Dean Martin: We Had The Legend All Wrong

Dean Martin: We Had The Legend All Wrong

Dean Martin was one of a kind. The child of working-class Italian immigrants, this shy, stammering boy grew up to be a boxer, a comedian, a singer, an actor, and everything in between, but it didn’t all come easy to the king of cool. Dean Martin cultivated the image of a hard-partying, heavy-drinking playboy and kept it up for years, but then, always a heavy smoker, he was told he had lung cancer. After he received the diagnosis, his family was heartbroken, but their nightmare was just beginning. Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 7, 1917, in Ohio. Bullied at school for his broken English and Italian accent, he dropped out as soon as he could to work with his father at a steel mill, but that didn’t last long either. Dino soon realized that there were more opportunities to make money on the other side of the law. He bootlegged liquor during prohibition, which put him into contact with some shady characters. All those years defending himself against bullies in school set him in good stead to try his hand at prize fighting, going by the name Kid Crochet, which actually sounds kind of cozy and lovely. But fighting in the ring was one thing; he soon found an even more brutal way to make a quick buck.

Dean Martin struck out on his own and moved into a New York City apartment with another young Italian named Sonny King. Both of them dreamed of a life in show business, but for now, they were just two young punks who needed rent money. With limited education and skills, Martin and King did the obvious thing and ran a secret fight club out of their apartment. They’d charge New Yorkers to come and watch them bare-knuckle box, fighting until one of them knocked the other out. Deciding that he preferred to keep his teeth in his actual mouth, Martin landed a gig working in an illicit speakeasy, SLC Casino. He worked roulette tables, dealt cards, and entertained the guests. Now, that sounds a little more like the Dean Martin we know. The shady lounges of speakeasies showed this tough Italian-American teenager a new world, and he liked it. He was used to putting on a show, and he quickly learned that singing was a lot more fun than getting punched in the face. He started singing at whatever clubs he could, legal or not. He would mimic crooners like Perry Como, and the people liked it. Soon, he sang with a popular local band, earning steady paychecks and making a name for himself. The only problem was he was making the wrong name. The world didn’t yet know Dean Martin; they barely even knew Dino Crocetti. He started going by Dino Martini, but the same anti-Italian sentiment that ruined school for him once again reared its ugly head. Sadly, the name Dino Martini was holding him back, and the leader of the band, Sammy Watkins, knew it. He told young Dino he should go by Dean Martin, and the rest is history. Dean Martin was on the road to stardom, a road that would see him become a Hollywood legend and ultimately end in tragedy.

Martin married for the first time at 24 years old. Her name was Betty McDonald, and she married Dino Crocetti, the young and upcoming lounge singer. The pair of them had four children together, but this was no fairy-tale marriage. As Dino Crocetti became Dean Martin, their relationship started to tear at the seams. In the mid-1940s, Dean Martin found himself in the same lineup as a boisterous young comic at New York’s Glass Hat Club. The kid’s name was Jerry Lewis, and right away, Martin could tell there was something special about him. Neither of them knew at the time, but this was the start of a beautiful friendship and a bitter feud. The pair decided to work together, and they debuted Martin and Lewis in Atlantic City in 1946. It was the birth of one of the greatest duos show business had ever seen, and it was a total, unmitigated disaster. Whatever Martin and Lewis prepared, the crowd wasn’t having it. The pair bombed so hard that the club’s owner told them they had to come up with a better act before their second show of the night, or he’d fire them. That’s how Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis ended up huddling in a dark alley behind the club, frantically trying to think up anything that could save them. Instead of coming up with a whole new show, they decided to just wing it. They threw everything they had at the audience. Martin sang songs, Lewis performed skits, and the pair of them ad-libbed banter throughout. Now, if that sounds like a complete train wreck, well, maybe it would have been if it were two regular performers, but this was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The crowd went nuts, and the duo never looked back. This complete Hail Mary quickly transformed into a successful act that sent Martin and Lewis all over the Eastern Seaboard, eventually bringing their act to New York’s legendary Copacabana. This was no small-time club; they’d reached the big time. After that, there was only one place to go next. It was about time the whole world discovered Dean Martin.

Martin and Lewis made their TV debut in 1948 on The Ed Sullivan Show to a rapturous reception. They were both ready to take their act out of nightclubs and into TV and film, but while Dean Martin’s career was rising, his marriage was going up in flames. It seems that Betty McDonald preferred the struggling Dino Crocetti to the successful Dean Martin. They divorced in 1949, with Martin gaining full custody of their four children. McDonald, it seems, wasn’t cut out for the spotlight; she lived out the rest of her days in obscurity in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Dean Martin’s star continued to rise, and he wasted no time finding a new woman to fill the void. He married Jeanne Biegger, a former Orange Bowl Queen, mere months after his divorce. Jeanne proved to be Martin’s longest love, and they remained married for nearly 25 years, though it wasn’t all wedded bliss. For now, Martin had his career to focus on, and he was about to enter a whole new world. 1949 was a busy year for Dean Martin. He got divorced, got married, and appeared in his first movie, My Friend Irma. Though he and Lewis earned $75,000 between them for the film, that was peanuts compared to what was coming next. Their agent negotiated one of the best deals in Hollywood history, allowing them to produce one film a year over which they’d have complete control. They also had final say over all nightclub, radio, TV, and record appearances. That deal netted them millions. This dynamic duo was quickly on their way to conquering Hollywood, but this was when the cracks started to show. No one could deny the chemistry between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on stage, but when the curtain fell, it was a different story. While Lewis always got to be the funny man, Martin felt trapped by always playing the straight man.

He wanted to mix up their formula, but Lewis refused. Martin grew more and more bitter. The relationship grew tense and uncomfortable. Dean Martin played second fiddle to nobody, but that was quickly becoming how people saw him. Critics heaped praise on Jerry Lewis and claimed that he was the real talent. Martin seethed while Lewis basked in the adulation, unconcerned and unsympathetic. Finally, while promoting their latest film, 1954’s Living It Up, something happened that finally pushed Martin too far. Even Dean Martin grew jealous sometimes, and the critics weren’t helping matters. But after the duo’s 1954 photo shoot for Look magazine, he’d finally had enough. The pair of them posed for the promotional shoot, but when Martin saw the final cover, his blood ran cold. They’d completely cropped him out of the photo, leaving only Lewis on the cover. Martin was completely ready to move on, but the pair still had to finish making their last movie together, Hollywood or Bust. Despite their playful attitude on screen, the set became excruciatingly awkward. Martin and Lewis both refused to speak to the other whenever the cameras weren’t rolling. So, was Martin just being a baby, or was Lewis being a diva? Well, years later, Lewis would finally reveal the truth. In his memoirs, Lewis placed the blame squarely on his own shoulders. The 50s saw him become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and all that success went straight to his head. He treated the people around him like dirt, Martin included. Hollywood or Bust, while not particularly great on screen, was even more of a nightmare behind the scenes. Martin’s complete disinterest led to more and more vicious arguments with Lewis. Finally, Martin snapped. He looked his old partner in the eye and said to him, “You’re nothing but a dollar sign.” They broke up for good in 1956, exactly 10 years after they first teamed up. Lewis likely assumed Martin would be lost without him; he never could have imagined what came next.