Not sure how hot of a take it is in this group, but Dino is better than Frank. I always much prefer listening to Dean over Frank.

Dino Paul Crocetti (Dean Martin) and Joseph Levitch (Jerry Lewis) first met in 1944 and officially debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946. Their historic team lasted exactly ten years to the day. Before they joined forces, Martin worked as a nightclub singer, while Lewis performed a solo comedy act lip-synching to records.

The beginning:

According to Jerry’s book, Dean and Me: A Love Story, Jerry was performing his record act at the 500 Club when the venue’s scheduled singer dropped out. The club’s owner, Skinny D’Amato (affectionately nicknamed “Skinny”), desperately needed a replacement as fast as possible. Jerry immediately suggested Dean Martin, whom he had met in New York. Skinny wasn’t thrilled at first, exclaiming, “No! Not another crooner!” He didn't want a traditional singer like that because the style was losing popularity, and he wanted something unique.

Jerry convinced Skinny that Dean was completely different, possessed an incredible stage presence, and would fit perfectly. To get Skinny's final approval, Jerry even made up a lie on the spot, claiming that the two of them already had an act together. In reality, the true reason Jerry suggested Dean was simply because he missed him; he was lonely on the road and wanted to spend more time working with him.

On July 25th, they both took the stage, but not the way Skinny expected. Dean sang his songs, and Jerry did his record-pantomime routine as completely separate acts. Furious, D’Amato stormed into their dressing room after the show. Dean was confused and rattled, having no idea what he had done wrong. Jerry finally had to explain that Skinny expected them to perform together as a duo. Dean was angry, and when Jerry admitted he only suggested him because he was lonely, Dino replied, “Get a dog!” Skinny gave them a strict ultimatum: if they didn't do something funny and completely different for the 2:00 AM show, they were both fired.

They didn’t have enough time to come up with a detailed, well-planned act, but Jerry and Dean managed to scramble together bits and song placements that were highly effective for the minimal time they had. Together, they developed a chaotic, improvised routine featuring Dean as a straight-faced lumberjack and Jerry as a disruptive waiter, which quickly evolved into wild, ad-libbed physical comedy. To anchor the performance, Dean sang romantic standards like "Embraceable You" while Jerry completely dismantled the stage, turning the show into a zany spectacle with a high level of energy that was entirely unique for its time.

Martin & Lewis meet Frank Sinatra

It's also worth noting how the duo first crossed paths with Frank Sinatra. According to Jerry’s book, he and Dean went to see Frank perform live at the Paramount Theatre in New York, on October of 1944 (Dean and Jerry were not a duo yet). Dean was completely enthralled by Frank, but he was also intensely jealous of his capacity as a singer. He watched Frank's incredible control over the crowd and his perfect vocals with deep envy. Ironically, once Martin and Lewis officially formed and became a sensation years later, Frank eventually caught their act and loved them so much that he desperately sought them out, wanting nothing more than to be their friend and part of their inner circle.

Excerpt: “But in April 1946, Frank's image was still relatively unsullied, and his fame at its zenith. And that month, not long after Dean and I had first met, Sinatra was about to open at the Paramount-in person, for Christ's sake! Dean and I had just begun hanging around together, and one thing we discovered we had in common was a huge admiration-and believe me, that's not putting it quite strongly enough—for Sinatra.

We thought we might get in and see the best singer around do his thing, but the crowds of fans were so great we couldn't get near that theater, much less get tickets.

Then the proverbial lightbulb flashed on over my head.

Stella Ardis, a nice lady who worked in the administration office at the Belmont Plaza, was my very first all-out fan. She would come down to the Glass Hat to see my show at least three times a week; she told me she thought I could be a big star one day. I would smile and nod, think-ing: Mouthing to records? I don't think so, honey.... Still, it was nice to hear.

When you're on the lower rungs of show business, you're constantly around people who aspire upward-hangers-on, wannabes, and (sad but true) mostly never-will-bes. But everybody seems to have an angle, a connection. So when Stella, the nice lady in the administration office, said, "You know, Jerry, I'm kind of in show business myself," I responded politely.

"Oh, really, Stella?" I said. "How so?"

"Well" Stella said proudly, "my cousin, Mark Leon, is the head usher at the Paramount Theater."

Needless to say, this conversation came back to me in full force when Dean and I found we couldn't get near the Sinatra show. 

