Hey there, pallies! Man o man...Have I got somethin' CRAZY to end January 2016! Hope youse is ready for this one! Let me see...how can I describe this? Hmmmmm... Let's just say Dino has gone techno. TOTALLY techno!!! Haha!!
It's a GREAT GREAT & VERY modern take on an old school classic Dean jam! DEF I NATE LY a lot of fun, mi amici! Youse gotta be open minded though, pals. Let it resonate for a bit. Play it a few times. Maybe even get a nice glass of vino to sip on. This one might give ya' the rickets! hahaha!!!
OK. I cants' wait ANY longer! I've been jammin' on this one ALL week & am DYIN' to share it with my Dino-Diggin' pallies!
Today's Serenade, "Mambo Italiano - Club Des Belugas Remix", is sure to get youse movin'! Hopefully NOT into a straight jacket! Haha!! It's actually VERY cool to keep gettin' these fresh takes on our main man's classic tunes. Youse can't beat the originals, my friends. Still...it's VERY cool to see how the musical artists of today have respect for these classics. They KNOW where to start. Just goes to prove, once again, that Dean was....is....& ALWAYS will be the King! Coolness doesn't fade away, pals. Enjoy!
(A boy went back to Napoli because he missed the scenery)
(The native dances and the charming songs)
(But wait a minute something's wrong)
('cause now it's)
Hey mambo, mambo Italiano hey hey mambo mambo Italiano
Go go go you mixed up Siciliano
All you Calabrese do the mambo like-a crazy with the
Hey mabo don't wanna tarantella
Hey mambo no more mozzarella
Hey mambo mambo Italiano try an enchilada with a fish baccala
Hey goomba I love how you dance the rumba
But take some advice paisano learn-a how to mambo
If you're gonna be a square you ain't-a gonna go anywhere
Hey mambo mambo Italiano hey hey mambo mambo Italiano
Go go Joe shake like a tiavanna
E lo che se dice you get happy in the pizza when you
Mambo Italiano
Hey chadrool you don't-a have to go to school
Just make it with a big bambino
It's like vino
Kid you good-a looking but you don't-a know what's cooking 'til you
Hey mambo mambo Italiano
Hey hey mambo mambo Italiano
Ho ho ho you mixed up Siciliano
E lo che se dice you get happy in the pizza when you
Mambo Italiano
Hey pallies, likes while ilovedinomartin tries 365 days a year to provide the incredible insightful informatio on our most beloved Dino, we set aside three months each and every Dino-year for special accentin' of the Dino-message. Each June, the month of our King of Cool's entrance onto the planet on June 7, 1917, we spend the whole month celebratin' the anniversary of his birth. Each and every December, the month in which our Dino departed the planet on December 25, 1995 (Dino-winter-day) we honor his life and times durin' what we tagged it, Dino-winter-month.
And, our third month of special Dino-remembrance is February, the month in which Valentine's Day lands smack dab in the middle on February 14. We honor our Dino, the man of amore with a Dino-amore-month theme, with the 14th, of course, bein' Dino-amore-day!
There is simply no end to the possibilities of hugely, humbly homagin' our amorin' Dino durin' Dino-amore-month....great pixs, great tunes, great tributes to the one and only Dino. In the past, we have invited our remarkable readership to step forward and create they own tender, touchin' tribute of Dino-amore....perhaps sharin' a particularly meanin'ful Dino-croon, or sharin' their personal testimony of Dino-devotion...such as when they first came to know, love, and honor our King of Cool. Or....the potential possibilites are endless of how to homage our most beloved Dino....only limited by your Dino-creativity!
So, we are truly truly hopin' that many many faithful readers of our humble little Dino-blog will make the cool commitment to personally share their passion for our one and only amorin' Dino. If you would likes to join the ilovedinomartin Dino-amore-month festivities, simply email Dino Martin Peters at kentsmokerguy@yahoo.com your desire and we will get the ball rollin' from there. What d'ya say pallies, ain't it about time that you proudly, publicly profess your awesome appreciato for our Dino?!?!?!?! Dino-always, ever, and only, DMP
Hey pallies, likes from December 26 to this Dino-day, January 29, mostly we have been sharin' the awesomest of awesome adulation of our Dino from here, there, and everywhere. Likes this wintery season bein' the 20th anniversary of our most beloved Dino's departure from our presence, pallies from all 'round the globe have been coolly chimin' in with particularly potently powerful posts all in the hugest of huge homage of our one and only Dino.
Today, we thinks, we are goin' to be drawin' this most excitin' extraordinary emphasis on our Dino's life, times, and teachin' to a cool conclusion with a post that we have been savin' up for just this Dino-occasion! Likes today we are extremely excited to takes all youse Dino-holics to a beau-ti-ful blog tagged "INQUISITR - NEWS WORTH SHARING" where Miss Tara Dodrill on December 26 shared the most worthy of worthy news to be shared "DEAN MARTIN: REMEMBERING ‘DINO’ ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH."
Likes today's post to us is like the cherry on the top of the smoothest of smooth Dino-sundae that we have been servin' up for the past month or so here at ilovedinomartin. What makes Miss Dodrill's swankest of swank scribin's so so special that we have waited long to shares it with youse, is that only Tara's touchin' 'n tender words are filled to the overflowin' brim with some of our masterful Dino's most wondrously wise teachin's....somethin' that all the other posts have merely hinted at.
Miss Dodrill has done her honorin' homework of pullin' together quintessential quotations from our Dino's teachin's, some of which we have not seen before. Give us the pleasure of liftin' up our Dino's thoughts as shared by Miss Tara.....
“You take everybody else on TV–they’re puttin’ on an act, playin’ something they aren’t. But when people tune me in, they know they’re getting Dean Martin,”
“To become half a success in what you do, you have to enjoy it or else you become a griper. The good Lord gave me a talent and I’ll use it until I run dry.”
“With all the children and grandchildren, I’m old,” Dean Martin laughingly said when he turned 67. “But I don’t feel old. Death don’t come to me. I’m not going.”
ilovedinomartin shouts out our awesome appreciato for her swankest of swank scribin' on the life, times, and teacchin' of our Dino at the 20th anniversary of his passin' from our presence....ssure to help bring many more pallies into the Dino-fold. Likes to checks this out in it's original source, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-gram. Dino-always, ever, and only, DMP
DECEMBER 26, 2015
DEAN MARTIN: REMEMBERING ‘DINO’ ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH
TARA DODRILL
Dean Martin died 20 years ago on Christmas Day from heart failure. The Rat Pack member is remembered every year at a festival in his hometown of Steubenville, Ohio. Martin, affectionately known as “Dino” not only grabbed a microphone and sang on stage to the delight of screaming women during the 1950s, but also starred in a vast array of television specials, variety shows, and movies. Dean, 78 when he passed away, appeared to move with ease from wearing a tuxedo and singing on stage with Frank Sinatra to donning a cowboy hat and shooting bad guys in hist western movies with John Wayne.
