Dean Martin - The One & Only (Documentary)

ladies and gentlemen the sands hotel proudly presents the star of our show direct from the bar d martin your love made it well has there ever been anyone in the entire history of the world cooler than dean martin deep martin is still popular even though he died several years ago because of his incredible appeal on all different levels as a singer as an actor as a comedian as a variety show host his appeal just hits everybody all different ages all different backgrounds ethnic groups men and women love him and he's just never gone out of date and never will because he was that kind of all-around entertainer i move i breathe i seem to feel the thrill of life along the keel you sound like a fairy boat i'm not a fairy boat i'm a very manly sloop wherever i go people stare at me in dumb admiration most acts come on like like a tank when they come on the stage firing away you know full of power dean came on like a like a sleek stretch limo you can't take your eyes off can't has there ever been anyone smoother more relaxed more confident than dino how would you describe dean martin well dean martin did what he did and what he did simply was dean martin it's it's an unmistakable sound it's an unmistakable style it's an unmistakable look um and i don't think it can be copied or repeated what else is there to say about me i love to sing and i love women when the stars make you shine like you've had too much wine you're in love when you are in a dream but you know you're not dreaming senor all at the moment hey give me a little kiss sound idea it's constructed wait right there and i'll be there in a minute probably one of the greatest singers that ever lived let me tell you that you don't have to go to the school i know of course get your pizzas here from oh the italian culture says we want to work sing make love and enjoy it's the greatest culture on the planet because it's the most common common sense culture on the planet not because i'm italian but i see it and i read about it and the history he spoke italian as it with an abruzzay's influence a midwest influence he wasn't ashamed of the way he spoke italian he spoke a lot of his italian is you know it's from his generation wasn't book educated he learned from the immigrants he didn't hide it he's proud of it to be part of this family you know the italians i don't know their language their ways you gotta know their foods oh i know all about that food dean i know that when i was at your house last time didn't your mother service that antipasti not antipasti it's handy antipasto dina was the coolest even elvis presley wanted to be like dean martin uh dee martin was elvis's favorite singer dean martin the eternal essence of cool men wanted to be like him and women just wanted him dean is lovable i mean you look at the man you see him singing he's he's sexy about men and women i think everything about dean is was so relaxed and perfect his hair even the way his hair just landed on his head and fell perfectly there was something about him that every woman had a secret thing to be with the dean martin you know he was an american icon and yet through it all dino always projected a sense of utter detachment and serenity he embodied the glorious excess of a world without rules or consequences from the very beginning the entertainment industry has always been full of self-publicist entertainers who would do anything for a headline or a story but dino one of the greatest stars ever was the complete opposite for over four decades despite his huge success in television films records and on stage dino remained just outside the radar of understanding the most distant star in the galaxy people loved him they adored him but they didn't really know him dean was always grateful for his good fortune and never forgot it was the public who had given him the good life but somehow dean martin always seemed detached as well he floated serenely above the fray if i had a barbecue i'd feel more comfortable with dean martin over my house than sinatra because i wouldn't worry about demar i know he would have a ball he would just have a good time sinatra i would be a little nervous i want to make sure frank's got something to drink does frank like the food does he like that chair maybe he doesn't want to sit over there see if frank wants to sit here that time but if dean martin i would feel like hey you know dean yeah help yourself over there we got some chicken parmesan and the bars over there you're on your own dean martin the ultimate cool and laid-back guy was also a man who had an absolutely phenomenal career as a singer recording artist tv star and movie star maybe we didn't know dean martin the man all that well but one thing is certain we had never seen anyone like him before and most certainly we will never see anyone like him ever again because dean martin was so cool relaxed and laid back there is one very important fact that always seems to get overlooked when examining his life and career when it comes to the three major areas of the entertainment industry movies television and music he was a giant d martin has been in the shadow of frank sinatra for far too long sinatra was a very talented man but so was dean and dean followed his own path he had a hit tv series not even sinatra could say that he was a top box office attraction hit record after hit record even when the beatles were on top he was a man of incredible achievements but sinatra got so much more press and so much more attention he took himself so much more seriously that dean was sort of shunted to one side except by the millions of his fans as a recording artist he sold millions and millions of records in 1964 he even knocked the beatles out of the number one spot on the pop charts as a live performer on stage whether partnered with jerry lewis with the rat pack