Dean Martin: We Had The Legend All Wrong

Dean Martin was one of a kind the child of working class Italian immigrants this shy stammering boy grew up to be a boxer a comedian a singer an actor and everything in between but it didn't all come easy to the king of cool Dean Martin cultivated the image of a hard partying heavy drinking Playboy and kept it up for years but then always a heavy smoker he was told he had lung cancer after he received the diagnosis his family was heartbroken but their nightmare was just beginning Dean Martin was born Dino Paul cretti on June 7th 1917 in Ohio bullied at school for his broken English and Italian accent he dropped out as soon as he could to work with his father at a steel mill but that didn't last long either Dino soon realized that there were more opportunities to make money on the other side of the law he bootlegged liquor during prohibition which put him into contact with some shady characters all those years defending himself against bullies in school set him in good stead to try his hand at prize fighting going by the name kid crochet which actually sounds kind of cozy and lovely but fighting in the ring was one thing he soon found an even more brutal way to make a quick Buck Dean Martin struck out on his own and moved into a new York City apartment with another young Italian named Sunny King both of them dreamed of a life in show business but for now they were just two young punks who needed rent money with limited education and skills Martin and King did the obvious thing and ran a secret Fight Club out of their apartment they'd charg New Yorkers to come and watch them bare knuckle box fighting until one of them knocked the other out deciding that he preferred to keep his teeth in his actual mouth Martin landed a gig working in an elicit Speak Easy SLC Casino he worked roulette tables dealt cards and entertained the guests now that sounds a little more like the Dean Martin we know the Shady lounges of speakes he showed this tough Italian amican teenager a new world and he liked it he was used to putting on a show and he quickly learned that singing was a lot more fun than getting punched in the face he started singing at whatever clubs he could legal or not he would mimic kuners like Perry Como and the people liked it soon he sang with a popular local band earning steady paychecks and making a name for himself the only problem was he was making the wrong name the world didn't yet know Dean Martin they barely even knew Dino cretti he started going by Dino Martini but the same anti-italian sentiment that ruined school for him once again reared its ugly head sadly the name Dino Martini was holding him back and the leader of the band Sammy Watkins knew it he told young Dino he should go by Dean Martin and the rest is history Dean Martin was on the road to stardom a road that would see him become a Hollywood Legend and ultimately end in tragedy Martin married for the first time at 24 years old her name was Betty McDonald and she married Dino cretti the young and upcoming Lounge singer the pair of them had four children together but this was no fairy tale marriage as Dino cretti became Dean Martin their relationship started to tear at the seams in the mid 1940s Dean Martin found himself in the same lineup as a boisterous young comic at New York's glass Hat Club the kid's name was Jerry Lewis and right away Martin could tell there was something special about him neither of them knew at the time but this was the start of a beautiful beautiful friendship and a bitter Feud the pair decided to work together and they debuted Martin and Lewis in Atlantic City in 1946 it was the birth of one of the greatest Duos Show Business had ever seen and it was a total unmitigated disaster whatever Martin and Lewis prepared the crowd wasn't having it the pair bombed so hard that the club's owner told them they had to come up with a better act before their second show of the night or he'd fire them that's how Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis ended up huddling in a dark alley behind the club frantically trying to think up anything that could save them instead of coming up with a whole new show they decided to just wing it they threw everything they had at the audience Martin sang songs Lewis performed skits and the pair of them ad libed banter throughout now if that sounds like a complete train wreck well maybe it would have been if it were two regular performers but this was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis the crowd went nuts and the duo never looked back this complete Hail Mary quickly transformed into a successful act that sent Martin and Lewis all over the Eastern Seaboard eventually bringing their act to New York's legendary kopa Cabana this was no Small Time Club they' reached the big time after that there was only one place to go next it was about time the whole world discovered Dean Martin Martin and Lewis made their TV debut in 1948 on the Sullivan Show to a rapturous reception they were both ready to take their act out of nightclubs and into TV and film but while Dean Martin's career was Rising his marriage was going up in Flames it seems that Betty McDonald preferred the struggling Deo cretti to the successful Dean Martin they divorced in 1949 with Martin gaining full custody of their four children McDonald it seems wasn't cut out for the spotlight she lived out the rest of her days in obscurity in San Francisco meanwhile Dean Martin star continued to rise and he wasted no time finding a new woman to fill the void he married Jean beager a former Orange Bowl Queen mere months after his divorce Jean proved to be Martin's longest love and they remained married for nearly 25 years though it wasn't all wedded bliss for now Martin had his career to focus on and he was about to enter a whole new world 19 49 was a busy year for Dean Martin he got divorced got married and appeared in his first