Friday, July 29, 2016

The 70th Anniversary of Martin and Lewis


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Hey pallies, likes today's post certainly brightened our Dino-day when it came our way through the beautiful blog search engine "Twingly."  Likes why youse  inquire did it lift our Dino-spirits?  Well, we are always always mightily moved when we find 'nother pallie aidin' their readership in growin' in their knowledge and appreciato of our one and only Dino.

Likes that's exactly what our deeply devoted to Dino pallie Mr. Terence Towles Canote  has awesomely accomplished in his recent post "The 70th Anniversary Of Martin and Lewis" at his personal blog "A SHROUD OF THOUGHTS - DEDICATED TO POP CULTURE IN ALL ITS FORMS."  We have had the pure pleasure of sharin' a trio of hugely honorin' Dino-devotions from Mr. Canote in the past here at ilovedinomartin and youse can find 'em located  HERE and   HERE and   HERE.

We are likes perfectly pumped to find this swankly sold-out-to-our-Dino dude remindin' his readership of this incredibly important date in all of Dino-history...the day  in time when our most beloved Dino and his most beloved partner, Mr. Jerry Lewis teamed up for the very first time at the 500 Club on July 25, 1946 in Alantic City.  Canote does an outstandin' job in a few potent paragraphs of fillin' us all in on all the who, what, when, where, why, and how quires on the greatest comedic team in all of history and we solemnly salute him for these energetic efforts on behalf of our King of Cool.

We simply wishes that the wide world was populated with more Dino-adulatin' pallies likes Mr. Terence Towles Canote 'cause that woulda means that more and more pallies woulda be deeply drawn into the  Dino-fold in short form.  We thanks him for his long lastin' love of our Dino and for sharin' it at his great great blog.  To checks this out in it's original format, simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-report.

We remain,

Yours in Dino,

Dino Martin Peters

MONDAY, 25 JULY 2016


The 70th Anniversary of Martin and Lewis

It was 70 years ago today, on July 25 1946, that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their debut as a comedy team at the 500 Club in Atlantic City. Prior to teaming up Dean Martin was a nightclub singer while Jerry Lewis was a comic among whose schticks was lip-synching to records. The two met in 1945 while they were both performing at the Glass Hat Club in New York City.

The debut of Martin and Lewis did not go over particularly well that night at the 500 Club. In fact, it went so badly that the owner of the 500 Club, Paul "Skinny" D'Amato, threatened to fire them if their second show that night was not better than their first. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis then wholly redid their act, doing away with many of the scripted gags they had used in their first show and relying more on improvisation. Their second show that night received a much better reception than the first.

It was not long before Martin and Lewis were performing at clubs all along the East Coast. On June 20 1948 they appeared on the first edition of a brand new TV show, Toast of the Town (later to be renamed for its host, The Ed Sullivan Show). On August 3 1948 they appeared on Texaco Star Theatre Starring Milton Berle. By 1949 Martin and Lewis had their own radio show on NBC. That same year they made their feature film debut inMy Friend Irma (1949).

Sadly, Martin and Lewis would not last. After a successful radio show, sixteen successful films, and numerous television appearances, tensions between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis reached such a point that the two were constantly arguing. On July 25 1956, ten years exactly after their debut as a comedy team, Dean Martin split with Jerry Lewis. Their seventeenth and final film together, Hollywood or Bust, was released several months later, on December 6 1956.

While the team of Martin and Lewis had ended, they would each go onto highly successful solo careers. Dean Martin not only became a popular recording artist, but also starred in a number of movies and had his own long running variety show. Jerry Lewis made several successful comedy films. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis would eventually reconcile, appearing together on Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon on Labour Day 1976. The two appeared together one last time at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on June 7 1989. Dean Martin was performing there and Jerry Lewis showed up for Dean's 72nd birthday. Sadly, Dean Martin died on December 25 1995, ending any chance of the world again seeing the team of Martin and Lewis perform live.

3 comments:

Danny G. said...

Great to read such honorin' of such a great duo! The best comic duo of all time!

Always On Watch said...

70 years? It doesn't seem possible!

BlueisCoool said...

A great read on such a milestone event in the history of entertainment. It really is hard to believe that it has been that long again! Thank you DMP for this great post.

Scott