Martin’s hugely successful variety show ran from 1965 to 1974. Dean reportedly enforced a one rehearsal only rule for each episode of his show. The renowned singer and actor once told reporters that the reason his show was so popular was because it featured him being him up on stage, not a tightly-scripted episode.
Dean Martin ‘Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime’ Video
“You take everybody else on TV–they’re puttin’ on an act, playin’ something they aren’t. But when people tune me in, they know they’re getting Dean Martin,” the Rat Pack member added. “To become half a success in what you do, you have to enjoy it or else you become a griper. The good Lord gave me a talent and I’ll use it until I run dry.”
The crooner was born Dino Paul Crocetti. He was the son of an Italian immigrant barber; he only spoke Italian until he was 5-years-old. After getting bored with his school his sophomore year, he dropped out of school and took up boxing, IMDB notes. Later in life, Martin said that he was embarrassed by his lack of a high school diploma and poor grammar skills. He boxed under the moniker, “Kid Crocetti” and scarred his hands permanently while attempting to make a living at the sport.
Dean Martin and the Rat Pack Live on Stage
During this stage of his younger years, Dean Martin also worked in a steel mill, bootlegging whiskey, as a soda jerk, and stole hubcaps. He eventually wound up in the gambling mecca of his northern Ohio region known as “Little Chicago.” He worked as a roulette stickman and at the blackjack table. The gamblers reportedly enjoyed hearing him hum a tune while he raked in their money for the house. Just for the fun of it, he began singing after work with a local band at Walker’s Cafe.
The first time he got paid to sing was in Columbus, Ohio billed as Dino Martini. Martin said that he chose the name because it resembled one of a popular opera singer of the era. The honest money he made, about $50 a week, was about the same amount he said he could have easily stolen from the gambling rooms during the same time span. When he was offered a singing contract in Cleveland, the now famous name of Dean Martin was born.
“Dad was so handsome, so debonair. They [agents] just thought, ‘We’ll put a drink in his hand and a cigarette.’ Every man wanted to be him, and every woman wanted to be with him,” his daughter Deanna Martin, also a singer, said during an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Dean Martin in Rio Bravo – Video
The daughter of Dean Martin also said that he was sipping apple juice on stage instead of whiskey. Sinatra and his fellow Rat Pack buddies often joked about Martin being tipsy during their nightclub performances. “He would be home for dinner every night. He would come home, and he and mom would have their one cocktail at the bar. He was kind,” Deanna added. “He was so different from what everybody thought he was. There was no one who could do Dean Martin better than Dean Martin.”
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson & Howard Hawks at work on one of my personal favorites, 'Rio Bravo' (1959).
During World War II, Dean Martin was drafted into the service, but he was honorably discharged after 14 months due to a hernia. Although Martin was known to throw a great party, especially on New Year’s Eve, friends said that it was not unusual for the sometimes loner to quietly slip away and go on up to bed fairly early in the evening.
Dean Martin was married three times. He and his first wife, Elizabeth McDonald, were married from 1940 to 1949 and had four children together; Craig, Claudia, Gail and Deanna. He married Jeanne Beigger in 1950 and the couple divorced in 1972. Martin and Beigger had three children together; Dean Jr. (also known as Dino), Ricci and Gina. In 1973, he married Cathy Hawn, but they divorced in 1976.
Dean Martin, Jr. was an Air Force National Guard Captain. The crooner’s namesake was killed during a jet fighter crash in 1987. Many friends and loved ones believe that Dino was never able to recover from the death of his son.
“With all the children and grandchildren, I’m old,” Dean Martin laughingly said when he turned 67. “But I don’t feel old. Death don’t come to me. I’m not going.”
Martin was often plagued by ulcers, but remained in fairly good physical shape and health, golfing almost daily, until the 1990s. He stopped performing about three years before his death and reportedly lived out his final years in solitude.
Today in 1995, the King of Swagger Dean Martin died.
Hey pallies, likes the word of the day dudes is MASSIVE!!!!! From a blogger tagged Mark over at the blog "liberallifestyles" come the post simply tagged "Dean Martin" shared on December 25, 2015, the twentieth anniversary of our most beloved Dino passin' from our presence here on earth. What makes it MASSIVE is the coolest of cool combo of Dino-images, Dino-vids, and Dino-commentary.
There are likes 15 incredible images of our Dino from various times and spaces in his life, along with 17 varied vids from youtube of our most beloved Dino from a vast variety of ages and stages of his career. And, likes there is powerful paragraph after powerful paragraph offerin' a coolly complete commentary on the life, the times, and the teachin's of our Dino....all in one MASSIVE post. This indeed is a powerfully potent primer for anyone who desire to growin' in knowin', lovin', and honor our one and only Dino!
Likes while we were preparin' all these Dino-details for postin' here at our humble little Dino-blog, the notion struck us that perhaps, just perhaps we have shared this marvelous material before. Indeed when we did a bit of searchin' through Dino-grams here at ilovedinomartin we discovered in August 10 of 2011, we indeed did share much of this same selection created by Mark. However Mark has renewed and refreshed the material addin' some different Dino-images and updatin' the Dino-vids likes as we know they come and go over at youtube.
Likes, if youse clicks HERE, youse will be transported to that original postin' of this incredible impressive effort on the park of Mark. We thanks him for repostin' his MASSIVE missive a la Dino on this the 20th anniversary of our most beloved Dino passin' from our presence here on planet earth.
To checks this out in it's original format, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report.
Dean Martin
Posted on December 25, 2015 by Mark
Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), born Dino Paul Crocetti, was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin’s hit singles included “Memories Are Made of This”, “That’s Amore”, “Everybody Loves Somebody”, “Mambo Italiano”, “Sway”, “Volare” and smash hit “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?”. Nicknamed the “King of Cool”, he was one of the members of the “Rat Pack” and a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.
