British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. W 990. Photo: Paramount.
Dutch card. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
French postcard in the Entr'acte series by Éditions Asphodèle. Mâcon, no. 006/7. Collection: B. Courtel / D.R. Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson in 1958 at the set of Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959). Caption: Dean Martin and his partner Angie Dickinson behind the camera for a break.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/193. Photo: Terb Agency. Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Frank Sinatra.
A duo with Jerry Lewis
Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1917. His parents were Gaetano Alfonso "Guy" Crocetti, an Italian immigrant and barber, and his Ohio-born wife, Angela (Barra) Crocetti. He spoke only Italian until age five. Martin came up the hard way, with such jobs as a boxer ("Kid Crochet"), a steel mill worker, a gas station worker, and a casino croupier/dealer.
He managed to establish himself as a singer in New York clubs under the stage name "Dean Martin". In order to have more chances to establish his career, Dino Paul Crocetti legally changed his name to a more American one and chose the surname "Martin" because it was an English version of the surname of the Italian tenor Nino Martini.
In 1946, he got his first ticket to stardom, as he teamed up with another hard worker who was also trying to succeed in Hollywood: Jerry Lewis. They first met at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where they both performed. The two artists formed a successful comedy duo, which lasted for about ten years. His first collaboration with Jerry Lewis was on 25 July 1946 at Club 500 in Atlantic City, and together they developed a successful comedy routine. They divided their show between songs, skits, with Lewis playing the "naughty boy" of comedy, i.e. improvised comedy.
The duo eventually found success and began a series of successful performances across the country, culminating in a show at New York's Copacabana nightclub. The act featured Lewis interrupting and annoying Martin as he tried to sing, with the two eventually chasing each other around the stage. The secret of the show's success, they both said, was that they ignored the audience and only tried to interact with each other, to make it as spontaneous as possible.
In 1949, the pair made their first film My Friend Irma (George Marshall, 1949) featuring Marie Wilson. Their joint television debut was in The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950), a variety show that they would also present occasionally between 1950 and 1955. They also had their own radio show. In 1951 they starred in the film hit At War with the Army (Hal Walker, 1950), which sent the team toward super-stardom. The thirteen films they made after that were based on the formula of this film.
The duo was to become one of Hollywood's truly great teams. Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of the best business deals in Hollywood history: despite receiving only $75,000 together from the profits of their films, Martin and Lewis were free to make one film a year as independents, which they would co-produce through York Productions, which they owned. They lasted 11 years together and starred in sixteen films, from My Friend Irma (George Marshall, 1949) to Hollywood or Bust (Frank Tashlin, 1956).
However, due to growing personal differences, the artistic partnership, and thus the collaboration with Lewis, was terminated on 24 July 1956. Frustration with the routine of their film scripts, which Paramount producer Hal Wallis wanted to keep as even as possible to maximise the couple's success, led Martin to become dissatisfied with the situation in which his career was being channelled. He became less and less enthusiastic about his work, which led to constant disagreements with Lewis. Martin even went so far as to declare that his partner "meant nothing to him but dollar signs".
British Real Photograph postcard.
West-German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. A 1590. Photo: MGM.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, presented by Les Carbones Korès "Carboplane", no. 1075 A. Photo: Paramount.
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1672. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity portrait for Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959).
The Rat Pack
Many thought that Martin's career was on the decline without his partner, but to their surprise, Dean Martin went on to have a successful solo career. He made films that were often very different from those he made with Lewis and achieved great success, both in comedy and drama. In 1958, he got rave reviews for The Young Lions (Edward Dmytryk, 1958) with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. He won more critical acclaim for his roles in Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, 1958).
In 1959, he played the complex role of the alcoholic Dude, John Wayne's deputy in the Western Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959). Box office hits such as Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959) and Ocean's Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960) brought him international fame.
In the 1950s, Dean Martin also achieved international success as a singer. In 1954, he released 'That's Amore', one of his best-loved songs, written by his Italian-American friend and colleague Harry Warren. The song is also a declaration of affection for Naples and its traditions of pizza, wine, cuisine, and the tarantella. In 1956, he spent five weeks at number one in the US charts and four weeks in the UK Singles Chart with the single 'Memories are made of this'. His relaxed, warbling, crooning voice earned him dozens of hit singles, including some Italian songs, such as 'Innamorata', 'In Napoli', 'Simpatico', and 'Volare'.
He became one of the most popular acts in Las Vegas and was known for his friendship with fellow artists Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., who together formed the Rat Pack. He starred in several films with the Rat Pack, including Ocean's 11 (Lewis Milestone, 1960), Sergeants 3 (John Sturges, 1962), and Robin and the 7 Hoods (Gordon Douglas, 1964). In the Rat Pack's appearances, Martin often played the role of a heavy drinker. But, as his son later revealed, what he drank on stage was not alcohol, but apple juice.
Between 1966 and 1969 he made a series of four films as secret agent Matt Helm, and from 1965 to 1974 he hosted his own weekly television show on NBC, The Dean Martin Show. The last of his 51 films was Cannonball Run II (Hal Needham, 1984), starring Burt Reynolds. He retired in 1988 after a concert tour with Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. his Rat Pack pals and friends. "The satisfaction I get from working with these two slackers is that we have more fun than the audience," Martin said of it.
He was married three times and had eight children, one of whom was adopted. His son Dean Paul Martin Jr. died in a plane crash in 1987. This was another blow to his health, but it did rekindle his friendship with Jerry Lewis, as Lewis unexpectedly attended Martin's son's funeral. After years of physical and mental decline, Dean Martin died of emphysema on Christmas Day 1995. He was buried in Westwood Cemetery in California.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 291.
Spanish postcard by Bergas, no. 548.
American postcard by Walcott & Sons, San Angelo, Texas, no. ICS-73697. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox. Dean Martin in Bandolero (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1968). Caption: Twentieth Century-Fox presents "Bandolero!" Starring James Stewart, Dean Martin, Raquel Welch, George Kennedy, and Andrew Prine. Robert L. Jacks produced with Andrew V. McLaglen directing. Dean Martin and his outlaw gang, with Raquel Welch as a hostage, stop at the Devil's River to fill their canteens, as they flee from a posse, in a scene from the movie "Bandolero!" This scene was shot on the Devil's River around Del Rio and Bracketville, Texas. The ones pictured are left to right - Will Greer, Clint Ritchie, Sean McClory, Tom Heaton, Dean Martin, and Raquel Welch. Most scenes were shot at Alamo Village near Bracketville and Del Rio, Texas. This a terrific border western.
American postcard by Walcott & Sons, San Angelo, Texas, no. S-73742-1. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox. Dean Martin and James Stewart in Bandolero (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1968). Caption: Twentieth Century-Fox presents "Bandolero!" Starring James Stewart, George Kennedy and Andrew Prine. Robert L. Jacks produced with Andrew V. McLaglen directing. Scene is from 20th Century-Fox's "Bandolero!", which was filmed at Alamo Village on Shahan's Angus Ranch near Bracketville and Del Rio, Texas. James Stewart (in black top hat) looks over Dean Martin and his gang, all of whom he is supposed to hang. George Kennedy (with shotgun) covers Tom Heaston, last man to mount the scaffold. Behind Martin are Clint Ritchie, Sean McClory. The film is a top-budget Western with plenty of action.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 566. Dean Martin in Texas Across the River (Michael Gordon, 1966).
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and IMDb.
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