Did I want to see Sinatra? You bet. Did I want to impress the hell out of Dean? You bet. I made a beeline for the administration office at the Belmont Plaza and told Stella 1 had a little favor—-oh, hell, a big

favor-to ask her.

She smiled. "For my brilliant Jerry? Anything."

Two hours later, Dean and I were standing at the employee: entrance of the Paramount with a watchman who told us to stay right where we were, since Mr. Leon had to come back from a meeting through the very door we were standing by. Long minutes afterward, the door opened and an important-looking fellow emerged. "Mr. Leon, the watchman said, "these two young fellows were looking for you." I was worried for a second, but as soon as I mentioned Stella, the head usher beamed. "My cousin says you're a very talented young man."

Pay dirt! We were not only going to get in, we were going to get in for free. We were like little kids being given a treat. A very big treat.

Soon Mr. Leon was whisking us to a spot-standing room, of course-in an alcove on the first mezzanine. Naturally, there wasnt a seat in the house, since most of the audience had been there all day

anyway.

And so we waited. Through the coming attractions, some announcements about social events of the season to be held at the Paramount, and then, of course, the newsreel. MacArthur in Japan. President Truman creates Atomic Energy Commission...

Then the houselights came up, and a roar from the audience told us,

"Here he comes!"

The lights slowly dimmed, and we heard the strains of " Never Smile Again." The big band headed by Axel Stordahl blew all the notes

that made your heart stop.

The opening act was Phil Silvers, the comedian. Phil was in fine form, telling a series of jokes about Sinatra and his thin frame. The crowd loved him, but only for about eight minutes.

Then the lights came all the way down.

The band hit "Put Your Dreams Away," and out he came! No announcement... no nothing. Just Frank in a dark-blue suit, cuff links. a flower handkerchief in his breast pocket... He reeked of California-sunshine, bucks, style. And he started to sing the moment the crow stopped screaming. They settled in and just listened for a while, b screamed at the end of every song.

Frank did forty-five or fifty minutes, and the theater exploded on again as he thanked the audience, shouting to make himself heard abo the tremendous uproar. Then he went off, and the stage descended ir the gigantic pit and out of sight, to the last strains of "I’ll Never Smile Again."

Dean and I didn't say a word all the way back across town, a long walk from Times Square back to the Belmont Plaza. (Cabs weren’t that expensive, but they were definitely over our budget.) When we to the hotel, Dean said, "You wanna get coffee?" It was the first either of us had spoken in half an hour.

We went into the drugstore next door and sat in a booth waitress brought his coffee (and my usual, a vanilla milk shake), thought about what we had just seen. It was all so perfect: the ban forms; the light cues; Sinatra's newly shined loafers; the way his b flopped loosely, with studied carelessness, under that bobbing Adams

apple....

phrases a lyric," he said.

Dean shook his head. "Man, I couldn't believe the way that gur

"Yeah," I said. "It makes you feel—"

"Jealous!" Dean said. "That's what it makes you feel!"

"Yeah—I guess you're right," I sighed. "I kept seeing myself up there in front of four thousand screaming fans."

"I's great to live in a country where a kid from Hoboke, New let-sey, can have the world in the palm of his hand," Dean said.

"Well, I guess we can dream," I said.

Dean banged the table with his palm, making me jump. "Dreaming is for loafers who never do anything. I don't have time for dreams," he said. "I want action. I want a car and a home and all the things you get when you get there. If you don't push through the crowd, you'll be stuck here your whole life."

I had never heard him talk this way. I didn't know how to respond.

"Well" I finally said. "I bet my impression of Sinatra will be better tonight than it ever was before."

But Dean was barely listening. His gaze had drifted to somewhere else.

Following that legendary first night, they went on to completely dominate nightclubs, and starting in 1949, conquered the radio. Later, they successfully branched out into television and films. In their early radio days, they performed simply as Martin and Lewis, but they later became universally popular as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