or as a solo artist he was nothing short of brilliant to be in carolina in a more honor no one could be sweeter than my sweetie when i meet her in the morning where the morning glory the dean martin show was one of the most successful and beloved shows in tv history running on nbc for nine years this of course doesn't take into account the hugely popular dean martin rose that went on for 10 years after his weekly show went off the air and then there were the classic martin and lewis colgate comedy hours in the 50s well looks like i got myself a kid yeah yes dad and we're gonna be pal right i would think so dead oh i want a loving baby and it might as well be pretty baby of mine that's a morning pretty baby of mine to keep buying the records in the movies with jerry lewis in the martin and lewis films and as a leading man himself dino was a top 10 box office draw for two decades what do you think you're cooking around here oh shut up you've been getting away with murder and it's got to stop you understand shut up just because we were friends before and used to work together i've been covering up for you that's going to stop too you understand shout out i get your pack and everything that goes with it i want to see it down front in exactly five minutes understand shut up you're going to go on a long long journey you may not be back this way understand shut up let's break it down few people could stand up to his movie career very few could stand up to his nightclub uh attraction his television length the longevity he had on television is incredible in a a media that eats entertainers up and spits them out dean conquered everything he did every field television records recordings film and nightclubs dean martin was and remains a mega star he was truly one of a kind excuse me sir but the wedding is about to commence and i think they'll be needing you now yes sir how about that listen now i gotta go to the wedding oh i only knew the line what is it oh yeah that's why you clean up here where is the line after the anyway my first night here we drive out to visit dean martin's birthplace in steubenville they came by the millions between 1890 and 1920 over six million italians immigrated to america i think that many many people who are immigrants though they may have tears in their eyes when they do leave their homeland i also believe they have a capacity to cut off from the past more readily than do some of those relatives of theirs who did not leave home in this massive wave of immigrants was gaitano croceti who arrived in america in 1913 he came from the abruzzi region of southern italy he was headed to steubenville ohio he had two older brothers in steubenville who worked in the steel mills when gaetano arrived in steubenville he did not want to work in the mills like his brothers he became a barber and opened his own shop it was in steubenville that gaetano met angela barra and fell in love they were married in 1914 in 1916 their first son william was born and on june 7th 1917 their youngest child dino paul crochetti came into the world as the crochet brothers grew up the town began to supply in ever greater numbers what the hard-working steelworkers wanted more gin mills prostitutes and gambling dens as a young kid dino led a pretty uneventful normal life his father made enough money at the barber shop to provide the family with their own home and car dino was a member of the cub scouts oh beaver patrol ohio 706. dino's upbringing was purely italian catholic respect for his father and mother respect for his elders church every sunday indeed as with most children of the italian immigrant class in the first two decades of the 20th century dina was raised with strict guidelines and old world european values our parents were not perfect our parents allowed them all they had was common sense because our parents had a tough had a tough very tough but they survived they worked hand hand-in-hand they survived so you know we learned that common sense don't be smart you get home at six o'clock six o'clock not one minute after six o'clock and if the dog got home before you he ate your dinner he had a loving uh catholic religious family upbringing but steubenville was much too small for the likes of dean martin he was born in a small town but he was a big city kid almost from the beginning from the time he was a child dino paul loved to sing but early on he never considered it something he could do to make a living dino hated school and quit high school as a sophomore his parents told him that if he quit school he had to go to work at age 16 he even tried boxing fighting under the name of kid crochet he had a few fights lost most of them and quit he then got a job at rex's cigar store in downtown steubenville rex's was home to a gambling den the store was just a front for one of stephenville's oldest and most successful illegal businesses dean eventually became a dealer in the back room and loved it the rush of the roulette wheel the snap of the cards the boozy conversation the beautiful women it was magic to young dino all around him dino saw gangsters and gamblers many of them associated with the freschetti brothers who ran organized crime in that part of the country there's always been a lot of rumors about dean and the mob over the years hardly any of them are true i mean he knew mobsters because they owned the clubs i mean anybody debbie reynolds you know you name it they all knew mobsters because they were the owners or co-owners of these different venues you really had no great use for them and certainly no love for the mafia or anything like that that wasn't dean at rex's young dino made over 20 bucks a week not bad money for the depression years after working the gambling den dino and his friends would often hang out at after hour clubs in steubenville and every once in a while dino would get up and