Look up Brooks in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Brooks may refer to:

Places[link]

Canada

• Brooks, Alberta

United States

• Brooks, Arkansas
• Brooks, California
• Brooks, Georgia
• Brooks, Kentucky
• Brooks, Maine
• Brooks, Minnesota
• Brooks, Oregon
• Brooks Township, Michigan
• Brooks City-Base, former United States Air Force base near San Antonio, Texas
• Brooks, Wisconsin

United States and Canada

• The Brooks Range, mountain range in Alaska and Yukon

Antarctica

• Cape Brooks

People[link]

Surname[link]

Given name[link]

• Brooks Atkinson, American theater critic
• Brooks Newmark, British member of parliament
• Brooks Orpik, American hockey player
• Brooks Robinson, American baseball player

Companies[link]

• Brooks Locomotive Works, an early manufacturer of steam locomotives for the US railroads
• Brooks Brothers, American men's clothier
• Brooks England, traditional English bicycle saddle manufacturer
• Brooks Pharmacy, former pharmacy chain
• Brooks Sports, American athletic shoe manufacturer

Education[link]

• Brooks College, a system of for-profit colleges in California
• Brooks Institute, a for-profit college in California focusing on visual arts
• Brooks School, North Andover, Massachusetts, United States
• Brooks High School (disambiguation)

Other uses[link]

• Brooks (group), 1970s UK vocal group
• Brooks (mango), a late-season mango cultivar originated in Miami, Florida
• Brooks (programming language), a functional logic programming language
• Nickname for the Brooklyn Dodgers, former Major League Baseball team, now the Los Angeles Dodgers

See also[link]

• Stream
• Brooksville (disambiguation)
• Comet Brooks (disambiguation)
• Mr. Brooks, film

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2008)

Dolores Brooks (born June 20, 1947 in Brooklyn, NY) was a member of the girl group The Crystals. She is best known as the lead vocalist on their hits "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron".

Brooks was the second youngest of 11 children, born to a full-blooded Native American mother and an African-American father. About her mother she once said: "I knew she was different when she couldn't comb my hair. She told me to ask a neighbor to do it. I have my father's kinky hair."^{[citation needed]}

Brooks first displayed her talent by singing gospel music in church. At age seven, she took part in her siblings' gospel group called the Little Gospel Tears, where they sang in Brooklyn. While attending PS 73, she was discovered in an after-school program by Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew and her mother, who invited her to join the Crystals as a replacement for a departing member. Brooks accepted this invitation.

After leaving the Crystals, she married jazz musician Leo Morris (also known as Idris Muhammad) in 1966; the union brought two sons and two daughters. Shortly thereafter, she converted to Islam with him, going under the name "Sakinah Muhammad". She then helped him write and record his material over the years. In 1968, she appeared in the original Broadway production of the musical Hair, where she performed the song "Aquarius". She would later appear in the Broadway show Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1971. She also toured with and recorded for various artists (such as the Neville Brothers, Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes); made short appearances in films; and contributed songs to different movie soundtracks (including the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem). In 1971, she reunited with Kenniebrew, Mary Thomas, and Barbara Alston as the Crystals and toured and performed in rock-&-roll revival shows. Their touring lasted until 1973 when the members decided to devote their time to their families.

In 1983, she and her family moved to London, England where she and Morris continued their careers in music. In 1990, they moved to Vienna, Austria where she continued singing and writing songs with Morris and also hosted a local radio show; they lived in Vienna until 1997. Andrew Edge sang backing vocals on her BMG (Austria) CD LaLa Brooks & Friends in 1994.^[1] In 1999, she and Morris separated but have remained on good terms since then.

Brooks moved back to the United States at the turn of the century and resides in the East Village. She is now a grandmother of three, has her own band and is still performing.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Facebook La La Brooks
• Dolores "LaLa" Brooks at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dolores "LaLa" Brooks at the Internet Movie Database
• Dolores "LaLa" Brooks on Myspace

v t e The Crystals Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew Patricia Pritchett-Lewis Melissa Antoinette "MelSoulTree" Grant Barbara Alston Mary Thomas Myrna Girard Patricia "Patsy" Wright Dolores "LaLa" Brooks Frances Collins Albums Twist Uptown He'a a Rebel The Crystals Sing the Greatest Hits, Volume 1 Singles "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" "Uptown" "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" "He's a Rebel" "He's Sure the Boy I Love" "Da Doo Ron Ron" "Then He Kissed Me" "I Wonder" "Little Boy" "All Grown Up" Related topics Darlene Love Book:The Crystals

Ronald White, better known by his stage name Ron Ron,^[1] is an American rapper, producer, director, videographer, CEO of The Gold Mind Business Corporation, head of indie label Brainiak Muzik and former affiliate of Universal Music Group.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Ronald F White Jr. was born on October 3, 1981,. This day will forever be marked as the day a musical genius was born. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up between his mother's home and his father and step mother, Rachelle White's home. They collectively contributed to his care. As a child he endured trials and tribulations of living between the two different environments. He had a strong grandparents who were also influential in his personal development. His grandparents were very special to him. He also formed a close brotherly bond with his older cousin,Shah. He learned a lot from Shah who is from Los Angeles, CA. As a pre-teen, Ron-Ron moved to California with his mother and baby brother. He was exposed to a whole new world. By 14, he was back in KCMO. He attended Paseo Academy School of Fine and Performing Arts. He had the opportunity to major in Theater. His major study during high school complimented his already dynamic personality. He participated in productions at the school. Also because of his comedic and charming personality he hosted talent and fashion shows with ease. Due to the love of music he also began to hone his craft in Applied Technology, a course offered in school that offered a technical foundation to his understanding of musical production. He is an intelligent mind and considered a genius by plenty. High school wasn't a challenge for him although he got suspended often, mostly for truancy problems and class disruption. He juggled home life and the reality of the streets, all the while he graduated a year early from high school. He briefly attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO. He left after two violent altercations, one in which he was badly injured by a group of men. He ultimately decided that he belonged with his family and colleagues in a southern KC ghetto affectionately known by its residents as "the 50s". On 51th and Bellefontaine, the same neighborhood where his spent time as a kid, many of his family members reside either on the block or very close to it. Ron-Ron always identified with his own kind. On "the block" he felt at home. Although the neighborhood didn't offer the most positive influences, he managed to make life long and life changing connections with those who were raised there just like him.

