Hey pallies, likes here is some great great follow up patter 'bout that great great new musicale based on the life and times of our most beloved Dino.  Now playin' at the Walnut Street Theatre in Phili is "DINO!  An Evening with Dean Martin at the Latin Casino by playwright Armen Pandola.  A Mr. Chris Jordan from the Philly pad, "Metro," has scribed a very informative piece of prose givin' some great insights into the production and it's unique focus on our Dino.

One of the coolest insights that Mr. Pandola offer is that our main man is " the child of immigrant parents,"  and " he had one foot in the old world, and one foot in the new world."  And likes I encourage you to read all his thoughts below.  There is one that I don't totally agree with and wonderin' if you pallies can guess which one.

Anyhow, it is great to be able to share more 'bout this great production which ought make thousands more Dino-devotees outta pallies in the Philly area.  And, likes how cool if this production catches on and theatre groups 'round the globe put it on their stages...the Dino-possibilities are truly truly unlimited!  ilovedinomartin sez our thanks to Mr. Chris Jordan and all the pallies at "Metro" for givin' this grand new Dino-production a ton of grand publicity.  To checks this out in it's original format, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-message.  Dino-awed, DMP

Playwright imagines Dean Martin is stuck in New Jersey

“Memories are made of this,” sang Dean Martin, star of stage, screen and song.

A few memories of Martin with local connections are the foundation for the new show “DINO! An Evening with Dean Martin at the Latin Casino,” which previews tomorrow at Walnut Street Theatre.

The action takes place on the stage of the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill with Martin and a pianist. The rest of the band is stuck elsewhere in the midst of the Blizzard of ‘78.

“This event I kind of imagined in order to fit this idea that interested me,” says South Philly playwright Armen Pandola, who brought “The Prince” to the Walnut in 2010. “So many people like him have to reinvent themselves. When people become famous, there’s a public version of themselves and a private version. Martin was a very private person for such a huge star.”

What a star. In 1947, he teamed with comedian Jerry Lewis in Atlantic City to become the biggest showbiz draw of the era.

“They were huge,” Pandola says. “When they played the Paramount in New York, they broke records that were set by Sinatra.”

When Martin and Lewis broke up in 1956, the news rocked the nation. Martin was considered the lesser of the two talents, but he thrived out of Lewis’ shadow as a singing star (“That’s Amore”, “Everybody Loves Somebody”) and a movie star (“The Young Lions,” “Rio Bravo”).

Along the way, Martin’s public persona of the urbane ladies man with a penchant for drink was created. His Las Vegas appearances with the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop — cemented the image. In later years, the guise became a bit more boozy and womanizing on “The Dean Martin Show,” which ran from 1965 to 1974 on NBC.

It was all an act.

“The one thing I try to get into is the side of Martin where he was kind of a brooding guy, he had things in his life her regretted,” Pandola says. “He loved kids, he loved his children, and he was a devoted husband.”

So there was more to Martin than meets the eye.

“What interested me about the guy, is that like so many people I grew up with in South Philly, he’s the child of immigrant parents,” says Pandola of Martin, who was born Dino Crocetti in Ohio. “He had one foot in the old world, and one foot in the new world.”