sing with the band he was good he had been very influenced by bing crosby more than anyone dino was influenced by harry mills of the mills brothers and that's why there was a group the mills brothers were very popular at that time and there was one singer the lead singer was harry mills and you know a lot of people say well dean got his singing style from bing crosby but if you look closely at harry mills take a look at him and you'll see b martin i'm racking my brain to think of her name to give to this tune so very ken crew and maybe in 1938 dina was offered an opportunity to sing professionally with the ernie mckay band who were big in ohio it was mckay's idea to change dean's name to dino martini a short while later the wife of bandleader sammy watkins heard dino sing and suggested to her husband that he hired the young italian crooner dean was singing with ernie mckay when a woman who was the wife of sammy watkins another band leader heard him sing and importuned her husband to let dean make a demo record so he could see uh if he had possibilities with this new band a much bigger band so it worked out and sammy hired dean and dean became the toast of cleveland for a while it was watkins who told dino to change his name to dean martin the singer liked the new name he thought it sounded classier and less ethnic dean was singing with the watkins band in cleveland in 1941 when he met a young girl named elizabeth mcdonald who was known to everyone as betty they fell in love and were married the marriage was a big time mistake from the start what is it with these names they all want to get married i know a lot of nice people that aren't married gene wasn't ready to get married to betty or anyone else for that matter he wasn't emotionally mature yet to be a husband or father with the bombing of pearl harbor in december of 1941 america went to war and dean ultimately received his draft notice but was rejected for military service because of a hernia he had suffered as a child so he continued with his career in the first seven years of their marriage dean and betty had four children craig claudia barbara and dina but if dean martin wasn't emotionally ready for marriage it's a sure bet he wasn't ready to be a full-time father either he was making decent money singing with the watkins band but he was on the road all the time touring the midwest leaving his family behind and he spent much of the money he earned on booze and women when he was on the road it was in 1943 that dean got an offer to play the rio bamba room in manhattan replacing frank sinatra who had cancelled his engagement there this was an opportunity that dean wasn't going to miss no matter what happened nothing was going to keep him away from new york now sammy watkins had a contract with him and objected to it strenuously so all dean did was he just took off in the middle of the night said to hell with him i'm going to new york and who could blame him that was the big big break in his career singing in new york at the rio bamba his debut at the rio bamba room went well and they extended his contract a couple of weeks it was in 1943 that dean met frank sinatra for the first time the two hit it off immediately and they became friends it was a friendship that would grow deep and strong over the next 40 years in fact frank who was a huge star at the time offered to help his fellow italian but dino felt he was on the verge of stardom and declined frank's offer of help dino sent for his wife and son and they settled in an apartment on the west side of manhattan dean however was no more ready to be a responsible husband and father in new york than he was in ohio he was once again making decent money singing at the various new york clubs but most of this money was spent on booze women and expensive meals he just did what a lot of people would have done in that situation he had a great time but he wasn't fiscally responsible because of dean's uh financial problems in new york spending and spending like crazy it caused a real strain on their marriage another problem was that he was never home first of all he worked in the evening singing even when he wasn't working he wanted to go out there were lots of women he wanted to meet and did meet and betty was left at home looking after the children and it was a sad situation for her so eventually she moved back in with her parents then with dean's parents and eventually they were divorced after sending his family away dino moved in with his manager lou perry and another young singer named sunny king it was in 1944 that dino met a young comic named joey levich whose stage name was jerry lewis they met in the coffee shop of the belmont plaza hotel they liked each other immediately and became good friends but the thought of ever performing together never entered their minds then in the spring of 1946 both were playing at the havana madrid club in new york it was at the havana madrid that the two did some routines together for the first time dean would launch into one of his songs and jerry would heckle him and the audience absolutely loved it in july of 1946 jerry lewis was booked at skinny d'amato's 500 club in atlantic city the singer on the bill jack randall got sick and lewis suggested to d'amato that dean martin would be a good replacement d'amato wasn't that interested until jerry told him that dean and he did some comedy bits together d'amato hired martin the first night they didn't do anything together and skinny d'amato was not impressed he told lewis that if they didn't come up with something funny both jerry and dean would be looking for new jobs the next day jerry jotted down some ideas for comedy bits dean and he could do as a team they would try working together the next night the rest of course is history by the end of their first week together at the 500 club there were lines around the