Eventually, Martin gave up boxing. He worked as a roulette stickman and croupier in an illegal casino behind a tobacco shop where he had started as a stock boy. At the same time, he sang with local bands. Calling himself “Dino Martini” (after the then-famous Metropolitan Opera tenor, Nino Martini), he got his first break working for the Ernie McKay Orchestra. He sang in a crooning style influenced by Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), among others. In the early 1940s, he started singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested he change his name to Dean Martin.
In October 1941, Martin married Elizabeth Anne McDonald. During their marriage (ended by divorce in 1949), they had four children. Martin worked for various bands throughout the early 1940s, mostly on looks and personality until he developed his own singing style. Martin famously flopped at the Riobamba, a high class nightclub in New York, when he succeeded Frank Sinatra in 1943, but it was the setting for their meeting.
Drafted into the United States Army in 1944 during World War II, Martin served a year stationed in Akron, Ohio. He was then reclassified as 4-F (possibly because of a double hernia; Jerry Lewis referred to the surgery Martin needed for this in his autobiography) and was discharged.
By 1946, Martin was doing relatively well, but was still little more than an East Coast nightclub singer with a common style, similar to that of Bing Crosby. He drew audiences to the clubs he played, but he inspired none of the fanatic popularity enjoyed by Sinatra.
Mafia connections
A biography on Martin entitled Dean Martin: King of the Road by Michael Freedland alleged he had links to the Mafia early in his career. According to this book, Martin was given help with his singing career by the Chicago Outfit who owned saloons in the city, and later performed in shows hosted by these bosses when he was a star. The mob bosses were Tony (“Joe Batters”) Accardo and Sam Giancana. Freedland suggests Martin felt little sympathy for the Mafia and did them small favors only if it was not inconvenient for him. Another book, The Animal in Hollywood by John L. Smith, depicted Martin’s longtime friendship with Mafia mobsters “Handsome Johnny” Roselli and Anthony (“The Animal”) Fiato. Smith suggests that Fiato did Martin many favors, such as getting back money from two swindlers who had cheated Martin’s ex-wife Betty out of thousands of dollars of her alimony.
Career
Teaming with Jerry Lewis
Martin attracted the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, but a Hollywood contract was not forthcoming. He met comic Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis formed a fast friendship which led to their participation in each other’s acts and the ultimate formation of a music-comedy team.
Martin and Lewis’s official debut together occurred at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on July 24, 1946, and they were not well received. The owner, Skinny D’Amato, warned them that if they did not come up with a better act for their second show later that night, they would be fired. Huddling together in the alley behind the club, Lewis and Martin agreed to “go for broke”, to throw out the pre-scripted gags and to improvise. Martin sang and Lewis came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and making a shambles of both Martin’s performance and the club’s sense of decorum until Lewis was chased from the room as Martin pelted him with bread rolls. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter. This success led to a series of well-paying engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a triumphant run at New York’s Copacabana. Patrons were convulsed by the act, which consisted primarily of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, and ultimately the two of them chasing each other around the stage and having as much fun as possible. The secret, both said, is that they essentially ignored the audience and played to one another.
The team made its TV debut on the very first broadcast of CBS-TV network’s Toast of the Town (later called The Ed Sullivan Show) with Ed Sullivan and Rodgers & Hammerstein appearing on this same inaugural telecast of June 20, 1948. A radio series commenced in 1949, the same year Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount producer Hal B. Wallis as comedy relief for the movie My Friend Irma.
Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of Hollywood’s best deals: although they received only a modest $75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, Martin and Lewis were free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions. They also had complete control of their club, record, radio and television appearances, and it was through these endeavors that they earned millions of dollars.
In Dean & Me, Lewis calls Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time. But the harsh comments from the critics, as well as frustration with the formulaic similarity of Martin and Lewis movies, which producer Hal Wallis stubbornly refused to change, led to Martin’s dissatisfaction.He put less enthusiasm into the work, leading to escalating arguments with Lewis. They finally could not work together, especially after Martin told his partner he was “nothing to me but a dollar sign”. The act broke up in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first official teaming.
Martin’s first solo film, Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), was a box office failure. He was still popular as a singer, but with rock and roll surging to the fore, the era of the pop crooner was waning.
The CBS film, Martin and Lewis, a made-for-TV movie about the famous comedy duo, starred Jeremy Northam as Martin, and Sean Hayes as Lewis. It depicted the years from 1946–1956.
Studio publicity photo for Bells Are Ringing 1960
Solo career
Never totally comfortable in films, Martin wanted to be known as a real actor. Though offered a fraction of his former salary to co-star in a war drama, The Young Lions (1957), he was ecstatic to receive the part because it would be a dramatic showcase with the two most intriguing young actors of the period and he could learn from Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Tony Randall already had the part, but talent agency MCA realized that with this movie, Martin would become a triple threat: they could make money from his work in night clubs, movies, and records. Martin replaced Randall and the film turned out to be the beginning of Martin’s spectacular comeback. Success would continue as Martin starred alongside Frank Sinatra for the first time in a highly acclaimedVincente Minnelli drama, Some Came Running (1958). By the mid ’60s, Martin was a top movie, recording, and nightclub star, while Lewis’ film career declined. Martin was acclaimed for his performance as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson. He teamed up again with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), somewhat unconvincingly cast as brothers.
In 1960, Martin was cast in the motion picture version of the Judy Holliday hit stage play Bells Are Ringing. Martin played a satiric variation of his own womanizing persona as Vegas singer “Dino” in Billy Wilder’s comedy Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Kim Novak, and he was not above poking fun at his image in films such as the Matt Helm spy spoofs of the 1960s, in which he was a co-producer.
As a singer, Martin copied the styles of Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), Bing Crosby, and Perry Como until he developed his own and could hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby. Like Sinatra, he could not read music, but he recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs. His signature tune, “Everybody Loves Somebody”, knocked The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964. This was followed by the similarly-styled “The Door is Still Open to My Heart”, which reached number six later that year. Elvis Presley was said to have been influenced by Martin, and patterned “Love Me Tender” after his style. Martin, like Elvis, was influenced by country music. By 1965, some of Martin’s albums, such as Dean “Tex” Martin, The Hit Sound Of Dean Martin, Welcome To My World and Gentle On My Mind were composed of country and western songs made famous by artists like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens. Martin hosted country performers on his TV show and was named “Man Of the Year” by the Country Music Association in 1966. “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, a song Martin performed in Ocean’s Eleven that never became a hit at the time, has enjoyed a spectacular revival in the media and pop culture.
