“If you drink don’t drive. Don’t even putt” – Dean Martin.

Few individuals need less of an introduction

than Dean Martin. He was known as the “king of cool” due to his charismatic

nature and is one of the most iconic comedians, actors, and singers of the 20th

century.

Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti on 7

June 1917 in Jefferson County, Ohio. His parents were Italian immigrants and so

Dean didn’t even start learning to speak English until the age of five and

because of the language barrier, he was often bullied in his younger years. As

a teenager, he began to develop a love of music and took up playing the drums.

Like many young people, Dean had a bit of a rebellious streak and chose to drop

out of high school because he thought he was more intelligent than his

teachers. After dropping out, he picked up all sorts of different jobs working variously

as a blackjack dealer, a steel mill worker, and even a welterweight boxer and bootlegger

during the prohibition years.

By late 1941, Dean Martin had met and married Elizabeth McDonald and the couple had four children, Craig, Claudia, Gail, and Deana. However, the marriage was an unhappy one and ended in divorce in 1949 with Dean gaining custody of the children. During this period, he was a member of several different bands but succeeded almost entirely on his personality and looks. However, he eventually managed to develop his own singing style that began to attract some attention to his vocal skills as well.

He married again as soon as his divorce from

Elizabeth came through, marrying a former Orange Bowl queen from Florida called

Dorothy Jean Biegger. Their marriage was much more successful and lasted 24

years producing a further three children for Dean. The first of these was also

named Dean and was born on 17 November 1951. The second was Ricci born in 1953

and then Gina born in 1956. He did marry for a third time but that marriage, to

Catherine Hawn only lasted three years and produced no children although Dean did

adopt Catherine’s daughter Sasha.

Whilst working in New York, Dean Martin met the

comedian Jerry Lewis who, although famous now, was, like Dean, a nobody back in

the 40s, and the two of them performed together at Atlantic City’s 500

Club.  The only problem was that their

act was very poorly received, so much so that the owner told them that if their

next performance was no better, then they were both fired. With the hindsight

of history, we can now smile knowing how successful these two became; however,

the two of them were desperate to improve their act and so they began

formulating a plan in the back alley behind the club and the two of them agreed

that if they were going to go out, then they were going to go out with a bang

and so they decided to go for broke.

The plan meant that they would turn their show

into a variety performance with different sections which included some ad-libbed

comedic jokes and skits as well as music. This would serve as a template for Dean

Martin’s comedic career that was to blossom in later years.

After many successful years with Jerry Lewis,

Dean Martin desired creative changes that ultimately led to his partnership with

Lewis coming to an end. He decided to try his hand at acting and so turned his

attention towards Hollywood. His first solo film, Ten-Thousand Bedrooms in 1957

failed miserably at the box office. He was by now a well-known singer who was

also known for slapstick comedy but rock ‘n’ roll was taking over the music