block waiting to see martin and lewis they were nothing short of a sensation they became the talk of show business well the appeal was that we not we didn't care about the audience but we never looked at the audience we would work like i am talking to you now we will work to each other do a lot of funny things before you do anything else jerry introduce introduce my song and make it lovely jerry lewis was 19 years old and dino was 29. well one of the reasons the two of them clicked so well was because not only that jerry looked up to dean as a big brother but that dean saw jerry even though he was a married man with children himself as a kid brother almost as a son i mean they really had a wonderful bond together jerry needed somebody to be the big brother the father figure the hero figure which is how he described dean and dean was willing to go along with that for a time during their heyday they really were very close they really had a great deal of affection for one another they really did have strong emotional feelings for a time and so finally after years of struggling as a solo act dean martin had become a huge star as part of what became the single most popular comedy team in the history of show business martin and lewis toured the country selling out venues every place they went and breaking attendance records everywhere in the spring of 1948 they really hit the big time when they played the legendary copacabana in new york from the copa it was on to hollywood to play the most famous club on the west coast slapsy maxis on opening night all of hollywood was there including prominent film producer hal wallace we flew out here to california at slapsy maxis and our first show everybody was there all hollywood all the directors and producers and after our first show about five producers came backstage and we signed a six-year contract with hal wallace just right after the first show that's how fast things happen with jerry and myself their first film was my friend irma in which they had supporting roles it was the last time martin and lewis would appear in secondary roles a male seal a female seal both together a babysitter if you watch those movies they're the caddy let's say and you read in variety the reviews about who came to see those movies most of those were the girls 14 year old 12 year old girls who went to see jerry lewis and they they thought he was cute and you know that that whole jim carrey uh attitude where young kids thought it was so great in the nightclubs it wasn't that it was dean's dean martin the heavy hitters the boozers the big check tables the characters the guys who went to the racetrack the racketeers all of them they love dean it's two different total in my opinion two total different worlds well i hope you're satisfied with the way you embarrassed me look what the whole audience is staring at me stare back at him not better they stare at you here get off the stage and take this with you the martin lewis films were tremendously popular and successful because they stuck to a certain formula jerry was the child who had a sort of uh platonic crush on dean dean was the big brother of a father figure who was exasperated by him and jerry's antics would get dean into all kinds of trouble so it was funny in two ways watching dean get exasperated and watching jerry do all these wild and crazy things and the formula was basically geared towards children but even adults if they were in a silly mood could get into it they were tremendously popular and beloved by the public and they were often very funny they're the biggest sensation that ever hit big heart in new york because thanks to that beautiful sob sister janet lee everybody in town thinks jerry's going to die of radioactivity in a few days but just between us the kid's a lovable fake a nice nice boy on your feet you phony basset hounds wally hey you keep your hands off and you singing quack should i try bombs away well you'd better try something because in a couple of hours the whole city of new york is going to be banging at the door howling for your blood in total the team made 16 films between 1949 and 1956. you could try to analyze it the chemistry between dean martin and jerry lewis is just phenomenal it's uh you can't explain just sheer chemistry between two people they were just meant to be together roll up your sleeve think of something pleasant you're eating ice cream you're dancing with a beautiful beautiful girl you're sleeping in a wide dreamy bed that didn't hurt a bit did it how do you feel feel good okay come on although these films always followed the same formula each one was a financial bonanza and in fact it was the martin and lewis films that kept paramount studios afloat in those lean years when television came into prominence in america somebody's got everything all mixed up i think i'm playing now we're coming next this is the most outrageous thing i ever hired on gary don't get excited we're not showing sailor everywhere we're just showing a few scenes all in the place here the folks will come back to see besides the hit movies and sold out live performances the team of martin and lewis also conquered television as hosts of the colgate comedy hour in the early 1950s ladies and gentlemen right now we'll give you our impression of uh a man and a woman trying to reconcile whatever this means and uh i shall play the part of the man and jared should play the part of the lady what else i can't go anyplace you got no money i can't show my face you had your nose fixed people stop and stare are you for real well it's so hard everybody knows you love me well you were mean to me you abused me and continually slapping just how long do you think i could spend it everything that i ever wrote was sex and slapstick that was the whole premise and it worked because we never let the public know that sex and slapstick