The Dean Martin Show is cool!

 Pardon me, but the Nostalgic Rambler has been a bit lazy in posting here lately. If I would ask you to guess what I've been doing, I don't think you would guess....I'm learning Norwegian! Why? I've always been fascinated with the country and thought it would be fun. Don't worry, I won't be posting in "norsk" any time soon...I can't even say "nostalgia" in Norwegian yet!

  Time now for a new posting that is the epitome of cool.  That was a legendary tv series called "The Dean Martin Show." I uncovered a whole bunch of old VHS tapes of this program recently. Flea markets can hardly sell VHS videos for more than 25 cents anymore so it's a great place to find old movies and such.

Dean's show was the brainchild of producer Greg Garrison. Dean was a major star at the time and didn't want to be bothered with rehearsal. He more or less just showed up on the taping night while Garrison and his staff rehearsed the rest of the crew and made up cue cards for Dean-o to read!  The show became show biz legendary.

  The broadcast featured Dean singing, of course, as well as showcasing the legendary talent of the time, with guests from John Wayne to Bob Hope. Comedian Jonathan Winters would often break Dean up. No one knew what he would do on stage including the director.

Dean with Jonathan Winters

 Dean's relaxed image came off on the screen and that was perhaps what makes the show so charming today. TV today is so polished. It has to be perfect. Dean's show was perfect, simply because it wasn't perfect. It was just a guy singing and presenting a fun hour for his audience. He never took himself too seriously. After singing most of the songs, he usually starts applauding himself and then mocking it by saying something "Oh, can that boy sing..." or something along those lines.

Dean and "The First Lady Of Song" Miss Ella Fitzgerald

 You can find these Dean Martin Variety Shows everywhere on line. They are obviously also on dvd now. Producer Greg Garrison re-edited the shows several years back and the cream of the crop is available in re-mastered form.  Garrison was a broadcasting genius. Unfortunately, just like Dean, he is no longer with us either. He died in 2005. Too bad other big stars of that era don't have their material available for today's audiences. (Calling the kids of Perry Como, come in please!)