In honor of Dean Martin, whose 97th birthday was June 7 (hat tip to Love Dino Martin):

Hey pallies, likes the net is alive with the buzz 'bout the anniversary of our most beloved Dino's birthday, likes as we sez 'round these parts, "The Day That Coolness Came To Earth."  And likes we will continue to publish great great tributes to our great great man throughout this whole month.  We begins by takin' you to the blog "Always On Watch - Semper Vigilans," where our ever-devoted-to-Dino pallie Miss AOW has taken a break for all thin's politico to homage our Dino on his day of birth.

As you will note below Miss AOW has highlighted the great photo essay that was earlier reported here from all the pallies at LIFE Magazine of our "Laid-Back Legend" Dino!  Miss AOW includes the text that proceeds all those glorious Dino-images.

And, our Dino-lovin' lady has also shared some vids of our beloved Dino beloved croons:  "Welcome To My World" (one of our top of the top Dino-favs), "What's Yesterday," "Young At Heart", and our Dino's greatest of great hits, "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime."

We salute our ever-faithful pallie Miss AOW for turnin' her blog over to some deep, pure, and true devotion to our Dino on his most special of days.  To checks this out in it's original format, simply as usual, clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report.  Dino-delightedly, DMP


In honor of Dean Martin, whose 97th birthday was June 7 (hat tip to Love Dino Martin):

Rare and Classic Photos of a Laid-Back Legend

Text for the collection of slides and a few music videos:
In the early- to mid-1960s, Dean Martin emerged as one of the most popular entertainers on the planet, starring in major films, knocking the Beatles off the top of the charts with what would become his trademark tune, “Everybody Loves Somebody,” defining an entire new genre of cool with Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack, starring in his own long-running TV variety show — achieving all of this with the air of a man who had just woken from a nap and was still charmingly groggy.

In 1958, meanwhile, 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 genuine 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.
On what would have been his 97th birthday (b. June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio) LIFE pays tribute to one of show business’ enduring — and most laid-back – legends.







The Dean Martin song that nudged the Beatles out of first place on the Billboard charts on August 15, 1964: