eight years before it morphed into the Dean Martin Roasts. At the start of the run, he was pretty conscientious despite the unusual set-up of the show. However, as time went on, he got a little sloppier and goofed around more and more. Perhaps one of the reasons was because he thought that was what people were tuning in to see. In some cases, I’m sure he was right. But I like the next three clips because it’s Dean with four musical artists for whom he obviously had great respect. You can see it in his performances and interactions with Herbert, Donald and Harry Mills and Louis Armstrong.

Here are some true gems of 20th century entertainment.