was the underlying factor that made it work i wonder who's kissing her now although dean's career was skyrocketing in the late 40s and early 50s his personal life was completely unsettled his wife betty couldn't take dino's philandering and began drinking heavily although she and the four children had a nice home in los angeles dean was almost never there plus in 1948 when the boys appeared in the orange bowl parade in florida dean met a former orange bowl queen named jean beager it was love at first sight dino moved gene to an apartment in la then divorced betty and married jean in september of 1949 together they would have three children dino paul jr ricky and gina eventually dean's first four children would move in with dean and jean when betty's drinking made it impossible for her to care for the kids things went downhill for betty after the divorce she could have gone out with him she could have sought her own interests but she didn't i mean she was a wife and mother and she felt neglected and after the divorce she felt totally devastated by it and really drank quite heavily and eventually she couldn't care for their children so her sister had to sort of just dump them on dean's front lawn saying you know betty can't care for them now you and gene have to take over and they did and with initial misgivings gene agreed and she was a good stepmother to them when dean martin and jerry lewis first teamed up they got along very well but then as the team became more and more successful the tensions began to build these differences really started to surface around 1954. those close to jerry lewis kept telling him that he could be the next charlie chaplin as a writer director actor and that he didn't need dean dino was told by his friends that he could be the next sinatra if he just left jerry although dean was equally responsible for their success jerry lewis did indeed get the lion's share of the credit as laid back as dean was this irritated him wait a minute you gotta take me with you come on your father my father were partners they died together when i'm ready to die you can be my partner you know what happened there very much was this this almost a clash of titans in a way uh because you had two major major stars icons um and again that that clash became a clash suddenly it was less of a working relationship and more of a um a a splitting uh down the middle and both of them taking their own paths to to glory that they both rightfully earned now you know in retrospect and in hindsight jerry lewis seems to be paying so much tribute to dean it's probably too bad that he didn't pay a little bit more of that tribute when they were working together and at that time 1956 dean had decided that he wanted out of the partnership it wasn't going to be easy the team of martin and lewis had numerous financial and business ties and generated many millions of dollars but for dean who wanted to enjoy life the tension and jealousies between jerry and he were just too much to deal with on an almost daily basis in their 10 years together one of the standard martin and lewis routines was for jerry to heckle dean while he sang however as is evident in this tv clip jerry was taking things a bit too far when it came to the hair pulling and slapping sherry is very very good and he's good at what he does but he he wanted to do everything he wanted to direct he wanted to write he wanted to produce he wanted to be the cameraman he wanted to do everything and then it kind of left dad out in the out in the cold i just quit i told him this is it through no more of this stuff and of course there was a big a big meeting with all the heads of paramount studios and they said you can't walk out of a 20 30 million dollar i said well you just watched me and i walked out that's all on july 15 1956 martin and lewis made their last appearance together at the copa cabana in new york after the show dean and jerry spoke briefly and wished each other luck they didn't speak again for 20 years sure everybody thought dean would fall flat on his face and jerry would become a great star the fact is that dean became the bigger star more than jerry could ever hope to be for the first time in a decade dino was on his own dean's first solo film was a comedy co-starring anna maria albergetti called ten thousand bedrooms that's probably him now next stop rome land of caesars michelangelo and it was not a very good film and bombed at the box office what do you think of our italian women the same as i think of all the other women they're beautiful wonderful charmander and i love it arthur i'm in love that's very nice i have to marry four girls that's not a marriage that's a merger what kind of passion your fashion after the failure of his first solo film dean was having serious doubts about himself he then decided to get his singing career back on track by appearing at the sands hotel in las vegas where he was a huge hit in 1958 his agent called to tell dino that they wanted him for a role in the world war ii drama the young lions co-starring marlon brando and montgomery clift i remember laying in bed and the phone rang and my manager called and said would you mind working with marlon brando and montgomery cliff i said are you drunk would i mind i said i love it yeah he said well you'll have to take a big cut for this you'll only get 20 000. i'll do it for nothing and that was the young lions dean martin as mike the broadway wise guy baby why don't we just sit and be quiet and then what then you kiss me dean gave a great performance as a new york playboy turned soldier in making the film dean and montgomery cliff became good friends and monty helped dean with his role dino had now established himself as a film star and it's funny how montgomery clift also helped out frank sinatra too i mean so i think with little training dean was able to move to