The Dean Martin show was a comedy which first aired in 1965 and continued until the early 70’s. Martin was a very well known entertainer by the time he got his own show. Not only had he already starred in hit films, he had also released a number of records and was a leading member of the Rat Pack.

The Rat Pack was made up of the stars of the time including Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr, Martin and Joey Bishop. Although the group had a reputation as womanizing drinkers, they did have some female members in the shape of Lauran Bacall, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Shirley MacClaine.

Dean Martin’s career began like most people of his day, on the stage. He often shared the same line up as Sinatra but in the early days didn’t share his popularity. Martins star rose when he teamed up with another comic, Jerry Lewis and together they collaborated on many different shows including a TV series.

Martin wanted to be seen as a “real” actor and wasn’t too keen on having his own comedy show. He came up with some outrageous demands including the fact that he refused to turn up for rehearsals in the hope that the TV Company wouldn’t go ahead. But it didn’t work. Instead they compiled, gave him the salary he wanted and the rest is history.

In the Dean Martin show, the main character was a send up of Martins public image as a womanizing drunk. He played the part to perfection and often slurred his lines to keep up the image. The audience didn’t know that his glass contained apple juice and assumed he was drinking alcohol. The format of the show was one laugh after another with Martin providing a mixture of physical humor combined with various sketches. He usually had a guest star that appeared after Martin knocked on the door. The mystery was a surprise to everyone including Martin which helped aid the spontaneity and humor.

Another famous skit was his role as Don Vino, the aging disc jockey who when playing records would mime along to them. Martin often roped his guest stars into doing the same and his aim was said to be to make his piano player laugh so much he would miss his notes.

The show was extremely popular although martin occasionally upset his own roots by cursing in Italian which caused complaints to flood in from the conservative Italian community. There were rumors that the mafia had wanted to kill martin as they felt he was ungrateful as he wasn’t willing to do much to help their cause. Whether this is true or an assumption based on the fact that Martin came from an Italian family, one will never know.

During the final series of the show, the production was based around many of the popular films of the day including Easter Parade and Show Boat.

When Martin stopped appearing in the Dean Martin show in 1974, his daughter Gail took over as one of the co-hosts. The show continued for a while with various guest stars.

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Filed under: Dean Martin Variety Show

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