Sinatra and Martin 11 live tracks and a monologue
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Posted on 03/30/2012 4:42:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Jerry Lewis turned 86 yesterday and got quite a nice birthday party from the Friars Club. Richard Belzer interviewed him last night at the 92nd St. Y, Lewis did a lengthy and hilarious Q&A with the audience, and then Paul Shaffer played “Happy Birthday” to him on the piano with an audience singalong. Veteran comic and actor Jerry Stiller came and sat third row center and even asked a question: “Did you and Dean rehearse your act?”– and he seriously wanted an answer. Jerry joked a lot of his answers, and got lots of applause from an audience that included Robert Klein, David Steinberg, and writer-actor Robert Smigel (“Triumph the Comic Insult Dog”). The audience was full of showbiz people including producer Bonnie Timmermann, Rita Cosby, and director-producer Antonio Campos.
Lewis was brilliant, revelatory, and emotional–especially with a former MDA kid, now adult, who lives with Cerebral Palsy. When one audience member asked about Jerry getting fired from the MDA telethon, the comic was philosophical. (I’ll have more on that on Monday.) On the subject of former partner Dean Martin, Lewis said: “Dean Martin was without question the least appreciated performer in show business…For ten years my partner read reviews where his name wasn’t mentioned. And he dealt with it with such dignity and class…I called him Paul, his real name…I said, we have a magical combination. He said, I’m ok, Jerry. He was a great gentle man about it.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Dino was the greatest straight man in the game, and that’s not an easy role.
Bud Abbott was pretty good also..
Jerry and Dean - both very classy guys from an era we’ll never see again.
Dino was multi-talented, and truly brilliant.
Problem was, he was born at around the same time as Sinatra, hence the shadow effect.....
Martin got plenty of attention.
For me, Tim Conway is the man.
Tim Conway destroys a Carol Burnett skit with an off the wall elephant story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3qqE_WmagjY
Too bad the “ Dignity and Class “ never rubbed off on jerry.
That ad libbed siamese elephant story is still the funniest dang thing from the show.
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Everybody wanted to be Sinatra......Sinatra wanted to be Dean.
No, Jerry Lewis is the least appreciated performer in entertainment history. Well, that is if you only count sane people and disregard the French.
I can honestly say that I consider Dean Martin to be the “coolest” man ever. And on a snowy weekend day, all my family has to do is play some “Deano” music and I take over the kitchen. Some hours later, we have a feast.
I’ve always found the dynamic between Dean and Frank fascinating.
They were both blessed with superb voices and brilliant phrasing. They had the pipes and knew how to use them.
But, in many ways they were polar opposites. Frank spent numberless hours in the studio, controlling every facet of recording and production, being meticulous almost to a fault and working like few entertainers before or since.
In contrast, Dino would grab some breakfast, go to the studio and knock out a few tunes on the way to the golf course.
That ad libbed siamese elephant story is still the funniest dang thing from the show.
Sounds like heaven on earth!
I so miss those stars of yesteryear. They could sing, dance, act, do comedy, and they were real survivors too. It’s a shame that almost all of them are gone now. They were also real patriots. They loved this country and many of them had fought for it.
My 14 year old daughter thinks Dean, Jerry and Frank were ALL great!
I’ve been threatening to get her a bracelet with “WWFD” on it - “What would Frank do?”
Dean Martin was gorgeous, had an amazing voice, was funny as he!! and a darn good actor.
He had it all.
<3
I wanted to stay away from the better known discs and find 'show-like' tunes. I researched every tune I could find and came up with some pretty obscure gems like, Imagination and Powder Your Face With Sunshine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0fqG5zoGow) - very Broadway dance-able.
I learned the hard way how the unions have made it damn near impossible to get a non-revival off the ground unless it is funded by a Disney. But, I got a great CD that I pop in the player on long drives and watch the play in my head...
Dean could literally have any woman he wanted. Yet he was a good family man. The tragedy was that he never got over the death of his son.
Think of all the great actors actresses comedians singers etc. from that era. Today’s stars rely on how naked can they get, how filthy can they talk and absolutely have no talent in any area.
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