For three decades, Martin was among the most popular acts in Las Vegas. Martin sang and was one of the smoothest comics in the business, benefiting from the decade of raucous comedy with Lewis. Martin’s daughter, Gail, also sang in Vegas and on his TV show, co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC. Though often thought of as a ladies’ man, Martin spent a lot of time with his family; as second wife Jeanne put it, prior to the couple’s divorce, “He was home every night for dinner.”
The Rat Pack
As Martin’s solo career grew, he and Frank Sinatra became close friends. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin and Sinatra, along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack, so called by the public after an earlier group of social friends, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack centered on Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, of which Sinatra had been a member.
The Martin-Sinatra-Davis-Lawford-Bishop group referred to themselves as “The Summit” or “The Clan” and never as “The Rat Pack”, although this has remained their identity in the popular imagination. The men made films together, formed an important part of the Hollywood social scene in those years, and were politically influential (through Lawford’s marriage to Patricia Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy).
The Rat Pack were legendary for their Las Vegas performances. For example, the marquee at the Sands Hotel might read DEAN MARTIN—MAYBE FRANK—MAYBE SAMMY. Las Vegas rooms were at a premium when the Rat Pack would appear, with many visitors sleeping in hotel lobbies or cars to get a chance to see the three men together. Their act (always in tuxedo) consisted of each singing individual numbers, duets and trios, along with much seemingly improvised slapstick and chatter. In the socially-charged 1960s, their jokes revolved around adult themes, such as Sinatra’s infamous womanizing and Martin’s legendary drinking, as well as many at the expense of Davis’s race and religion. Davis famously practiced Judaism and used Yiddish phrases onstage, eliciting much merriment from both his stage-mates and his audiences.[citation needed] It was all good-natured male bonding, never vicious, rarely foul-mouthed and the three had great respect for each other. The Rat Pack was largely responsible for the integration of Las Vegas. Sinatra and Martin steadfastly refused to appear anywhere that barred Davis, forcing the casinos to open their doors to African-American entertainers and patrons, and to drop restrictive covenants against Jews.
Posthumously, the Rat Pack has experienced a popular revival, inspiring the George Clooney/Brad Pitt “Ocean’s” trilogy. An HBO film, The Rat Pack, starred Joe Mantegna as Martin, Ray Liotta as Sinatra and Don Cheadle as Davis. It depicted their contribution to JFK’s election in 1960.
The 1960s to 1980s
In 1965, Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show, which exploited his public image as a lazy, carefree boozer. There he perfected his famous laid-back persona of the half-drunk crooner suavely hitting on beautiful women with hilarious remarks that would get anyone else slapped, and making snappy if slurred remarks about fellow celebrities during his famous roasts. During an interview he stated, and this may have been tongue-in-cheek, that he had someone record them on cassette tape so he could listen to them; this is evidenced by his comments to this effect on the British TV documentary ‘Wine, Women and Song’ which was aired in 1983.
The TV show was a success. Martin prided himself on memorizing whole scripts – not merely his own lines He disliked rehearsing because he firmly believed his best performances were his first. The show’s loose format prompted quick-witted improvisation from Martin and the cast. On occasion, he made remarks in Italian, some mild obscenities that brought angry mail from offended, Italian-speaking viewers This prompted a battle between Martin and NBC censors, who insisted on more scrutiny of the show’s content. The show was often in the Top Ten. Martin, deeply appreciative of the efforts of the show’s producer, his friend Greg Garrison, later made a handshake deal giving Garrison, a pioneer TV producer in the 1950s, 50% ownership of the show. However, the validity of that ownership is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought by NBC Universal.
Despite Martin’s reputation as a heavy drinker – a reputation perpetuated via his vanity license plates reading “DRUNKY” – he was remarkably self-disciplined. He was often the first to call it a night, and when not on tour or on a film location, liked to go home to see his wife and children. Phyllis Diller has said that Martin was indeed drinking alcohol onstage and not apple juice. She also commented that although he was not drunk, he was not really sober either, but had very strict rules when it came to performances. He borrowed the lovable-drunk shtick from Joe E. Lewis, but his convincing portrayals of heavy boozers in Some Came Running and Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo led to unsubstantiated claims of alcoholism. More often than not, Martin’s idea of a good time was playing golf or watching TV, particularly westerns – not staying with Rat Pack friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. into the early hours of the morning.
Martin starred in and co-produced a series of four Matt Helm superspy comedy adventures. A fifth, The Ravagers, was planned starring Sharon Tate and Martin in a dual role, one as a serial killer, but due to the murder of Tate and the decline of the spy genre the film was never made.
By the early 1970s, The Dean Martin Show was still earning solid ratings, and although he was no longer a Top 40 hitmaker, his record albums continued to sell steadily. His name on a marquee could guarantee casinos and nightclubs a standing-room-only crowd. He found a way to make his passion for golf profitable by offering his own signature line of golf balls. Shrewd investments had greatly increased Martin’s personal wealth; at the time of his death, Martin was reportedly the single largest minority shareholder of RCA stock. Martin even managed to cure himself of his claustrophobia by reportedly locking himself in the elevator of a tall building and riding up and down for hours until he was no longer panic-stricken.
Martin retreated from show business. The final (1973–74) season of his variety show would be retooled into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less of Martin’s involvement. After the show’s cancellation, NBC continued to air the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast format in a series of TV specials through 1984. In those 11 years, Martin and his panel of pals successfully ridiculed and made fun of these legendary stars in this order: Ronald Reagan, Hugh Hefner, Ed McMahon, William Conrad, Kirk Douglas, Bette Davis, Barry Goldwater, Johnny Carson, Wilt Chamberlain, Hubert Humphrey, Carroll O’Connor, Monty Hall, Jack Klugman & Tony Randall, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Leo Durocher, Truman Capote, Don Rickles, Ralph Nader, Jack Benny, Redd Foxx, Bobby Riggs, George Washington, Dan Rowan & Dick Martin, Hank Aaron, Joe Namath, Bob Hope, Telly Savalas, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason,
Sammy Davis Jr, Michael Landon, Evel Knievel, Valerie Harper,Muhammad Ali, Dean Martin, Dennis Weaver, Joe Garagiola, Danny Thomas, Angie Dickinson, Gabe Kaplan, Ted Knight, Peter Marshall, Dan Haggerty, Frank Sinatra, Jack Klugman, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Betty White, Suzanne Somers, Joan Collins, and Mr T. For nearly a decade, Martin had recorded as many as four albums a year for Reprise Records. That stopped in November 1974, when Martin recorded his final Reprise album – Once In A While, released in 1978. His last recording sessions were for Warner Brothers Records. An album titled The Nashville Sessions was released in 1983, from which he had a hit with “(I Think That I Just Wrote) My First Country Song”, which was recorded with Conway Twitty and made a respectable showing on the country charts. A followup single “L.A. Is My Home” / “Drinking Champagne” came in 1985. The 1975 film Mr. Ricco marked Martin’s final starring role, and Martin limited his live performances to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Martin seemed to suffer a mid-life crisis. In 1972, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Jeanne. A week later, his business partnership with the Riviera was dissolved amid reports of the casino’s refusal to agree to Martin’s request to perform only once a night. He was quickly snapped up by the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and signed a three-picture deal with MGM Studios. Less than a month after his second marriage had been legally dissolved, Martin married 26-year-old Catherine Hawn on April 25, 1973. Hawn had been the receptionist at the chic Gene Shacrove hair salon in Beverly Hills. They divorced November 10, 1976. He was also briefly engaged to Gail Renshaw, Miss World-U.S.A. 1969.
