Dean Martin Festival 2008

This year on Father's Day Weekend, the City of Steubenville honors its favorite son, Dino Paul Crocetti.

The Festival will include a tribute concert on Thursday evening featuring Deana Martin and others, a film festival on Friday, a parade on Saturday, and the Dean Martin Father's Day Brunch on Sunday among other activities.

Click here for the schedule of events.

The Festival Website also includes photos from past years, links, and other information.

I'm going to do my best to make the trip this year for at least part of the weekend. How about you?

Episode 29: With George Raft

On the Podcast this week, it's another show from the 1951 run, as Dean and Jerry welcome special guest George Raft to the program.

Before the show we cover some listener email, a bit of information about the Show Weblog and a review of Jerry Lewis' Memoir Dean and Me: A Love Story.

This episode of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Show was originally broadcast over NBC Radio on October 12th, 1951. Tough guy George Raft joins in the fun. Dean sings Meandering, I Ran All The Way Home and a beautiful sentimental version of I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do. He also duets with Carol Richards on Gimme That Old Soft Shoe. Miss Richards is best known for her duet with Bing Crosby on Silver Bells.

Click here for the MP3 file.

It's Episode 29 of The Comedic Genius of Martin and Lewis Podcast!


Links

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Dean and Me (Hardcover)

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Episode 28: With Dinah Shore

On the Podcast this week, it's the first show from the 1951 run, as Dean and Jerry welcome special guest Dinah Shore to the program, as well as new sponsors Anacin and Chesterfield.

Coincidentally, we welcome eMusic as a sponsor to the Podcast. Click here for our special free 2 week trial with 35 songs with no cost or obligation.

This episode of the Martin and Lewis Show was originally broadcast on October 5th, 1951. The boys abandon the situation comedy format from the 1949 run in favor of a more straight ahead variety show. Writers Ed Simmons and Norman Lear join the crew as well. Dean sings Bella Bimba, Why Did I Tell You I Was Going To Shanghai? and If You Were The Only Girl In The World. Dinah sings My Heart Belongs To Daddy, and the cast has some fun with The Trolley Song.

Click here for the MP3 file.

It's Episode 28 of The Comedic Genius of Martin and Lewis Podcast!

Bella Bimba, by the way, includes some of my 3 year old daughter's favorite Dean Martin lyrics.

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I'm extremely pleased to welcome our very first sponsor to this Podcast: eMusic.



Click here for a free two week trial (with no obligation) and download 35 tracks at absolutely no cost to you.

eMusic is a wonderful way to build your music library with high-quality, DRM-free songs and albums at an incredibly low cost.

I'll be mentioning my own experience with eMusic on the show in the near future. In the meantime, please check it out yourself, without cost or commitment, and let me know how you like it. Get free music and help support our show!

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In addition to supporting the show through your purchases at the Amazon Shop, there is now a way for you to make a secure donation to the show through PayPal. If you enjoy what you hear, a tip in any amount would be sincerely appreciated.

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Episode 27: Child Labor Laws

On the Podcast this week, in our last show from the 1949 run, Dean and Jerry run afoul with the Child Welfare Board and Jerry goes back to Grade School. Originally broadcast on November 28th, 1949. Dean sings Just One Of Those Things and There's No Tomorrow.

Click here for the MP3 file.

It's Episode 27 of The Comedic Genius of Martin and Lewis Podcast!

Programming Note: We'll be taking a short break from the Podcast and Weblog for the week. Check back on Easter Sunday for our next Episode.

Crackpots Hit Jackpot

This 1951 issue of Life Magazine identifies Martin and Lewis as the "Top Money Act In Show Business" at the time.

The article (in the entertainment section) is titled "Crackpots Hit Jackpot."

There are original copies of Life at reasonable prices available from OldLifeMagazines.com online. They only had one slightly damaged copy of this issue, and gave me a nice discount on it. Once it arrives I'll include excerpts on the Podcast.

I'm also still working my way through Jerry's book, and still enjoying it. The anecdotes are interesting and charming. I'll save further review until I finish it.

Episode 26: Money Problems

On the Podcast this week, Dean and Jerry are having money problems, but fortunately their old pal Soapie Leonard has the solution, and they invest in his football team. This one was originally broadcast on NBC Radio November 14th, 1949. Dino sings Yellen and Ager's Ain't She Sweet and the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Younger Than Springtime from South Pacific.

Click here for the MP3 file.

It's Episode 26 of The Comedic Genius of Martin and Lewis Podcast!

Maybe they ought to be on a budget.

:^)

Meet Me At The Copa

Dean and Jerry's live act was a sensation from the moment they first shared the stage at Skinny D'Amato's 500 Club in Atlantic City. Although we can get a sense of what it must have been like to see them in person when we listen to the old radio shows or watch the Colgate Comedy Hour appearances, by all accounts their onstage antics surpassed anything anyone had ever witnessed. It's also difficult in our time to appreciate the sensation they caused wherever they went. In my lifetime, only the Beatles have created that kind of wild pandemonium - and perhaps the only other entertainers of the 20th century to do so were Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Yet few people today would be likely to place Martin and Lewis in the same rarefied strata as those others.

In 1950, as an established act, Dean and Jerry broke their own attendance record at New York's famed Copacabana. When they first played the club in 1946, they received second billing to Vivian Blane - a big star in Hollywood and on Broadway at the time. In Dean and Me, Jerry reports that the billing arrangement lasted only that first night. After that, she opened for them - and they became headliners wherever they played.

I hope that the Podcast will help to convey how significant Martin and Lewis were during the decade they were together, and that it will inspire a new generation of fans.

Here's some firsthand reporting of the act's appearance in 1950 from Big Bands and Big Names (whence came the images of the Copa posters).

Dean and Me

Karla Gilbert of The Rumor Girls Podcast became a fan of Martin and Lewis after listening to the Audiobook version of Jerry's memoir - Dean and Me: (A Love Story). She found our Podcast shortly afterward while searching for Dean Martin music at iTunes, and emailed to say that she was enjoying the old time radio episodes. I already had a copy of the Hardback, but hadn't taken time to read it. Her email prompted me to move it up in my seemingly endless stack of "books to be read next." I'm happy that it did.

This recollection is an excellent account of the team's creation, the pandemonium that ensued over their first few years together, their acrimonious breakup a decade later, and the deep love they held for each other throughout their lives - despite the bitterness of the split. It's an easy read (I'm about halfway through after only a couple of sessions with it), and it has certainly increased my appreciation for the genius of the duo, and for their impact on show business and on our society during the middle of the 20th Century. Throughout the book, Jerry focuses on the vast underrated talent of Dean Martin, who he describes as one of the great comics of the era.

If you're interested in the book, you can find it in our Amazon Shop. I'll be discussing it on the Podcast once I've finished reading it.