I was reading this great book by Dean Martin’s son Ricci and decided to catch up with four other books about Dino that I’ve picked up in the last several years. So, for me, it’s been a Dino Book Fest. Kinda like last Summer I read a slew of books about and by Bob Hope.

‘Martini Man’ is a biography of Dino and is very balanced. Of the five books, this is the only one that is an actual biography. The author really weighs and considers both sides of many issues and is not tough on most with the exception of Frank Sinatra.

‘Backstage at the Dean Martin Show’ is a wonderful book written by someone who must be a real nice guy, Lee Hale. Hale was a producer for nearly the entire duration of the program and all of its incarnations. No one is villified and Hale is careful to keep the focus on Dean and the program. And it’s full of stories of the stars that were part of the program.

Still another terrific book of Dino by his daugther Deana. Heart felt and stirring. Expecially about her actual mother, and Dean;s first wife, Betty. I wish there was much more about her in this and the other books. A tragic figure. A bright light snuffed by a fellow catapulted to super-stardom. The worst part of this book are the missing dates. So much happens without the bracing of the context of time.

Jerry Lewis’ co-title is ‘A Love Story’. That it is. Lewis really brings emotion to his relationship with Dean Martin. He even better defines Frank Sinatra’s feelings toward Dean. In Deana’s book it is mentioned that Lewis was working on this book and was at 3,000 pages. The co-author, James Kaplan, had a hell of a job stream-lining it to under 300. The book is very well-done, but with the knowledge that Lewis wrote so much more, you have to wonder what’s missing.

Since I started these books just after what would have been Dino’s 92nd bithday, June 7th, I have learned so much more of the truth and mythos. Reading all of the books together answers questions left by some and further leaves open other questions. Such as the details of who Betty Martin really was.

Addendum:

This is to answer Craig and Nancy’s question below.

I wrote about Sinatra twice above and I’m not sure which reference you all are referring to.

The first reference is about ‘Martini Man’. The author of that seems not to care for Sinatra and refers to instances in his book. It’d be tough to pull those all out and write about them here.

The reference in Jerry Lewis’ book is easier. Lewis views his relationship as big brotherly though rarely reciprocated. Interestingly, Dean Martin never gave Lewis a gift.

Sinatra also seemed to view Dean as a brother. Sinatra was a real playboy. Something Dino only somewhat was. Sinatra wanted Dean to go out all night and play and have fun. It seems Sinatra didn’t have many he would let or would do that on their own. Sinatra hoped the “brotherly” love would extend to Dean participating in Siantra’s playtime. It didn’t Dean was extremely private and played when he wanted. Sinatra reciprocated with his “brotherly” love and let him and moreover greatly respected and admired Dean Martin’s ability to live this kind of life.

One thing very clear in the five books I read was that as Dean started hitting the heights of success he relized what worked and what didn’t . He was extremely fortunate to have others in his life who understood this and worked with him, such as his wife Jeanne and Dean Martin Show producer Greg Garrison. Dean knew he worked best with what he immediately responded to. He avoided second takes and redoing a song or a scene. It seems Dean got an inkling about handling himself this way from Sinatra, who had similar leanings. Dean was extreme in this. Again, this is all well written about in the books.

Fellow cartoonist Tom Stemmle passed a tape of pre-recording sessions of Sinatra. During these pre-recording sessions you hear Sinatra, someone who didn’t like redo this and redo that. Do just that. I listened to Sinatra wanting an uptempo beat played into line 63 or if Nels (Nelson Riddle) could bring the bass in a little more with the brass. The last cut is with Siantra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean. Without reading the books I wouldn’t have noticed something different about the last pre-session on the tape. I could hear Sinatra making a request here and there. But at the same time I could hear how Sinatra was letting it go more, trying to get the session done faster. Dean makes the comment,” He said we’d be done in 5 minutes”. Sinatra had learned how to get Dean at his best and was working to get that and the sound he wanted as fast as he could and did.

Dean, an only child, had many “brothers”, whether he knew it or not.