that next level he followed the young lions with three more superb on-screen performances in 1959 he teamed with good friend frank sinatra to play a gambler in some came running they needed somebody and some came running who was supposed to drink a lot and gamble and go with women that also don't go any farther he always wears hat in the presence of ladies all the time he even sleeps in his head i'll bet i learned a little while back that uh certain conditions bring a gambler luck you know and oh thank you and this year that's one of them you know every time i take this hat off something bad happens to me and again it was a role that wasn't too far from the real dean martin something he could say with a lot of naturalism and put his own personal stamp on and some came running became another film that helped hollywood see him as a major player again also in 1959 dean got to play a cowboy for the first time when he teamed with john wayne for the classic western rio bravo in this film dean gives another outstanding performance this time as an alcoholic sheriff who ultimately redeems himself yes there'll never be another like rio bravo with its thundering story of raw courage against overwhelming odds and it's once in a lifetime combination of today's hottest star names you've seen nothing like them together and here at rio bravo nothing can tear him apart where are you going get your hands off i said where you're going you got no use for a man you can't depend on phenomenal bad nightmare that wasn't an easy part to play if if you watch films a lot and and it was not an easy role you know he did he could do fluff he could do fluff and easy stuff but he he could tackle anything a film that is very often overlooked but one in which dean once again shows his depth as a serious actor is career get off my back sam stop chipping away at me that's what you're doing chipping chipping chipping still i guess uh your place is jumping all the time with the bimbos in and out do you mean girls i don't mean girls brothers two men who had nothing in common but their driving need for success first he plays a shoestring producer who has no money and he limbs that very effectively later on it becomes a hollywood success and is worth millions and that's the second phase and he's just as convincing at the end he becomes a guy who's suspected of being a communist of all things and his back uh flat on his back again struggling to get somewhere and even this he gets across dean was a winner all the way but he could play somebody who had failed it was flat on his back just as convincingly during the late 50s dean martin also sold millions of records and conquered tv once again with numerous guest appearances on different shows as well as his own dean martin specials within three years of his breakup with jerry lewis dean martin had completely and absolutely established himself as a solo star of the highest magnitude on the movie screen on the stage on television and on records and yet the best was yet to come dean as a performer i mean the craft on film and the live performer was phenomenal both were incredible and what came through on film also came through in live performance and vice versa which is is very rare so i think it's a rare quality to be able to to to span both of those worlds so equally in late 1959 dean heard from frank sinatra frank wanted to do a film with dean sammy davis peter lawford and joey bishop called ocean's 11. they would film during the day and at night would appear together on stage at the sands hotel the rat pack was about to be unleashed upon america and the country would never be the same you're nobody till somebody loves you you're nobody till somebody cares well what is this here they have to be a lazy food little food f.u.d we uh we're doing six shows a night here we're hungry how many well two here four in a room that's six daddy i don't care they were the coolest the most hip the rat pack sinatra martin davis lawford and bishop i like i like the one where the teacher said tommy you got a fairy godmother he said no but we got an uncle we keep a close eye on everyone knew that sinatra was the leader but if frank was number one then dino was number one a dino loved sinatra they were like brothers but unlike the other members of the rat pack dean martin took orders from nobody it's a pleasure to be here frank uh asked me to come over he told me to come here dean martin wasn't pushed around by sinatra ever just it wouldn't he wouldn't put up with it you know and yet they were very close extremely close friends they'd kill for each other probably well we're practically like brothers you know everything we do we sort of do together we always keep in touch with each other and families are always together it's uh well we're brothers everything is frank and me third box club midnight train destination banging me dean was really the catalyst up there and frank adored him you know frank always wanted to be funny frank said let me tell a joke that you you've told and you get a big laugh and he went out and he did it just exactly the way dean told him and he came back he said well nobody laughed and dean says because you're not funny well let's drink up and be somebody let's drink up and be anybody i'm a cutie judy judy you can't take a baby out of a man's life and expect him to go on living the way he has been it's not right and it's not fair that's all i got on january 20 1960 the rat pack appeared together for the first time on stage at the sands hotel this gig went on for several weeks while the pack made their film ocean's 11 during the day within a short time literally every hotel in vegas was book solid at the sands alone they turned down over 18 000 requests for reservations in one week the rat pack was the biggest thing ever to hit vegas to bring this group of talent together from different