Personal Life.[link]

He comes from a large family. He has a host of uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins. All of his family is important to him but two in particular he holds a special bond. Steve "Moody" Wright and Dionysus "Dion" Spriggs. Both are incarcerated in the federal penal system. They all grew up in the neighborhood together and became known as the "Bellfontaine Boys", taking the name from their uncles and older relatives in the era before them. Seeing them get caught up in the system for so many extremely serious crimes had a tremendous impact on Ron Ron, driving him to stay on a more positive course while still trying to remain true to his roots. Coming from such a big family with decades of history it was difficult to truly shake his past but instead he had to learn to use it to improve his future. After all of his legal misfortune, Ron came to the realization that because of his local notoriety and street credibility, he could use his own personal experience to encourage Kansas City's at risk youth to do better. He was affiliated with the a local non-profit group called Aim4Peace. He briefly went to Kansas City area high schools from 2009 to 2010 to speak to high risk teens.

Legal Trouble[link]

Shortly after leaving college he immediately began getting in serious legal trouble. In between the major charges were dozens of minor arrests and investigations. He was first arrested for felony forgery and burglary charges. A year later he was picked up for possession of pcp. And a few months after that he was sent to jail for several months for felonious restraint (minor kidnapping) of two men. Once released with another chance at freedom, but on probation, he seemed to stay under the radar for a year or two when he was captured at a drug rehab for two counts of first degree murder. He spent a year in detention and then bonded out with a condition of house arrest. He spent 3 years released on bond apart for being re incarcerated twice for violations of house arrest conditions. During these years is when he and some of his close friends and relatives got a studio and began making and selling professionally recorded songs and mixtapes. The popularity of the music grew rapidly but due to circumstances the music traveled hardly any further than Missouri and Kansas. This momentum was also halted when a brief but intense turf war broke out in Kansas City causing police to investigate rap groups with gang ties irreversibly damaging the local independent music scene in Kansas City, not just for him but just about every rapper in the city. On June 11, 2007 he began trial for the murders and included lesser charges. On June 15 he was fully acquitted of all charges and immediately released off of house arrest. His attorney was the well known Patrick Peters. Unfortunately this freedom would only last a couple months when the prosecutor arraigned him on a drug case that happened prior to the murders he went to trial on. Back on probation again his music career was once again put on hault, a trend so familiar to him since the age of 18.

Musical Accomplishments[link]

Commercially and Independently[link]

Ron has appeared in major videos with national recording artists Rick Ross, Marques Houston, Tech N9ne, and Hurricane Cris. He has made songs with Rick Ross, Yo Gotti, Nipsey Hussle, Torch, Busta Rhymes, Mon-E-G, Saw Money, Popper, Tech N9ne, J Stalin, Thiz Ent., Matt Blaque, Rich the Factor, and many more. He has toured and performed with dozens of national recording artists including the likes of Monica, Plies, Rick Ross and many many more. In 2009, Ron and Stik Figa, won a Pitch Award for Hip-Hop song of the year.^[2] His success is measured more in terms of influence and not sales as he has never had a true financially successful record. It was rumored that his club hit "Hey Honey" made him rich but the song ended up in limbo and ultimately in court in which Ron stays adamant on staying away from avoidable legal issues, thus leaving the potential profits on the table rather than fight for them in a courtroom.

Music Feud[link]

Prior to death of Fat Tone he and Ron were involved in short and unofficial rap feud where no names were mentioned on record but was rumored to be intense even though the two grew up together and even have songs together under their rap group name "5150". The 51 was for Ron and the 50 was for Tone. The two were on speaking terms though at the time of Tone's death but were unable to reconcile. After that situation Ron vowed to refrain from rap beefs, wars, etc. after seeing how closely the music and street world were intertwined. Ron never made any more of his issues public since then, although there is speculation swirling the streets of Kansas City with countless people.

Rap Groups and Labels[link]

Rappers in his neighborhood "unofficially" went by the name Bucc Clicc which was representation of a large group of youngsters. They never released any projects but recorded dozens of amateur songs for a few years at various houses in the 51st Street area. With everyone constantly in and out of jail no real progress was made outside of the area of the 50's.

He first co founded a rap group called 5-1-2 which was him and Todd "Lace" Williard who died in 2005 after being shot. The two were childhood friends. The 5-1 was for Ron and 1-2 was for Todd. Later other rappers changed the 1 to "ace" and the 2 to "deuce" to include other group members. This led to a cult following on the streets blurring the line of art and life. The controversy forced Ron to step back from the scene which had random unaffiliated people causing serious trouble under that banner. Ron maintains his ties are based solely on the memory of his fallen comrade and in no way to promote gang membership.

His next venture was co-founding the label Die Hard Ent. with family members.They enjoyed a few years of success and even ran a professional recording studio for several years on the corner 59th and Prospect, which is an infamous street in Kansas City known for decades. They released projects every few months and even did a few Ron Ron shows in Missouri.

Ron started up his own indie label "Brainiak Muzik" under THE GOLD MIND BUSINESS CORPORATION in 2008 which he still operates at a limited capacity in music and video production. He's released his most well known music under this label although it is argued that his "best" music was with Die Hard. Ron has refrained from using curse words in his music since 2007 which may be the reason for debate although his subject matter has only expanded while still being firmly grounded in the streets.

In the years since he has attempted to partner with Hush Ent. distributed through Universal. He also partnered briefly with Southside Recordings. Neither yielded much more than song recordings and networking opportunities.

Film and Video[link]

One his lesser known talents is in the video production field. He has directed and edited videos for years. He has also produced hundreds of songs earlier in his career but really doesn't do it anymore, and it is usually just co-production work when he does. He has had songs he's produced placed in several indie films as he is a member of the Kansas City based IFC (Independent Filmmaker's Coalition). His work is displayed on YouTube. He has directed and edited "Grimmy Muffucca" 2006, "G.A.N.G.S.T.A." 2006, "Hey Honey" 2008, "100 Barz" 2009, "Life Worth Livin" 2010, "Lyric 100 Barz" 2010, "Caked Up" featuring Stik Figa 2011 and "Ron DMC Party Song" 2011. In totality he has over a million views on YouTube.

Albums[link]

"Ironic" (2005)

"Ironic" [remastered re-release] (Fall 2011)

Ironic Pt. 2 (Deja Vu) (Fall 2011)

Ron DMC 1.0 (May 31)

Mixtapes[link]

Cholie Brown (2005)
"Mr. Mixtape" (2006)
Mr No It All (2008)
Frank-Einstein (2008)
Skitzo-Frinik (2009)^[3]
"EXPERT" (postponed)
"Left Brain:Right Brain" (Out Now)
Therapy (Postponed)
"Mr No It All 2'" (Winter 2011)

External links[link]

• Official website

References[link]

Foster Brooks (May 11, 1912 – December 20, 2001) was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.

Biography[link]

Foster Brooks was born in Louisville, Kentucky^[1] on May 11, 1912. He was one of eight sons. His career started in radio, most notably with station WHAS (AM) in Louisville. Brooks was a staff announcer, but his deep baritone voice was well-suited for singing as well. Brooks gained some measure of fame for his reporting of the Ohio River flood of 1937, where he was featured on emergency broadcasts by WHAS and also WSM (AM) out of Nashville, Tennessee. In 1952, Brooks appeared on local television in a short-lived spoof of Gene Autry and his "Singing Cowboys." He later worked in local broadcasting as a radio and TV personality in Buffalo and Rochester, New York before moving to the west coast to launch a career as a standup comic and character actor.

On the syndicated Steve Allen Show of the 1960s, Allen introduced Brooks as an important movie producer. Brooks stumbled on stage doing his drunk act, fooling some of the other guests. Brooks claimed to be the executive in charge of editing movies for television. His biggest success, he said, was the famous movie The Three Commandments. His character also claimed to have invented the concept of removing clips from the movies and inserting commercials.

Singer Perry Como discovered Brooks at a golf tournament in North Carolina^[2] in 1969, giving the comedian his major break.^[3] Como chose Brooks to open for him, and when a manager balked at the newcomer, Como refused to perform. The manager acquiesced, and Brooks was an instant hit.

Brooks regularly appeared on The Dean Martin Show television program in the 1970s (for which he garnered an Emmy nomination in 1974) as well as many situation comedies, talk shows, and a few films. Although he had only one basic signature character, he exhibited such extraordinary timing and subtlety that he was instantly recognized as one of the great comic performers of the time.^{[citation needed]} His signature routine was the basis of a hit comedy album entitled Foster Brooks, The Lovable Lush, released in the early 1970s. As his "Lovable Lush" character, Brooks usually portrayed a conventioneer who had had a few too many drinks — not falling-down drunk, but inebriated enough that he would mix up his words to comedic delight.

Brooks is most affectionately remembered for his stellar appearances on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. His comedy routines as the lovable, but hilarious, drunk, were a testament to the art of comedy without the need for profanity or any other excessive blue humor.

Brooks drew upon his own battles with alcohol for his act. However, during his period of greatest fame, Brooks rarely drank.^[4] Of giving up drinking to win a bet in 1964, Brooks said, "A fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10."^[4] He would occasionally make cameo appearances in which his character was perfectly sober, such as his appearance in a 1968 episode of Adam-12 playing a straight-laced citizen who tries to get out of a parking ticket by dropping the name of an officer senior to the main characters.

In character, Brooks asked Dean Martin to join his group “Alcoholics Unanimous,” a play on Alcoholics Anonymous. He boasted he and Martin were charter members of the DUI Hall of Fame.

Brooks slurs to Martin, "his close friends are members of the CHP and LAPD" for his large number of DUI tickets.

Brooks appeared in the 1977 Johnny Cash television special, A Concert: Behind Prison Walls, where he portrayed himself as a drunken man and also sang the song "Half as Much".

Public sensibilities had changed regarding alcoholics and public drunkenness by the 1980s, so Brooks moved away from his drunk character. He had a recurring role as Mr. Sternhagen, Mindy's boss on Mork & Mindy. For many years, his name was a moniker on a Louisville celebrity golf tournament benefiting Kosair Charities.

Brooks's brother, Tom, was a well-known entertainer in Louisville for many years. Tom Brooks played "Cactus," a hayseed character and sidekick to Randy Atcher on T-Bar-V Ranch and Hayloft Hoedown, two popular local shows and was an off-screen announcer on WHAS-TV for many years in the 1950s and 1960s.

Years later Brooks was referred to on the Cartoon Network television show Space Ghost Coast to Coast (episode 45, "Switcheroo II"). He was featured in a scene that was cut before being aired, but the scene was later included on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast volume 3 DVD release.^[5] He is also referenced on an episode of Get a Life called "Paperboy 2000". On the March 1, 2010 episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart referred to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's mispronunciation of a constituent's name by saying, "It's not supposed to end on a Foster Brooks hiccup."

Foster Brooks is referenced in the 2011 game Deus Ex: Human Revolution; an internal email gained through hacking is sent to a Foster Brooks referencing a "Another Year Sober" meeting.

Brooks died on December 20, 2001, at his home in Encino, California from heart failure. He was 89.^[6]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of people from Louisville, Kentucky

References[link]

External links[link]

• Foster Brooks, Comedian Known for His Tipsy Persona, dies at 89
• Foster Brooks at the Internet Movie Database
• Kentucky Archivist: WHAS collection at Berea College
• This Is True: Foster Brooks
• Foster Brooks at Find a Grave
• Performing on Dean Martin show video clip

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

Dean Martin
Photo 1960
Background information
Birth name	Dino Paul Crocetti
Also known as	Dean Martin The King of Cool Dino Dino Martini
Born	(1917-06-07)June 7, 1917 Steubenville, Ohio, U.S.
Died	December 25, 1995(1995-12-25) (aged 78) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Genres	Big band, easy listening, pop standard, country
Occupations	Musician, singer, actor, comedian, film producer
Years active	1939–1995
Labels	Capitol, Reprise

Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?". Nicknamed the "King of Cool",^[1][2] he was one of the members of the "Rat Pack" and a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.

Early life[link]

Martin was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian parents, Gaetano and Angela Crocetti (née Barra). His father was from Montesilvano, Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy, and his mother was an Italian of part Neapolitan and part Sicilian ancestry. Martin was the younger of two sons. His brother was named Bill. Martin spoke only Italian until he started school. He attended Grant Elementary School in Steubenville, and took up the drums as a hobby as a teenager. He was the target of much ridicule for his broken English and ultimately dropped out of Steubenville High School in the 10th grade because he thought that he was smarter than his teachers.^[3] He delivered bootleg liquor, served as a speakeasy croupier, was a blackjack dealer, worked in a steel mill and boxed as welterweight. He grew up a neighbor to Jimmy the Greek.

At the age of 15, he was a boxer who billed himself as "Kid Crochet". His prizefighting years earned him a broken nose (later straightened), a scarred lip, and many sets of broken knuckles (a result of not being able to afford the tape used to wrap boxers' hands). Of his twelve bouts, he would later say "I won all but eleven."^[4] For a time, he roomed with Sonny King, who, like Martin, was just starting in show business and had little money. It is said that Martin and King held bare-knuckle matches in their apartment, fighting until one of them was knocked out; people paid to watch. Martin knocked out King in the first round of an amateur boxing match.^[5]

Eventually, Martin gave up boxing. He worked as a roulette stickman and croupier in an illegal casino behind a tobacco shop where he had started as a stock boy. At the same time, he sang with local bands, calling himself "Dino Martini" (after the famous Metropolitan Opera tenor, Nino Martini). He got his first break working for the Ernie McKay Orchestra. He sang in a crooning style influenced by Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), among others. In the early 1940s, he started singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested that he change his name to Dean Martin.

In October 1941, Martin married Elizabeth Anne McDonald. During their marriage (ended by divorce in 1949), they had four children. Martin worked for various bands throughout the early 1940s, mostly on looks and personality until he developed his own singing style. Martin famously flopped at the Riobamba, a high class nightclub in New York,^[6] when he followed Frank Sinatra in 1943, but it was the setting for their meeting.

Martin was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 during World War II, serving a year stationed in Akron, Ohio. He was then reclassified as 4-F and was discharged (possibly because of a double hernia; Jerry Lewis referred to the surgery that Martin needed for this in his autobiography).

By 1946, Martin was doing relatively well, but was still little more than an East Coast nightclub singer with a common style, similar to that of Bing Crosby. He drew audiences to the clubs where he played, but he inspired none of the fanatical popularity enjoyed by Sinatra.

Alleged Mafia connections[link]

A biography of Martin titled Dean Martin: King of the Road, by Michael Freedland, alleged that he had links to the Mafia early in his career. According to this book, Martin received help with his singing career from members of the Chicago Outfit, who owned saloons in the city, and later performed in shows hosted by these bosses when he was a star. The mob bosses were Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana. Freedland suggests that Martin felt little sympathy for the Mafia and did small favors for them only if it was not inconvenient for him. Another book, The Animal in Hollywood by John L. Smith, depicted Martin's longtime friendship with Mafia mobsters Johnny Roselli and Anthony Fiato. Smith suggested that Fiato did many favors for Martin, such as recovering money from two swindlers who had cheated his ex-wife Betty out of thousands of dollars of her alimony.^[7]

Career[link]

Teaming with Jerry Lewis[link]

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

Martin attracted the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, but a Hollywood contract was not forthcoming. He met comic Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis formed a fast friendship which led to their participation in each other's acts and the ultimate formation of a music-comedy team.

Martin and Lewis's official debut together occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24, 1946, and they were not well received. The owner, Skinny D'Amato, warned them that if they did not come up with a better act for their second show later that night, they would be fired. Huddling together in the alley behind the club, Lewis and Martin agreed to "go for broke", to throw out the pre-scripted gags and to improvise. Martin sang and Lewis came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and making a shambles of both Martin's performance and the club's sense of decorum until Lewis was chased from the room as Martin pelted him with breadrolls. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter. This success led to a series of well-paying engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a triumphant run at New York's Copacabana. Patrons were convulsed by the act, which consisted primarily of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, and ultimately the two of them chasing each other around the stage and having as much fun as possible. The secret, both said, is that they essentially ignored the audience and played to one another.

The team made its TV debut on the very first broadcast of CBS-TV network's Toast of the Town (later called The Ed Sullivan Show) with Ed Sullivan and Rodgers & Hammerstein appearing on this same inaugural telecast of June 20, 1948. A radio series commenced in 1949, the same year Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount producer Hal B. Wallis as comedy relief for the movie My Friend Irma.

Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of Hollywood's best deals: although they received only a modest $75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, Martin and Lewis were free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions. They also had complete control of their club, record, radio and television appearances, and it was through these endeavors that they earned millions of dollars.

In Dean & Me, Lewis calls Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time. But the harsh comments from the critics, as well as frustration with the formulaic similarity of Martin and Lewis movies, which producer Hal Wallis stubbornly refused to change, led to Martin's dissatisfaction.^[8] He put less enthusiasm into the work, leading to escalating arguments with Lewis. They finally could not work together, especially after Martin told his partner he was "nothing to me but a dollar sign". The act broke up in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first official teaming.

Martin's first solo film, Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), was a box office failure. He was still popular as a singer, but with rock and roll surging to the fore, the era of the pop crooner was waning.

Solo career[link]

Dean Martin in the film Ada (1961)

Never totally comfortable in films, Martin wanted to be known as a real actor. Though offered a fraction of his former salary to co-star in a war drama, The Young Lions (1957), he was ecstatic to receive the part because it would be a dramatic showcase with the two most intriguing young actors of the period and he could learn from Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Tony Randall already had the part, but talent agency MCA realized that with this movie, Martin would become a triple threat: they could make money from his work in night clubs, movies, and records. Martin replaced Randall and the film turned out to be the beginning of Martin's spectacular comeback. Success would continue as Martin starred alongside Frank Sinatra for the first time in a highly acclaimed Vincente Minnelli drama, Some Came Running (1958). By the mid '60s, Martin was a top movie, recording, television, and nightclub star, while Lewis' film career declined. Martin was acclaimed for his performance as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson. He teamed up again with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), somewhat unconvincingly cast as brothers.

In 1960, Martin was cast in the motion picture version of the Judy Holliday hit stage play Bells Are Ringing. Martin played a satiric variation of his own womanizing persona as Vegas singer "Dino" in Billy Wilder's comedy Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Kim Novak, and he was not above poking fun at his image in films such as the Matt Helm spy spoofs of the 1960s, in which he was a co-producer. Indeed, in the second Matt Helm film Murderers' Row (1966), Helm, about to be executed, receives a last cigarette, and tells the provider, "I'll remember you from the great beyond," continuing sotto voce, "somewhere around Steubenville, I hope."

With John Wayne in Rio Bravo

As a singer, Martin copied the styles of Harry Mills (of the Mills Brothers), Bing Crosby, and Perry Como until he developed his own and could hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby. Like Sinatra, he could not read music, but he recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs. His signature tune, "Everybody Loves Somebody", knocked The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964. This was followed by the similarly-styled "The Door is Still Open to My Heart", which reached number six later that year. Elvis Presley was said to have been influenced by Martin, and patterned "Love Me Tender" after his style. Martin, like Elvis, was influenced by country music. By 1965, some of Martin's albums, such as Dean "Tex" Martin, The Hit Sound Of Dean Martin, Welcome To My World and Gentle On My Mind were composed of country and western songs made famous by artists like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens. Martin hosted country performers on his TV show and was named "Man Of the Year" by the Country Music Association in 1966. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", a song Martin performed in Ocean's 11 that never became a hit at the time, has enjoyed a spectacular revival in the media and pop culture.

For three decades, Martin was among the most popular acts in Las Vegas. Martin sang and was one of the smoothest comics in the business, benefiting from the decade of raucous comedy with Lewis. Martin's daughter, Gail, also sang in Vegas and on his TV show, co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC. Though often thought of as a ladies' man, Martin spent a lot of time with his family; as second wife Jeanne put it, prior to the couple's divorce, "He was home every night for dinner."

The Rat Pack[link]

As Martin's solo career grew, he and Frank Sinatra became close friends. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin and Sinatra, along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack, so called by the public after an earlier group of social friends, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack centered on Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, of which Sinatra had been a member.

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra

The Martin-Sinatra-Davis-Lawford-Bishop group referred to themselves as "The Summit" or "The Clan" and never as "The Rat Pack", although this has remained their identity in the popular imagination. The men made films together, formed an important part of the Hollywood social scene in those years, and were politically influential (through Lawford's marriage to Patricia Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy).

The Rat Pack were legendary for their Las Vegas Strip performances. For example, the marquee at the Sands Hotel might read DEAN MARTIN---MAYBE FRANK---MAYBE SAMMY. Las Vegas rooms were at a premium when the Rat Pack would appear, with many visitors sleeping in hotel lobbies or cars to get a chance to see the three men together. Their appearances were unprecedentedly valuable because the city would always become flooded with high rollers, wealthy gamblers who would routinely leave substantial fortunes in the casinos' coffers. Their act (always in tuxedo) consisted of each singing individual numbers, duets and trios, along with much seemingly improvised slapstick and chatter. In the socially-charged 1960s, their jokes revolved around adult themes, such as Sinatra's infamous womanizing and Martin's legendary drinking, as well as many at the expense of Davis's race and religion. Davis famously practiced Judaism and used Yiddish phrases onstage, eliciting much merriment from both his stage-mates and his audiences.^{[citation needed]} It was all good-natured male bonding, never vicious, rarely foul-mouthed,^{[citation needed]} and the three had great respect for each other. The Rat Pack was largely responsible for the integration of Las Vegas. Sinatra and Martin were active supporters of the Civil Rights Movement and refused to perform in clubs that would not allow African-American or Jewish performers.^[9]

Posthumously, the Rat Pack has experienced a popular revival, inspiring the George Clooney/Brad Pitt "Ocean's" trilogy.

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast[link]

In 1965, Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show, which exploited his public image as a lazy, carefree boozer. There he perfected his famous laid-back persona of the half-drunk crooner suavely hitting on beautiful women with hilarious remarks that would get anyone else slapped, and making snappy if slurred remarks about fellow celebrities during his famous roasts. During an interview he stated, and this may have been tongue-in-cheek, that he had someone record them on cassette tape so he could listen to them; this is evidenced by his comments to this effect on the British TV documentary 'Wine, Women and Song' which was aired in 1983.

The TV show was a success. Martin prided himself on memorizing whole scripts – not merely his own lines.^{[citation needed]} He disliked rehearsing because he firmly believed his best performances were his first.^{[citation needed]} The show's loose format prompted quick-witted improvisation from Martin and the cast. On occasion, he made remarks in Italian, some mild obscenities that brought angry mail from offended, Italian-speaking viewers.^{[citation needed]} This prompted a battle between Martin and NBC censors, who insisted on more scrutiny of the show's content. The show was often in the Top Ten. Martin, deeply appreciative of the efforts of the show's producer, his friend Greg Garrison, later made a handshake deal giving Garrison, a pioneer TV producer in the 1950s, 50% ownership of the show. However, the validity of that ownership is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought by NBC Universal.

Despite Martin's reputation as a heavy drinker – a reputation perpetuated via his vanity license plates reading "DRUNKY" – he was remarkably self-disciplined.^[10] He was often the first to call it a night, and when not on tour or on a film location, liked to go home to see his wife and children. Phyllis Diller has said that Martin was indeed drinking alcohol onstage and not apple juice. She also commented that although he was not drunk, he was not really sober either, but had very strict rules when it came to performances. He borrowed the lovable-drunk shtick from Joe E. Lewis, but his convincing portrayals of heavy boozers in Some Came Running and Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo led to unsubstantiated claims of alcoholism. More often than not, Martin's idea of a good time was playing golf or watching TV, particularly westerns – not staying with Rat Pack friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. into the early hours of the morning.^{[citation needed]}

Martin starred in and co-produced a series of four Matt Helm superspy comedy adventures. A fifth, The Ravagers, was planned starring Sharon Tate and Martin in a dual role, one as a serial killer, but due to the murder of Tate and the decline of the spy genre, the film was never made.^{[citation needed]}

By the early 1970s, The Dean Martin Show was still earning solid ratings, and although he was no longer a Top 40 hitmaker, his record albums continued to sell steadily. His name on a marquee could guarantee casinos and nightclubs a standing-room-only crowd. He found a way to make his passion for golf profitable by offering his own signature line of golf balls. Shrewd investments had greatly increased Martin's personal wealth; at the time of his death, Martin was reportedly the single largest minority shareholder of RCA stock. Martin even managed to cure himself of his claustrophobia by reportedly locking himself in the elevator of a tall building and riding up and down for hours until he was no longer panic-stricken.^{[citation needed]}

Now comfortable financially, Martin did not need to work as much and he began reducing his schedule. The final (1973–74) season of his variety show would be retooled into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less of Martin's involvement. After the show's cancellation, NBC continued to air The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast format in a series of TV specials through 1984. In those 11 years, Martin and his panel of pals successfully ridiculed and made fun of these legendary stars in this order: Ronald Reagan, Hugh Hefner, Ed McMahon, William Conrad, Kirk Douglas, Bette Davis, Barry Goldwater, Johnny Carson, Wilt Chamberlain, Hubert Humphrey, Carroll O'Connor, Monty Hall, Jack Klugman & Tony Randall, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Leo Durocher, Truman Capote, Don Rickles, Ralph Nader, Jack Benny, Redd Foxx, Bobby Riggs, George Washington, Dan Rowan & Dick Martin, Hank Aaron, Joe Namath, Bob Hope, Telly Savalas, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Sammy Davis Jr, Michael Landon, Evel Knievel, Valerie Harper, Muhammad Ali, Dean Martin, Dennis Weaver, Joe Garagiola, Danny Thomas, Angie Dickinson, Gabe Kaplan, Ted Knight, Peter Marshall, Dan Haggerty, Frank Sinatra, Jack Klugman, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Betty White, Suzanne Somers, Joan Collins, and Mr T. For nearly a decade, Martin had recorded as many as four albums a year for Reprise Records. That stopped in November 1974, when Martin recorded his final Reprise album - Once In A While, released in 1978. His last recording sessions were for Warner Brothers Records. An album titled The Nashville Sessions was released in 1983, from which he had a hit with "(I Think That I Just Wrote) My First Country Song", which was recorded with Conway Twitty and made a respectable showing on the country charts. A followup single "L.A. Is My Home" / "Drinking Champagne" came in 1985. The 1975 film Mr. Ricco marked Martin's final starring role, and Martin limited his live performances to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.^{[citation needed]}