movie my friend Irma though he and Lewis earned $75,000 between them for the film that was peanuts compared to what was coming next their agent negotiated one of the best deals in Hollywood history allowing them to produce one film a year over which they'd have complete control they also had final say over all nightclub radio TV and record appearances that deal netted them millions this dynamic duo was quickly on their way to conquering Hollywood but this was when the cracks started to show no one could deny the chemistry between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on stage but when the curtain fell it was a different story while Lewis always got to be the funny man Martin felt trapped by always playing the straight man he wanted to mix up their formula but Lewis refused Martin grew more and more bitter the relationship grew tense and uncomfortable Dean Martin played second fiddle to nobody but that was quickly becoming how people saw him critics heaped Praise on Jerry Lewis and claimed that he was the real talent Martin seeed while Lewis basked in the agulation unconcerned and unsympathetic finally while promoting their latest film 1954's living it up something happened that finally pushed Martin too far even Dean Martin grew jealous sometimes and the critics weren't helping matters but after the Duo's 1954 photo shoot for Luke magazine he'd finally had enough the pair of them posed for the promotional shoot but when Martin saw the final cover his blood ran cold they'd completely cropped him out of the photo leaving only Lewis on the cover Martin was completely ready to move on but the pair still had to finish making their last movie together Hollywood or bust despite their playful attitude on screen the set became excruciatingly awkward Martin and Lewis both refused to speak to the other whenever the cameras weren't rolling so was Martin just being a baby or was Lewis being a diva well years later Lewis would finally reveal the truth and his Memoirs Lewis placed the blame squarely on his own shoulders the 50s saw him him become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and all that success went straight to his head he treated the people around him like dirt Martin included Hollywood orust while not particularly great on screen was even more of a nightmare behind the scenes Martin's complete disinterest led to more and more vicious arguments with Lewis finally Martin snapped he looked his old partner in the eye and said to me you're nothing but a dollar sign they broke up for good in 1956 exactly 10 years after they first teamed up Lewis likely assumed Martin would be lost without him he never could have imagined what came next how you want that shake Martin Lewis or Amon andon Martin Lewis lucky for Dean Martin Jerry Lewis wasn't his only friend in Show Business he also happened to know another popular Lounge singer one whom he'd met back in the 40s when he was still struggling as Martin's solo career grew he and Frank Sinatra became friends in the late ' 50s and early 60s Martin and Sinatra formed the rap pack named after an earlier Social Circle of Hollywood aists the homey Hills rap pack who would hang out at the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren ball with Sinatra and Martin at the center this legendary group of performers included Sammy Davis Jr Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop among others their charm style and banter made them Legends and they knew the perfect place to take their act The Rat Pack just wouldn't be the same without Las Vegas On Any Given night you might see one two or all of them take the stage at one glamorous Casino or another The Rat Pack reached their height in the 1960s while America was changing despite their cleancut appearance and charm the group pushed boundaries in ways no one expected their jokes revolved around taboo themes like Martin's heavy drinking and Sinatra's constant womanizing the group also delved into the world of politics supporting the civil rights movement and refusing to perform at clubs that barred africanamerican or Jewish performers Martin had made his name next to Jerry Lewis and then next to the rap pack so it was time for him to set out on his own the Dean Martin Show began its 264 episode run in 1965 he completely improvised every show which often set him down scandalous tangents his of the cuff use of Italian curse words were Charming to most American viewers but NBC received a deluge of complaints from people who spoke the language the network tried its best to re him in but come on does this look like the kind of guy who can be reigned in despite the controversies Martin was so popular he could continue doing whatever he wanted and what he wanted to do was less when he renegotiated his contract he included a clause that meant he didn't have to to attend rehearsals he improvised every show anyway so he struck a deal that let him spend the whole week on the golf course only showing up for tapings by this point he had an Infamous reputation as a drinker and his Antics only added fuel to the rumors but that wasn't the whole picture Dean Martin was America's most lovable drunk from the glass of scotch that remained in his hand throughout all his performances to his vanity license plate drunky every one knew that Martin was the rat packs Booz Hound but actually the drink in his hand on stage was apple juice more often than not and he was usually the first to call it quits at parties preferring to spend time at home with his family the whole lovable drunk stick was an act but the problem was he was too good of an actor he played an alcoholic so convincingly in movies like some came running in Rio Bravo that the Tabloid started writing about his not so Secret addiction when he became a singer Dean Martin left his shady past as a bootlegger and bare knuckle boxer behind but that life still stalked him at every turn his pal Frank Sinatra