Eventually, Martin reconciled with Jeanne, though they never remarried. He also made a public reconciliation with Jerry Lewis on Lewis’ Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in 1976. Frank Sinatra shocked Lewis and the world by bringing Martin out on stage.
As Martin and Lewis embraced, the audience erupted in cheers and the phone banks lit up, resulting in one of the telethon’s most profitable years. Lewis reported the event was one of the three most memorable of his life. Lewis brought down the house when he quipped, “So, you working?” Martin, playing drunk, replied that he was “at the Meggum” – this reference to the MGM Grand Hotel convulsed Lewis. This, along with the death of Martin’s son Dean Paul Martin a few years later, helped to bring the two men together. They maintained a quiet friendship but only performed together again once, in 1989, on Martin’s 72nd birthday.
Personal life
Martin was married three times.
Martin’s first wife, Betty McDonald, tried by all accounts to be a good wife and mother to their four children, but her efforts were ultimately undone by her alcoholism It remains a matter of speculation whether her alcoholism led to the failure of the marriage, or whether Martin’s infidelities led to Betty’s alcoholism. Subsequent to their divorce, Martin gained custody of their children; Betty lived out her life in quiet obscurity in San Francisco. Their children were Stephen Craig (born June 29, 1942), Claudia Dean (March 16, 1944 – 2001 from breast cancer), Barbara Gail (born April 11, 1945) and Deana (Dina) (born August 19, 1948).
Martin’s second wife was Jeanne Biegger. A stunning blonde, Jeanne could sometimes be spotted in Martin’s audience while he was still married to Betty. Their marriage lasted twenty-four years (1949–1973) and produced three children. Their children were Dean Paul (November 17, 1951 – March 21, 1987; plane crash), Ricci James (born September 20, 1953) and Gina Caroline (born December 20, 1956).
Martin’s third marriage, to Catherine Hawn, lasted three years. One of Martin’s managers had spotted her at the reception desk of a hair salon on Rodeo Drive, then arranged a meeting. Martin adopted Hawn’s daughter, Sasha, but their marriage also failed. Martin initiated divorce proceedings.
Martin’s uncle was Leonard Barr, who appeared in several of his shows.
Later years and death
On December 1, 1983 while gambling at the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City, Martin and Sinatra intimidated the dealer and several employees into breaking New Jersey law by making the dealer deal the cards by hand instead of from a shoe. Although Sinatra and Martin were implicated as the cause of the violation, neither was fined by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The Golden Nugget received a $25,000 fine (which Sinatra paid, stating that it was his responsibility as he and Martin were the cause of the fine) and four employees including the dealer, a supervisor and pit boss were suspended from their jobs without pay.
Martin returned to films briefly with appearances in the two star-laden yet critically panned Cannonball Run movies. He also had a minor hit single with “Since I Met You Baby” and made his first music video, which appeared on MTV. The video was created by Martin’s youngest son, Ricci.
On March 21, 1987, Martin’s son, Dean Paul (formerly Dino of the ’60s “teeny-bopper” rock group Dino, Desi & Billy), was killed when his F-4 Phantom II jet fighter crashed while flying with the California Air National Guard. A much-touted tour with Davis and Sinatra in 1988 sputtered. On one occasion, he infuriated Sinatra when he turned to him and muttered “Frank, what the hell are we doing up here?” Martin, who always responded best to a club audience, felt lost in the huge stadiums they were performing in (at Sinatra’s insistence), and he was not interested in drinking until dawn after performances. His final Vegas shows were at Bally’s Hotel in 1990. There he had his final reunion with Jerry Lewis on his 72nd birthday. Martin’s last two TV appearances involved tributes to his former Rat Pack members. On December 8, 1989, he joined many stars of the entertainment industry in Sammy Davis, Jr’s 60th anniversary celebration, which aired only a few weeks before Davis died from throat cancer. In December 1990, he congratulated Frank Sinatra on his 75th birthday special. By early 1995, Martin had officially retired from performing.
Martin, a life-long smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center on 16 September 1993. He died of acute respiratory failure resulting from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas morning 1995, at age 78. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.
Tributes and legacy
In 1996, Ohio Rte. 7, through Steubenville, was re-dedicated as “Dean Martin Boulevard.” Road signs bearing an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Martin’s likeness officially designate the stretch, along with a state historical marker, in the Gazebo Park at Route 7 and North Fourth Street.
An annual “Dean Martin Festival” celebration is held in Steubenville. Impersonators, friends and family of Martin, and various entertainers, many of Italian ancestry, appear.
In 2005, Las Vegas renamed Industrial Road as Dean Martin Drive. A similarly named street was dedicated in 2008 in Rancho Mirage, California.
Martin’s family was presented a gold record in 2004 for Dino: The Essential Dean Martin, his fastest-selling album ever, which also hit the iTunes Top 10. For the week ending December 23, 2006, the Dean Martin and Martina McBride duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” reached #7 on the R&R AC chart. It also went to #36 on the R&R Country chart – the last time Martin had a song this high in the charts was in 1965, with the song “I Will”, which reached #10 on the Pop chart.
An album of duets, Forever Cool, was released by Capitol/EMI in 2007. It features Martin’s voice with Kevin Spacey, Shelby Lynne, Joss Stone, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Robbie Williams, McBride and others.
His footprints were immortalized at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1964. Martin has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: One at 6519 Hollywood Boulevard, for movies; one at 1817 Vine, for recordings; and one at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard, for television.