Martin seemed to suffer a mid-life crisis. In 1972, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Jeanne. A week later, his business partnership with the Riviera was dissolved amid reports of the casino's refusal to agree to Martin's request to perform only once a night. He was quickly snapped up by the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and signed a three-picture deal with MGM Studios. Less than a month after his second marriage had been legally dissolved, Martin married 26-year-old Catherine Hawn on April 25, 1973. Hawn had been the receptionist at the chic Gene Shacrove hair salon in Beverly Hills. They divorced November 10, 1976. He was also briefly engaged to Gail Renshaw, Miss World-U.S.A. 1969.

Eventually, Martin reconciled with Jeanne, though they never remarried. He also made a public reconciliation with Jerry Lewis on Lewis' Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in 1976. Frank Sinatra shocked Lewis and the world by bringing Martin out on stage. As Martin and Lewis embraced, the audience erupted in cheers and the phone banks lit up, resulting in one of the telethon's most profitable years. Lewis reported the event was one of the three most memorable of his life. Lewis brought down the house when he quipped, "So, you working?" Martin, playing drunk, replied that he was "at the Meggum" – this reference to the MGM Grand Hotel convulsed Lewis.^{[citation needed]} This, along with the death of Martin's son Dean Paul Martin a few years later, helped to bring the two men together. They maintained a quiet friendship, but only performed together again once, in 1989, on Martin's 72nd birthday.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Martin was married three times. Martin's first wife, Elizabeth Anne McDonald, tried by all accounts to be a good wife and mother to their four children, but her efforts were ultimately undone by her alcoholism^{[citation needed]}. It remains a matter of speculation whether her alcoholism led to the failure of the marriage, or whether Martin's infidelities led to Betty's alcoholism. Subsequent to their divorce, Martin gained custody of their children; Betty lived out her life in quiet obscurity in San Francisco. Their children were Stephen Craig (born June 29, 1942), Claudia Dean (March 16, 1944 - 2001 from breast cancer), Barbara Gail (born April 11, 1945) and Deana (Dina) (born August 19, 1948).

Martin's second wife was Jeanne Biegger. A stunning blonde, Jeanne could sometimes be spotted in Martin's audience while he was still married to Betty. Their marriage lasted 24 years (1949–1973) and produced three children. Their children were Dean Paul (November 17, 1951 - March 21, 1987; plane crash), Ricci James (born September 20, 1953) and Gina Caroline (born December 20, 1956), whose marriage made Dean the father-in-law of The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson.

Martin's third marriage, to Catherine Hawn, lasted three years. One of Martin's managers had spotted her at the reception desk of a hair salon on Rodeo Drive, then arranged a meeting. Martin adopted Hawn's daughter, Sasha, but their marriage also failed. Martin initiated divorce proceedings.

Martin's uncle was Leonard Barr, who appeared in several of his shows.

Later years and death[link]

Dean Martin's grave

On December 1, 1983 while gambling at the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City, Martin and Sinatra intimidated the dealer and several employees into breaking New Jersey law by making the dealer deal the cards by hand instead of from a shoe. Although Sinatra and Martin were implicated as the cause of the violation, neither was fined by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The Golden Nugget received a $25,000 fine (which Sinatra paid, stating that it was his responsibility as he and Martin were the cause of the fine) and four employees including the dealer, a supervisor and pit boss were suspended from their jobs without pay.

Martin returned to films briefly with appearances in the two star-laden, yet critically panned Cannonball Run movies. He also had a minor hit single with "Since I Met You Baby" and made his first music video, which appeared on MTV. The video was created by Martin's youngest son, Ricci.

On March 21, 1987, Martin's son, Dean Paul (formerly Dino of the '60s "teeny-bopper" rock group Dino, Desi & Billy), was killed when his F-4 Phantom II jet fighter crashed while flying with the California Air National Guard. A much-touted tour with Davis and Sinatra in 1988 sputtered. On one occasion, he infuriated Sinatra when he turned to him and muttered, "Frank, what the hell are we doing up here?" Martin, who always responded best to a club audience, felt lost in the huge stadiums they were performing in (at Sinatra's insistence), and he was not interested in drinking until dawn after performances. His final Vegas shows were at Bally's Hotel in 1990. There he had his final reunion with Jerry Lewis on his 72nd birthday. Martin's last two TV appearances involved tributes to his former Rat Pack members. On December 8, 1989, he joined many stars of the entertainment industry in Sammy Davis, Jr's 60th anniversary celebration, which aired only a few weeks before Davis died from throat cancer. In December 1990, he congratulated Frank Sinatra on his 75th birthday special.

Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in September 1993, and in early 1995 retired from public life. He died of acute respiratory failure resulting from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home on Christmas morning 1995, at age 78.^[12] The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.

Martin is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Tributes and legacy[link]

In 1996, Ohio Rte. 7, through Steubenville, was rededicated as "Dean Martin Boulevard." Road signs bearing an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Martin's likeness officially designate the stretch, along with a state historical marker, in the Gazebo Park at Route 7 and North Fourth Street.