had mob connections all across the country and the Rat Pack often performed for gangsters one of the most infamous Mobsters connected to the Rat Pack was Meer Lansky and Lansky had a beautiful daughter Sandra you can see where this is going though Martin managed to maintain a squeaky clean reputation throughout most of his life years later Sandra dropped a bombshell in her memoirs she claimed to have had a passionate affair with longtime Family Man Dean Martin the details that emerged were pretty scandalous according to Lansky her affair with Martin occurred while his wife was pregnant with their daughter Gina she claimed that the pair had an unspoken pact to never discuss their families when they were together so she didn't know about it until later for decades Dean Martin seemed on a constant upward trajectory in 1972 however he began to fall back to Earth he filed for divorce from his wife of over 20 years and just a week after that the Riviera in Las Vegas canceled their contract with him because they thought he was too demanding now 55 Martin was in the midst of a full-blown midlife crisis and what do man who are having a midlife crisis do checks notes oh yes they make terrible mistakes de Martin was clearly a husband kind of guy he'd married Jean less than a year after his first divorce and this time around he wasted even less time less than a month after his 24-year marriage ended he wed Catherine Hann the receptionist at a Beverly Hills hair salon he was 55 and she was 26 ah a tale as old as time and they lived happily ever after right oh wait no they divorced Less Than 3 years later clearly Martin was having some women troubles but in the midst of all that he was about to rekindle one of the most important relationships of his life Martin hadn't spoken to Jerry Lewis in 20 years so Frank Sinatra came up with a devious plan to change that during a Telethon for the muscular distrophy Association Sinatra stunned Lewis by bringing Dino out on stage listen I have a I have a friend who loves what you do every year and who just wanted to come out would you send my friend out please where is he we you turn him out here come [Music] [Applause] here the je were never as close as they'd once been but they maintained a healthy friendship for the rest of Martin's life despite his onstage Persona Dean Martin was a family man first and foremost he had eight children whom he loved and supported he named his first son with his second wife after himself and young Dean Paul Martin soon grew into the apple of his father's eye he sang and acted just like his pops he also played professional tennis and as if that wasn't enough he even became a fighter pilot Dino brought immeasurable joy into his dad's life which made his terrible end all the more devastating on March 21st 1986 the 35-year-old de Paul Martin took part in a routine training Mission over the California desert during the exercise his plane disappeared from the radar over a particularly cloudy mountain range and the son of one of America's most popular entertainers was missing and the search was on search helicopters and planes spent days scouring the mountains for any sign of Dino's plane but came up with nothing Ronald Reagan then president but also a longtime friend of Martin even sent the nation's most Advanced spy plane to join the search meanwhile Martin sat at home praying for the news that the search parties had found his son alive Martin was willing to do anything to find his son he even hired two psychics to help in the search one of those psychics pointed them towards San Gorgonio Mountain 3 days after the plane went down the search party approached the mountain and found what they had been looking for Dean Paul Martin's aircraft lay demolished on the mountain side there were no survivors anyone close to Martin could tell that he just wasn't the same after his son passed he was depressed demoralized and defeated Sinatra still seeking any way to help him dragged him along on a massive stadium tour hoping to take his mind off his grief unfortunately the plan backfired horribly Sinatra thought the adoring crowds would Shake Martin out of his stuper but they had the opposite effect Martin vastly preferred smaller nightclub audiences and he felt disconnected to the Sea of Faces in large stadiums old blue eyes still wanted to party until dawn as they had in the 60s but Martin was old tired and depressed the tour had barely begun and Martin was already at his breaking point after a show in New York City Frank was ready to party but Martin had no interest in reliving the old days later that same night he got on his private jet and flew back to LA leaving his friends to continue the tour without him after his son's passing Martin put his career on the back burner and spent as much time as possible with his growing family unfortunately he didn't have that much time left Martin may have walked the stage with apple juice in his glass but the smokes were real in September 93 doctors at Cedar Sinai diagnosed him with lung cancer they told him that he needed surgery immediately to prolong his life to his family's dismay Martin refused the surgery and resigned himself to his fate he retired from public appearances at the start of 95 and spent his final year with family and friends he succumbed to acute respiratory failure at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas Day 1995 at the age of 78 not much condemned the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip but the passing of Dean Martin did it the casinos where he'd tread the stage for so many years all brought their Light low in his honor A fitting tribute to the king of [Music] cool if you enjoyed this video please give it a like And subscribe for [Applause] more [Music] [Applause] yeah

Channel: Factinate

Views: 1,121,002

Keywords:

Id: VMXOJqOYNOY

Length: 20min 4sec (1204 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2023