In February 2009, Martin was honored with a posthumous Grammy award for Lifetime Achievement. Four of his surviving children, Gail, Deana, Ricci and Gina, were on hand to accept on his behalf. In 2009, Martin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Dean_Martin_- In Rio Bravo 1959
Popular culture
A number of Dean Martin songs have constantly been featured across popular culture for decades. Hit songs such as “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, “Sway”, “That’s Amore”, and Martin’s signature song “Everybody Loves Somebody” (and many more) have been used in films (such as the Oscar-winning Logorama, A Bronx Tale, Casino, Goodfellas, and Return to Me), television series (such as American Dad!, Friends, and House MD), video games (such as The Godfather: The Game, The Godfather II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Mafia II), and even fashion shows (such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2008).
In film and television
In That ’70s show episode, S-6/E-2 “Join Together.” When the Forman’s were throwing away all of their bad foods and drinks, because of Red’s Heart Attack. Red’s beloved beer and his meats were taken away and Red’s Fresh mouth son, Eric said,”Whoa look at this, it looks like Dean Martin exploded!”
In the movie A Bronx Tale, Martin’s song, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?”, was featured during the scene when C was playing dice.
A Budweiser TV commercial that premiered during Super Bowl XLI featured Martin’s “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?”.
British actor Jeremy Northam portrayed the entertainer in a made-for-TV movie called, Martin and Lewis, alongside Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes as Jerry Lewis.
Martin was portrayed by Joe Mantegna in an HBO movie about Sinatra and Martin titled The Rat Pack. Mantegna was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role.
In the movie Return to Me, three of his recordings are featured: “Good Morning, Life,” “Buona Sera” and “Return to Me”.
Danny Gans portrayed Martin in the miniseries Sinatra.
In the pilot episode of White Collar, Peter refers to Neal as “Dino”, referencing the newly-found Sy Devore suits that Neal now wears – made famous by the “Rat Pack”.
In the movie Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega go out to dinner at “Jack Rabbit Slim’s” – she chooses “Martin and Lewis”, and a $5 milkshake shows up.
In the movie Moonstruck, Martin’s recording of “That’s Amore” plays over both the opening and closing credits.
In a Royal Automobile Club commercial, “Memories are Made of This” is sung.
In games and gambling
Martin is the subject of “Dean Martin’s Wild Party”, a video slot machine found in some casinos. The game features songs sung by Martin during the bonus game and the count-up of a player’s winnings.
The 2010 video game, Fallout: New Vegas, features Martin’s “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head?” throughout the game. It can be listened to on the “New Vegas” radio channel and heard on the loud speakers when you enter the Vegas Strip. The first quest of the game is also ironically named after the same song, as the player character is inflicted with a headshot wound.
Dean Martin’s music is featured on the radios in the game Mafia II.
In music
A compilation album called, Amore!, debuted at Number One on Billboard magazine’s Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in its February 21, 2009 issue.
Other
In the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2008, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head?” was the opening song from the show.
Filmography
Features:
Year Film Role
1946 Film Vodvil: Art Mooney and Orchestra Short
1949 My Friend Irma Steve Laird
1950 My Friend Irma Goes West Steve Laird
At War with the Army 1st Sgt. Vic Puccinelli
Screen Snapshots: Thirtieth Anniversary Special Short
1951 That’s My Boy Bill Baker
1952 Sailor BewareAl Crowthers
Jumping Jacks Corp. Chick Allen
Road to Bali
Man in Lala’s dream Cameo (uncredited)
The Stooge Bill Miller
1953 Scared Stiff Larry Todd
The Caddy Joe Anthony
Money from Home Herman ‘Honey Talk’ Nelson
1954 Living It Up Dr. Steve Harris
3 Ring Circus Peter ‘Pete’ Nelson
1955 You’re Never Too Young Bob Miles
Artists and Models Rick Todd
Pardners
Slim Mosely Jr. / Slim Mosely Sr.
Hollywood or Bust
Steve Wiley
1957 Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Ray Hunter
1958 The Young Lions Michael Whiteacre
Some Came Running Bama Dillert (professional gambler)
1959 Rio Bravo Dude (‘Borachón’)
Career Maurice ‘Maury’ Novak
1960 Who Was That Lady? Michael Haney Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Bells Are Ringing Jeffrey Moss
Ocean’s 11 with Buddy Lester, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.
Ocean’s Eleven Sam Harmon
Pepe Cameo
1961 All in a Night’s Work Tony Ryder Ada Bo Gillis
1962 Something’s Got to Give Nicholas ‘Nick’ Arden (unfinished)
Sergeants 3 Sgt. Chip Deal
The Road to Hong Kong
The ‘Grape’ on plutonium Cameo
Who’s Got the Action? Steve Flood
1963 38-24-36 Self
Come Blow Your Horn The Bum (uncredited)
Toys in the Attic Julian Berniers
4 for Texas Joe Jarrett
Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed? Jason Steel
1964 What a Way to Go! Leonard ‘Lennie’ Crawley
Robin and the 7 Hoods Little John
Kiss Me, Stupid Dino
In Rawhide 1964
1965 The Sons of Katie Elder Tom Elder
Marriage on the Rocks Ernie Brewer
1966 The Silencers Matt Helm
Texas Across the River Sam Hollis
Murderers’ Row Matt Helm
1967 Rough Night in Jericho Alex Flood
The Ambushers Matt Helm
1968 How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life David Sloane Bandolero!
Dee Bishop
Rowan & Martin at the Movies Short
5 Card Stud Van Morgan
1969 The Wrecking Crew Matt Helm
1970 Airport Capt. Vernon Demerest
1971 Something Big Joe Baker
1973 Showdown Billy Massey
1975 Mr. Ricco Joe Ricco
1981 The Cannonball Run Jamie Blake
1984 Cannonball Run II Jamie Blake
Crypt of Dean Martin, at Westwood Memorial Park Died 20 years Ago today
Hey pallies, likes one more time we are coolly compelled to stop our regularly scheduled Dino-gram 'cause we have discovered that likes yet 'nother retell of the Dino-tale is headin' our way this very weekend on the small screen Likes we wanna gives a huge heads-up to Dino-holics everywhere, hopin' that just a ton of Dino-devotees will be able to tune in and turn on to this Dino-documentary! This noteworthy news comes our way from the web pad of "NEWSMAX" where scriber Mr. Bill Hoffmann reports "Newsmax TV Presents the Life and Times of 'The King of Cool' Dean Martin."