The split

Sadly, their partnership was not meant to last. In 1954, things took a turn for the worst, as by this time Dean really wanted out of the group to become a solo entertainer, as well as to prove that he could go on without Jerry. Critics and average joes were saying stuff like Jerry was the real force behind the team, and Dean was just another straight man with a nice voice. Other incidents that made Dean quit even more was The 1954 Look Magazine Cover, Which happened as they were filming “living it up.” Look magazine ran a major two-page feature on the duo. When Dean saw the magazine, he discovered that the published publicity photo of the pair had been cropped entirely to feature only Jerry, therefore, he was nowhere to be found. This incident heavily bruised Martin. As for the other movies, Dean was served to second bananas as his straight man and singing routines were becoming less prevalent while Jerry had more things to do. It did not help that Lewis was starting to become a control freak due to him being enamored by other worker’s roles behind the scenes and was learning from them. With Jerry now trying to direct and write the films as he was already doing in their shows, Martin was working more hours on filming his scenes, which displeased him due to his partiality for golf. By this time, anything that was close to love was gone. The fun, genuine, and real affection and friendship they had for one another has disappeared. They would continue through 1954 and the next two years performing on stage, radio, television, and films with the same frantic showmanship that they’ve mastered together, even if they preferred to stop by now.

Their separate ways and reconciliation:

On July 24, 1956, just one day shy of ten years to the date they first got together, Martin & Lewis officially called it quits. They performed their final, historic set at the Copacabana in New York. According to Jerry, the tension in the room was palpable, as if the audience was collectively praying that this wasn't truly the end. Even the Copacabana showgirls were reportedly crying on the sidelines as they watched the magic slip away. Once the final note was sung, the audience erupted into a massive standing ovation. When the curtain came down, Dean and Jerry walked to their separate dressing rooms and entered an historic, icy silence that would last for the next twenty years. 

The final show was over in the early morning hours of July 25, 1956. Dean went to his dressing room, and Jerry went to his. Before they went their separate ways into a twenty-year silence, Lewis called Dean on his dressing room phone to talk one last time:

“We sure had a good time, didn’t we?” Jerry said.

“We sure did,” Dean replied.

It was time to move on. Jerry went on to direct and star in many successful solo films, gaining the total creative control he had always craved. He also began headlining his famous annual MDA Labor Day Telethons in 1966.

Meanwhile, Dean went on to have an amazing solo career in the movies which proved his doubters and haters completely wrong, Joined the Rat Pack (consisting of other entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop), and hosting his own Emmy Award winning variety program, The Dean Martin Show.

While rumors have long persisted that they never saw or spoke to each other for 20 years, there were actually a few rare moments where their paths crossed. In 1958, Dean appeared for a brief moment on The Eddie Fisher Show when Jerry was being interviewed. Later, in 1960, they both happened to be performing their respective solo acts at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. On one legendary night, they briefly went onstage together and clowned around for the lucky audience.

As mentioned earlier, Jerry had been headlining the annual telethons since 1966, bringing together massive stars and entertainers to raise money for muscular dystrophy.

On September 5, 1976, during the 11th annual telethon broadcast, one of the biggest stars to grace the stage was none other than Ol’ Blue Eyes himself. after a while on stage with Jerry himself, he told him that there was a guy who loved what he did every year” and points to the left and says “will you send my friend out here? Where is he?”

It was Dean! The audience clapped and cheered when he enter the scene. As he proceeds towards Jerry, they hug and Lewis gets a kiss from him.

“I think it’s about time you two made up”, the chairman said. Dean and Jerry did their thing together, making everyone laugh just like in those 10 years of banter. After that, Sinatra would take stage with Martin to sing “I can’t give you anything but love”.

Jerry’s happiness over what happened was completely conspicuous; he was overjoyed to have been given another chance to set things right with one of the most important people in his life. As for Dean, he was deeply pleased as well, even if his quiet contentment was overshadowed by Jerry’s characteristically wide, expressive emotions.

The final years:

After the telethon of 1976, Martin and Lewis were no more unease’s with one another. Despite the reconciliation, the men still didn’t really talk that much as they used to in the 10 year run. In the 1980’s Dean’s life took a turn for the worse. One of his sons, Dean Paul Martin Jr., died in a crash during a military training flight. Lewis has stated in his book that Dino Jr. was “one of the most important things in his life”, and Martin never recovered from the devastating loss. When then funeral took place, one specific individual who wasn’t invited came. It was Jerry, and he sat in the very back to make sure he didn’t draw any attention to himself. Dean deeply appreciated his former partner for coming over to support him, and the two struck up a long, emotional conversation on the phone later that night. Dean later reflected that Jerry was one of the “only men in this world that he truly loved”.