walks of life certainly to a degree with some kind of theme that held them together this was i was totally new i mean this this was a new concept this was a new invention and i think people were very interested in it we also were dealing with individuals who had their own style so individually they were incredibly strong taken together they were unstoppable for the next few years on stage screen and television the rat pack made entertainment history and their legend lives on to this day what sinatra and dean martin did is stand next to sammy davis jr which very few entertain everyone was afraid of sammy his talent was so wonderful so great that a lot of entertainers would back off they'd say i don't want to be near him i don't want to open for him i don't want to follow him i can't follow him i can't go near this man this man has too much talent sammy davis jr sinatra and dean martin bring him up make fun of his eye make fun of his race make fun of his women make fun of his religion everything about him his height they played with him they treated him just like he was their brother and he was and sinatra and dean martin kissed sammy davis jr way before way before sammy davis jr kissed archie bunker on a scripted rehearsed and well calculated network television show and they did it what i'm saying is they had an effect on race relations maybe it changed somebody one iota but it it helped did you ever see a jewish well i'm not going to hold it whitey why him everything they said and did was news everything they wore became a trendy fashion everything they said was bandied about and parroted by millions of people they made news they were not just entertainers they were newsmakers they were it by the early 1960s dean martin was an absolute mega star at this time of his life now in his late 40s dean had become somewhat of a home buddy other than his trips to locations to do films or singing engagements in vegas dina was always home for dinner with jeannie and the children family is always first i i don't have fun all the time i work the only reason i work is to provide for my family in 1964 dean was making an album entitled dream with dean it was a theme album of love songs no one expected it to be a particularly big seller after all the beatles had invaded america and rock and roll music topped the charts the last song dean recorded for this album was a selection written by his piano player ken lane the song's title in june of 1964 everybody loves somebody knocked the beatles out of the number one spot on the pop charts over the next two years dino had seven gold albums in a row dean martin was so popular that all three major networks wanted dino to do a weekly variety show dean refused because he wanted to work only one day a week finally nbc agreed to sign dino to a contract for a show in which he rehearsed and taped the program in one day the dean martin show premiered on nbc in september of 1965. under producer director greg garrison's direction it became a huge hit nbc however had signed dean for only one season after that first year the network gave dino a contract worth 34 million dollars for three years plus an enormous amount of rca stock it was the most money paid to a television star in history to that point the dean martin show was a staple for nine years on nbc at its height dino's show was attracting 50 million viewers a week dean was by this mid 60s uh an incredible superstar he had gold record after gold record he had a tremendous movie career and he had a hit tv series and not even sinatra did that with the tv show i mean it seemed like here's this guy in a tuxedo just relaxing and it's it's almost like i mean nowadays imagine watching the dean martin show on a big screen tv it's it's like you'll be right there with your family well that's it he was family i mean well me for as being an italian american dean was like this great uncle that i had you know the fun uncle you know the cocktail party and i was hanging out with you probably you know telling you a few off-color jokes or whatever you know but um but dean dean is intimate dean is vulnerable he's he's got this universal appeal about himself that you can't help man i feel like cuckoo the bird girl up here uh and they said it couldn't be now come on now watch it this is a big moment in my life and you've had a few too now this is really a fine occasion for me yes is it kind of like uh uh the meeting at the summit yeah i don't suppose there'll be any anything bigger until elvis gets back and runs into ricky and fabian you mean to say that this means nothing better means something well i think what bones means is that when three vagrant minstrels like us gets together it's sort of a fantastic foo foreign don't make light of this meeting chaps we're together do you realize oh i'm all choked up i like to thank the naacp for this wonderful trophy right now right now dino's image from the rat pack days forward through his successful tv show and even to this day is that of a carefree happy-go-lucky swinger who was always slightly saused and went through life in a bit of an alcoholic glow this was only an image sure dino liked to drink now and again but many times what was in his glass on stage or on tv was apple juice and there is no question he was a swinger and a ladies man even during his marriage to genie but the boozing part was all an act i'm not lazy they won't think i'm lazy but they know i work i mean could i be where i am today if i were lazy and if i were a boozer i mean no one would put up millions and millions of dollars to give me a tv show i have an amazing mother you know she's 85 years old and she don't need glasses he drinks right out of the bottle the announcer says ladies and gentlemen direct from the bar dean martin walks out on stage and he's holding a glass of booze he then goes on and he does one of the great