Likes as you will read below, "NEWSMAX" is servin' up "the fascinating documentary, 'The Rat Pack: Dean Martin'" this Sunday evenin' at 10 p.m. (ET) and likes dudes it looks awesomely awesome and we wants to does our best to spread the word pallie to pallie to helps this Dino-event to gets the widest of wide airin's as possible.
Youse can't read at the end of the article all the wondrous ways technologically that this potent programme on our one and only Dino will be able to be accessed. We are deeply delighted to have come 'cross this great great news in time to pass it on to Dino-philes 'round the Dino-globe and hopes that we will all make an energetic effort to support this Dino-effort that will have the powerful potential to bring many many more folks into knowin', lovin', and honorin' our Dino.
We sez our thanks to all the folks at "NEWSMAX" for hugely honorin' our Dino in this way and to Mr. Bill Hoffmann for spreadin' the word. To checks this out at it's original site, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report. Dino-psyched, DMP
Newsmax TV Presents the Life and Times of
'The King of Cool' Dean Martin
By Bill Hoffmann | Tuesday, 26 Jan 2016 03:06 PM
Dean Martin was fondly known as "The King of Cool" and his swarthy good looks and smooth-as-silk crooning style made him an integral part of Frank Sinatra's band of celebrity bad boys, The Rat Pack.
And now Newsmax TV presents an in-depth look at the life and times of the entertainer who was born Dino Paul Crocetti in the fascinating documentary, "The Rat Pack: Dean Martin."
"The Rat Pack: Dean Martin" airs Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, and it's only on Newsmax TV, America's No. 1 choice for breaking news, hard-hitting opinion and award-winning documentaries.
Just as Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had reputations as notorious skirt-chasers, Dino was seen as the sexy but shy member of the terrible trio, almost an innocent bystander among the wolves prowling hot-sheets Hollywood.
Belting out love songs like "Volare," "That's Amore" and "Everybody Loves Somebody", Martin quickly became a household name, sold millions of records and appeared in his own TV show.
But he may have been best known for his rollicking stint with The Rat Pack.
In "The Rat Pack: Dean Martin," you'll see Dino singing some of his biggest hits, playing around with his scotch-and-cigarette brandishing pack-mates.
"The Rat Pack: Dean Martin" adds to the diverse news and opinion programs featured on Newsmax TV, now carried in more than 40 million U.S. satellite and cable homes.
With compelling original shows such as "Newsmax Prime," "The Hard Line" "Newsmax Now," "The Steve Malzberg Show" and Dennis Michael Lynch: Unfiltered, Newsmax TV has become the nation's must-watch news, lifestyle and information channel.
Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV channel 349, Dish Network channel 223 and Verizon Fios 115, via OTT devices, as a free app on iPhone (iOS), Android, and other smartphones, and at NewsmaxTV.com.
Hey pallies, likes are we in for 'nother sweetest of sweet Dino-treats as we share 'nother remarkable remembrance of our most beloved Dino as our series of stunnin' salutes to our main man on the 20th anniversary mark of his passin' from our planet. Today we meet with the pallies at new-to-ilovedinomartin entertainment blog "CELEB TV" where their eager efforts are tagged "Remembering Dean Martin on His 20-Year Death Anniversary."
Their offerin' includes both printed prose and vibrant video presentation....both on the short side of length....the prose is a single paragraph and the vid is just a minute in length, but long on their awesome affirmation of our one and only Dino. Likes we are particularly partial to the touchin' and tender video tribute hosted by Miss Cassie Dilaura which is awesomely amazin' in the 'mout of Dino-devotion it offers through words and images in just a mere sixty seconds.
Likes we were not able to transfer the video directly to ilovedinomartin, but likes if you clicks on the
VIDEO TRIBUTE link you will be able to view it in all it's Dino-glory! We shouts our our Dino-appreciato to Miss Cassie Diluara and all the pallies at CELEB TV for there excellent effort in their remarkable reflection on the life and times of our most beloved Dino. To checks this out in it's original source, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-gram. Always always rememberin' our Dino, DMP
Remembering Dean Martin on His 20-Year Death Anniversary
DECEMBER 25TH, 2015
It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the world lost the legendary Dean Martin, so let’s take a trip down memory lane to remember the icon, starting with his early career when he and Jerry Lewis became one of the most iconic music-comedy teams to grace the small screen and airwaves. From Dino’s solo career on the big screen to his on-and-off screen friendship with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, he has sealed his place as not only one of the most popular acts in Vegas history, but an icon that we will never forget.
Hey pallies, likes we are perfectly pleased to be able to share more awesome adulation from the good ol' United States of America in huge homage of our Dino's 20th anniversary of his passin' from our presence. Likes today we turn to a blog often shared here at ilovedinomartin, 'cause the blogger, Mr. David Lobosco, is a self-proclaimed devotee of our Dino and over time has shared many many hugely honorin' Dino-posts at his pad.
Mr. Lobosco's blog is tagged "A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE," and his December 25, 2015 post is simply tagged, "PAST OBITS: DEAN MARTIN." The bulk of David's post is a word for word sharin' of our Dino's obituary as posted in the New York Times on December 26, 1995. Lobosco includes a link at the end of his post so we can all read in it's original format...just clicks on the tag
SOURCE at the end of this post.
Likes it is with perfect pleasure that we share with all youse Dino-holics Mr. David Lobosco's most informative post on this anniversary of our Dino's departure from our presence. It is always always awesome to return time and time 'gain to one of the most Dino-devoted bloggers we have made acquaintance with. Thanks pallie David for once 'gain liftin' up the name of our one and only Dino in such a wondrously wise way! To checks this out in it's original source, simply clicks on the tag of this Dino-gram. Deeply deeply devoted to Dino, DMP
Friday, December 25, 2015
PAST OBITS: DEAN MARTIN
It is hard to believe that one of my favorite singers, Dean Martin, has been gone now for 20 years. He died on Christmas Day 1995. Although life goes on, Christmas is a little sadder since Dean has been gone. Here is the New York Times obituary from December 26, 1995...
Dean Martin, the sleepy-voiced pop crooner and movie actor who with Jerry Lewis formed one of the most popular comedy teams in movie history, died yesterday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 78.
The cause was acute respiratory failure, said Mort Viner, his longtime agent and friend.
For nearly four decades Mr. Martin carried on two self-sustaining careers, one as a singer, the other as an actor. In the mid-1960's he also became a popular television star with his own variety show.