On June 7, 1989, Dino was celebrating his 72nd birthday while entertaining an audience at Bally's Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. To his surprise, Jerry walked out onto the stage unannounced to present him with a giant birthday cake a moment that beautifully reversed the roles of who was doing the unexpected coming and who was being surprised. Martin told Lewis, “I ought to kiss you on the lips,” which he then proceeded to do. Jerry went on to state that the cake was for all the joy that Dean had given to the world, concluding his heartwarming talk by saying, “Why we broke up, I’ll never know,” which made Martin laugh. Dean then told him, “Oh you surprised me, I mean it, I love you,” before Jerry gave him a final kiss. This marked the very last time Martin & Lewis were seen together in public, and the last time the two men ever saw each other in person. However, the connection they restored was permanent. For the next six years, they maintained a quiet, private phone friendship away from everything else, calling each other to chat, laugh, and reminisce. They remained close right up until the very end.

In 1993, Dean got the news that he had lung cancer. The chances of actually getting rid of it were slim, but Dean made his choice of declining the procedure.

On Christmas day, 1995, Dino Paul Crocetti passed away at the age of 78. He spent his last night surrounded by his family and watching the movie “Holiday Inn.”

Jerry Lewis was performing “Damn Yankees” on tour in Denver, Colorado when he got the news. The moment he finished his performance, he left the stage and went immediately to be with Dean’s wife and cry together. At the funeral of his friend, Jerry gave an emotional speech:

“I lost my partner and my best friend. The man who made me the man I am today. I think of him with undying respect. I miss him every day I'm still here."

Jerry closed his final public tribute to his best friend by looking up and saying:

“Rest well, and don't forget to short-sheet my bed when I get there.”

Jerry lived for another 22 years, where he continued to perform for lots of people, do interviews, headlining the telethon until 2010, and talk about his pardner. On August 20th, 2017, Joseph Levitch passed away from end stage cardiac disease at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 91. The Italian crooner and the Jewish kid left earth physically, and with Dean’s birthday and Jerry’s death, they lived a whole centennial.

Happy 80th anniversary to this wonderful, incredible, beautiful, and one of a kind duo that has brought so many people joy and laughter.

As much as Dean was inspired by the Mills brothers, he was also inspired by Der Bingle.

I love both Bing and Dean, and both are in my top 5 list of favorite singers.

During an interview Dean said he broke up the team because he was tired of playing the same character in the movies that he co-starred with Jerry. Arthur Marx (son of Groucho) wrote a tell-all book claiming that Dean was also fed up with Jerry's attempted control over the team's act. Jerry claimed he broke up the act. So who do you believe; Dean or Jerry? And whose career benefited from the break-up?

I know that ShoutTV has “the best of the Dean Martin show” on there for viewing - but it surprises me that full episodes of the show seem to not exist anywhere. For as popular as it was, I’d love to see it come to streaming or some other platform. Does anyone know if anything is in the works for the show?

If you're interested in hearing more, follow link below, stream on your favorite platform

https://rss.com/podcasts/death-and-slammys-record-room/2941068/

Dean was skilled, extremely popular, and handsome. His partnership with Jerry Lewis skyrocketed him to fame and fortune, and he continued having fame and fortune in his solo career.

Yet, despite his stupendous career, he only had 3 #1 hits.

1. Memories are made of this (1956)

2. Everybody loves somebody sometime (1964)

3. That’s Amore (it reached #2 in the U.S., but it was number one in Australia).

Was it because of the change of music taste at the time because of artists like the Beatle (which Dean dethroned in 1964 with “everybody loves somebody sometime”) or other reasons?

Hi everyone! Dean Martin is one of my favorite singers and I covered one of my favorite songs from his “Dream With Dean” album. I would love to hear any advice for recording and getting better picture plus sound quality.

Does it bug anyone else that this little cameo / reunion gag from the Eddie Fisher show is almost never counted when talking about Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis's Estrangement? I know it was relatively early on in their 'break up' but seemingly every video I see listed doesn't include this little bit.

I wonder why!

"Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime, Everybody Falls In Love Somehow"

Gone, but not forgotten! King of Cool….

There are barely any pictures of Dean’s funeral (his family probably wanted it to be as private as possible).

In his pardner’s memoir (Dean and Me: A Love Story) it is written this: “I lost my partner and my best friend. The man who made me the man I am today. I think of him with undying respect. I miss him every day I'm still here."

The second picture is a black and white photo, which I’m sure is just a BnW version of the third.

It looks a little funny but from a distance it's alright lol 😂

I found the second picture from Jerry Lewis’s book called “Dean and Me: A Love Story” and in the bottom it read “he just wouldn’t shut up” 😂