Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), born
Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio to Italian
immigrant parents, Gaetano and Angela Crocetti.
Martin and Lewis' official debut together occurred at
Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24, 1946 and they were
not well received... more than a few people dubbed them
"The Organ Grinder and the Monkey".
Lewis and Martin agreed to "go for broke", to throw out
the pre- scripted gags and to improvise. Dean sang and Jerry
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 breadrolls. 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.
The act broke up in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first
official
teaming.
Dino 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 Dean's 72nd birthday.
Martin died of acute respiratory failure at his home on
Christmas
morning 1995, at the age of 78.
“You Skinny Hebrew”
By: Dean Dino Martin
Never before Available to the General Public
(A 1953 humorous & satirical birthday tribute song from Dean
Martin to
Jerry Lewis)
You can go to the Apple iTunes Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/you-skinny-hebrew-live/id352134363?i=352134391&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