As a pop vocalist who brought a slurred, insinuating sensuality to the intimate crooning style popularized by Bing Crosby and Perry Como, he enjoyed a string of hit records including "That's Amore," "Memories Are Made of This," "Return to Me," and "Everybody Loves Somebody."
While Mr. Martin was never considered a serious pop-song interpreter, he was a significant influence on others. The singer, who once said he "copied Bing Crosby 100 percent," was the link between Crosby's and Perry Como's relaxed crooning style and the soft, sultry side of Elvis Presley, who named Mr. Martin a boyhood idol and whose ballad hits like "Love Me Tender" copied Mr. Martin's bedroom-voiced diction.
As an actor, Mr. Martin appeared in 55 films, beginning with "My Friend Irma" in 1949 and ending with "Cannonball Run II" in 1984. His screen career had two distinct phases. Beginning in 1949, he starred with Mr. Lewis in 16 hit comedies, playing the suave straight man to Mr. Lewis's infantile clown. They were direct descendants of the popular 40's duo of Abbott and Costello.
Among Mr. Martin's other important movies were "Some Came Running," "Rio Bravo," "The Sons of Katie Elder" and "The Silencers." "The Silencers" was the first of four spy films in which he played Matt Helm, a James Bond-like smoothie. Despite good reviews for "The Young Lions," he did not pursue a serious film career. Still, in movies like "Sergeants Three," "Four for Texas," and "Robin and the Seven Hoods," which he made with Mr. Sinatra and the clique known as the Rat Pack, Mr. Martin projected an unflappable nonchalance tinged with an amused self-parody.
Within the Rat Pack Mr. Martin was dubbed "the clown prince." One of the popular myths about him -- that he was a heavy drinker who lived in a perpetual alcoholic haze -- was an idea borrowed from Phil Harris and successfully promoted by the star, whose supremely relaxed manner, ad-libbing and slightly blurred diction bolstered the image of hard-drinking sybarite. Although the image was largely an invention, Nick Tosches' 1992 biography of the singer, "Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams," portrayed him as a heavy drinker late in his life.
The son of an Italian immigrant barber, Mr. Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 7, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio, and began his singing career in a local spaghetti parlor. As a teen-ager he was an amateur welterweight fighter and later alternated between singing and working as a croupier in nightclubs. He adopted the name Dino Martini when he first sang with the Sammy Watkins Band in Cleveland and shortened it to Dean Martin after meeting Mr. Lewis.
From picture to picture, the Martin and Lewis formula hardly varied. As Mr. Lewis clowned and mugged, Mr. Martin played the amused, fraternally indulgent, faintly patronizing straight man. But their playful screen chemistry did not extend to their personal relationship and, in 1956, while completing their final picture "Hollywood or Bust," they announced their breakup.
Mr. Martin once said that the two biggest turning points in his career were "meeting Jerry Lewis" and "leaving Jerry Lewis."
He became a television star in 1965 when "The Dean Martin Show," a one-hour variety show, began its eight-year run. It was followed by "The Dean Martin Comedy World" and then by a series of celebrity roasts. The show, with its racy ad-libs and air of spontaneity, fixed Mr. Martin's image in the public mind as a genial, slightly soused emcee with a couldn't-care-less attitude.
His recording career was as long and successful as his career in movies. Signed to Capitol Records in 1948, he had 40 singles on Billboard's charts between 1950 and 1969. Three of them -- "That's Amore" (1953), "Memories Are Made of This" (1955) and "Everybody Loves Somebody" (1964) -- were million-sellers, and seven reached the top 10. Between 1964 and 1969 he released 11 albums that were certified "gold," for sales of more than 500,000 copies. All 11 were recorded for Reprise, a label founded by Frank Sinatra in which Mr. Martin was an investor.
"Everybody Loves Somebody," which revitalized his pop singing career in 1964 and was the theme of his television show, was produced by Jimmy Bowen, a top producer of country music during the 1970's. Most of Mr. Martin's later recordings were made in Nashville and had a strong country flavor.
Mr. Martin married three times. He had four children by his first wife, Elizabeth Anne McDonald, whom he married in 1940 and divorced in 1949. His second marriage to Jeanne Riegger lasted 23 years and produced three children, among them Dean Paul (Dino) Martin, who was a member of the 60's teen pop group Dino, Desi and Billy and later an actor. Dino Martin was killed in a plane crash in 1987...
Welcome back, Ol pallies o' mine! How's all my fellow Dino-philes? Hopin' youse were among the lucky ones who only seen a few flurries & hopin' this week's Serenade finds ALL my pals in good spirits & good health. Man o man...Mother Nature is showin' her fury with this one, my friends! Keep the Dino-faith! All thins' shall pass! We've been down this road MANY times, pals... & we Dino-holics ALWAYS bounce back!
Whatever your situation, my friends...if your still out there shovelin'... or if life is upside down at the moment...or you were among the fortunate ones & are all done & thawin' by a fire...Dino's got some VERY encouragin' food for thought! It's mind over matter, pals...as a good friend has been tellin' me all week...Youse can conquer ANYTHIN' youse set your mind too!
The snow will keep snowin' & the wind will keep blowin'. But pals...we can weather ANY storm! Just fill your heart with Dean's love for ALL his pals...& watch those icicles form! Love conquers all, mi amici! Yes it does!
OK...I'll let Dino take it from here, pals. Today's Serenade, "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", is EX ACT LY what I'm talkin' 'bout! Youse think Dean EVER let a little snow & ice keep him from meltin' the heart of some VERY lucky lady?! NO WAY, my friends! He looked at this as a GOLDEN opportunity! Haha!!
Let's get this record spinnin' & take some advice from the Sorcerer of Swoon, himself! We'll make the BEST of this snowy Mess! Stay strong & stay safe, mi amici.
The snow is snowing and the wind it is blowing
But I can weather the storm
What do I care how much it may storm
I've got my love to keep me warm
I cannot remember the worst December
Just watch the icicles form
What do I care if icicles form
I've got my love to keep me warm
Off with my overcoat off with my gloves
Who needs an overcoat I'm burning with love
My heart's on fire and the flame grows higher
So I will weather the storm
What do I care how much it may storm
I've got my love to keep me warm
I thought you ought to know my heart's on fire
The flame it just leaps higher
So I will weather the storm
Why do I care how much it storms
I've got my love
To keep me warm
I've got my love to keep me warm
Hey there, pallies! 
James Hancock