performances that i've ever seen of a guy being slightly drunk and it was wonderful show was over i go backstage he shakes heads with me and i look at him and i go you son of a gun you're cold sober and he looked and he went gotcha didn't i i said i've been waiting back there so long i was about to call some troops i almost went on a wagon say as long as we're all here together why don't we have a drink in 1973 after 24 years of marriage dean and jeannie were divorced later that year he married catherine mayhorn who was 30 years his junior and he adopted her young daughter sasha the marriage lasted only three years dean was still working in every aspect of the entertainment industry performing on stage in the movies on television and making records then in 1974 his successful nine-year run on nbc ended afterwards dean became a semi-regular on the network with the enormously popular dean martin roasts which continued for over a decade in 1976 on the jerry lewis muscular dystrophy telethon frank sinatra made an appearance and after his song he brought his friend dean martin on stage we just sent my friend out please where is he just put him out here it was the first time dino and jury had seen each other in 20 years by the mid-1980s dino began to drastically cut back on his workload he was a very wealthy man and enjoyed his leisure time mostly playing golf which was his passion i'll either die on stage or on a golf course then in 1987 tragedy struck his son dino paul jr a member of the air national guard was killed when his plane crashed while on maneuvers it was a devastating blow to dino they say in life not divorce not losing your job not battling a disease they say the worst thing a person go through is a parent losing losing a child there's nothing that nothing and so many parents do some can cope with it and some can't he couldn't he he couldn't personally i think i think that it did crush him i saw him on stage in 1987 i believe it was and he was singing and he his performance you know i mean he was still in good musical voice and and still you know there with the um you know with the jokes and everything the double entendres but he started talking about his son you know he started to digress and it really got a little bit sad a little bit uncomfortable because at one point he looked up into the um into the sky and just said oh god why didn't you take me rather than that beautiful boy of mine by the late 1980s dean martin was semi-retired he occasionally appeared in las vegas but spent most of his time golfing he also reconnected with his ex-wife jeannie gene wharton became his closest friend in the final years of dean's life even though they had been divorced for quite a while his marriage to kathy horn lasted only three years and he needed somebody to be close to he was an older man i think he'd always sort of regretted divorcing gene deep down i think she was the great love of dean's life they were very close into the final moments in 1988 frank sinatra persuaded dean to go on tour again the show would feature sinatra sammy davis jr and dino in a sort of rat pack reunion called the together again tour dino agreed to go but his heart wasn't in it he would forget the lines of lyrics you know get bored sometimes on stage i mean he really didn't have that love of performing anymore which sinatra had sinatra took himself very seriously so they had a little uh disagreement and up in the hotel room one night dean was eating his spaghetti and frank wanted him to pay attention and be serious about the tour and eventually he picked up the spaghetti and sort of half jokingly dumped it on dean's head but that was too much for dean i mean you know he he didn't need this he didn't need the adoration from the public anymore he didn't need the money so he just went in the bathroom closed the door and left the tour the next day in 1989 while performing at bali's casino in las vegas on his 72nd birthday dean got a visit from an old friend this was the last time dean saw jerry i am here to present you with this happy birthday cake for 72 years of joy that you've given to the world and uh why we broke up i'll never know either i have no idea what happened because i i was a jew and you were a dagger dean martin died on christmas day 1995 of acute respiratory failure he was 78 years old the message that dean martin sends out to his fans and that even kids today who were you know were born after he passed away what they respond to is i like myself that's what dean martin personified he was a man who liked himself and that is what people of all ages are responding to this good humored good-natured likable guy people like the man and that's essential to become a major star and an american icon and that's what dean is an american icon he'll never go out of date i think his his legacy will be that he's outlasted his uh his time and that's very hard to do in in the arts in music art drama when you're when you're dead and gone and they're still enjoying your your body of work that's the highest compliment any artist can can can get in the entire history of the entertainment industry few stars were more beloved the world over than dean martin even more dino's accomplishments as a singer film star and television star were nothing short of phenomenal he was without question one of the greatest stars the world has ever known and he certainly was the coolest dean martin the one and only i wouldn't change one thing not one thing one fresh is one house where lovers dwell three little kids for the flavor start carefully through the days see how the flavor stays these are the dreams you will save her where one man one wife and one lover man you

Channel: dino4ever

Views: 1,041,124

Keywords: Dean Martin (Musical Artist)

Id: sjgm9fP3cHc

Length: 68min 40sec (4120 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 10 2015