Dean Martin
A Leader of the Pack

Performers and entertainers are sometimes surprising. They become famous for playing one character or singing one type of song and you forget that wasn't all they've done. For instance, Oliver Hardy was an excellent singer before he became the pompous partner of Stan Laurel. Those who first saw David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust were quite surprised when he provided a superb narration for Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra for Peter and the Wolf. And others are amazed to learn that the actor who played Jimmy Olsen on the original television series the Adventures of Superman, Jack Larsen, became a playwright, providing the libretto for Virgil Thompson's opera, Lord Byron. Yes, Jack could do something other than say "Jeepers, Mr. Kent!"

And those who knew Dean Martin - who was born Dino Crocetti in 1917 - as the straightman in the early Martin and Lewis comedies or as the most bibulous member of the Rat Pack - were also surprised to see him play quite credible and serious roles such as when he starred as the reluctant draftee together with Montgomery Cliff and Marlon Brando in the Young Lions. Yes, Dean actually could act as could a number of the other Rat Pack members.

Still, we have to admit that the - well, we'll call them Dean's "lesser works" - are sometimes good fun. Although the Matt Helm books were not written for comedic effect, the films with Dean were so created. And some of them were in fact pretty good comedy if you don't take them too seriously.

Dean worked with Jerry Lewis for 10 years and they made seventeen movies together as well as appearing on television and radio. Given their success, Jerry Lewis was once asked why the two men split up. He didn't answer the question directly, but did say that straightmen almost by definition are playing second fiddle to the actual comic. So by going out as a solo act, he said, Dean was actually moving forward, which, of course, he was.

There were always stories that the Pack associated with mobsters although this claim was most often levied at Frank. But a recent book written by the daughter of mobster finance man Meyer Lansky said that she and Dean were - ah - let's just say particularly friendly.

But of course, if you were a nightclub entertainer in the early to mid-20th century such associations were unavoidable since the various clubs were often run by the mob. But working in the clubs did not mean you were a member of the mob. Even Jay Leno, the former host of the Tonight Show and comedian Richard Pryor spoke of their days working in mob-controlled night clubs, an experience that was both amusing and frightening. Richard even had a stand-up routine about the "Mafia clubs". At one point Richard said the Mafia owners liked to take the entertainers to dinner and wouldn't let them pay for anything. Once Richard said he'd pay this time since they had always been picking up the tab. Then one said to him "Hey, kid, let me tell you something. We're crime. And crime don't pay." That got the biggest laugh of the entire show.

The long running gag was about Dean's fondness for drink. In one routine a salesman - played by comedian Danny Thomas - has gotten to a hotel room and is about to go to sleep when Dean walks in carrying a Martini glass. Deans asks if there is a bar car on the train. The man tells Dean he's in a hotel room and Dean says OK and then asks Danny if he knows when this hotel room gets to Pittsburgh.

The truth is for the time Dean was a light drinker and his second wife was actually surprised to find he would have only a couple of drinks at night. His kids confirmed that when he got home - his performing at night usually meant he would be at home for dinner - said that he'd have a drink or two and that the "drink" he carried with him on stage was usually apple juice.

Alas, Dean, like many of his generation did smoke a lot and that was no better for your health then than now. He did, though, live until 1995 and for the time what was the reasonably advanced age of 78.

References

There's not a lot of bios on Dean but here's a few:

Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself): The story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Arthur Marx, Hawthorn Books, 1974. Yes, the author is the son of Groucho Marx.

That's Amore: A Son Remembers Dean Martin, Ricci Martin, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2012.

Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, Nick Tosches, Delta, 1999.