An annual "Dean Martin Festival" celebration is held in Steubenville. Impersonators, friends and family of Martin, and various entertainers, many of Italian ancestry, appear.

In 2005, Clark County, Nevada renamed Industrial Road as Dean Martin Drive. A similarly named street was dedicated in 2008 in Rancho Mirage, California.

Martin's family was presented a gold record in 2004 for Dino: The Essential Dean Martin, his fastest-selling album ever, which also hit the iTunes Top 10. For the week ending December 23, 2006, the Dean Martin and Martina McBride duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" reached #7 on the R&R AC chart. It also went to #36 on the R&R Country chart - the last time Martin had a song this high in the charts was in 1965, with the song "I Will", which reached #10 on the Pop chart.

An album of duets, Forever Cool, was released by Capitol/EMI in 2007. It features Martin's voice with Kevin Spacey, Shelby Lynne, Joss Stone, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Robbie Williams, McBride and others.

His footprints were immortalized at Grauman's Chinese Theater in 1964. Martin has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6519 Hollywood Boulevard, for movies; one at 1617 Vine, for recordings; and one at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard, for television.

In February 2009, Martin was honored with a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Four of his surviving children, Gail, Deana, Ricci and Gina, were on hand to accept on his behalf. In 2009, Martin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Popular culture[link]

A number of Dean Martin songs have constantly been featured across popular culture for decades. Hit songs such as "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", "Sway","You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You", "That's Amore", and Martin's signature song "Everybody Loves Somebody" (and many more) have been used in films (such as the Oscar-winning Logorama, A Bronx Tale, Casino, Goodfellas, Payback, and Return to Me), television series (such as American Dad!, Friends, and House MD), video games (such as The Godfather: The Game, The Godfather II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Mafia II), and even fashion shows (such as the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2008).

In film and television[link]

• In a 1996 episode of the NBC-TV series Boston Common, actor Anthony Clark pantomimes and dances a routine to Martin's 1960 song, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?"
• In That '70s show episode, S-6/E-2 "Join Together." When the Forman's were throwing away all of their bad foods and drinks, because of Red's Heart Attack. Red's beloved beer and his meats were taken away and Red's Fresh mouth son, Eric said,"Whoa look at this, it looks like Dean Martin exploded!"
• In the movie A Bronx Tale, Martin's song, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?", was featured during the scene when C was playing dice.
• A Budweiser TV commercial that premiered during Super Bowl XLI featured Martin's "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?".
• British actor Jeremy Northam portrayed the entertainer in a made-for-TV movie called, Martin and Lewis, alongside Will & Grace's Sean Hayes as Jerry Lewis.
• Martin was portrayed by Joe Mantegna in an HBO movie about Sinatra and Martin titled The Rat Pack. Mantegna was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role.
• In the movie Return to Me, three of his recordings are featured: "Good Morning, Life," "Buona Sera" and "Return to Me".
• Danny Gans portrayed Martin in the miniseries Sinatra.
• In the pilot episode of White Collar, Peter refers to Neal as "Dino", referencing the newly-found Sy Devore suits that Neal now wears – made famous by the "Rat Pack".
• In the movie Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega go out to dinner at "Jack Rabbit Slim's" – she chooses "Martin and Lewis", and a $5 milkshake shows up.
• In the movie Moonstruck, Martin's recording of "That's Amore" plays over both the opening and closing credits.
• In the HBO television series, The Sopranos, in season 6 episode "Johnny Cakes", "That's Amore" is heard when Vito Spatafore is cooking.
• In the Wong Kar-Wai movie 2046, Martin's recording of "Sway" is played extensively.
• In a Royal Automobile Club commercial, "Memories are Made of This" is sung.
• In the 2009, 60's-era French parody film, "OSS 117: Rio Ne Répond Plus... (Lost in Rio)" starring Jean Dujardin, Martin's "Gentle On My Mind" plays during the opening credits scene
• In the 2011 film, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Martin's song "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?" is used by Cruise to arouse his fellow prisoner's into a riot.

In games and gambling[link]

• Martin is the subject of "Dean Martin's Wild Party", a video slot machine found in some casinos. The game features songs sung by Martin during the bonus game and the count-up of a player's winnings.
• The 2010 video game, Fallout: New Vegas, features Martin's "Ain't that a Kick in the Head?" throughout the game. It can be listened to on the "New Vegas" radio channel and heard on the loud speakers when entering the Vegas Strip. The first quest of the game is named after the same song, as the player character is afflicted with a headshot wound.
• Dean Martin's music is featured on the radios in the video games Mafia II and Godfather II.

In music[link]

• A compilation album called, Amore!, debuted at Number One on Billboard magazine's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in its February 21, 2009 issue.

Other[link]

• In the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2008, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?" was the opening song from the show.

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Arthur Marx. Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself): The story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, New York, NY: Hawthorn Books, 1974, ISBN 978-0-8015-2430-1
• Lewis, Jerry and James Kaplan. Dean & Me (A Love Story). Doubleday, New York, 2005. ISBN 0-7679-2086-4
• Tosches, Nick. Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams. Delta Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1992 (1st edition). ISBN 0-385-33429-X
• Smith, John L. The Animal in Hollywood: Anthony Fiato's Life in the Mafia. Barricade Books, New York, 1998. ISBN 1-56980-126-6

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dean Martin

• Dean Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Dean Martin at The Biography Channel
• Cleveland.com: Homegrown Heroes: Dean Martin Timeline
• Dean Works the room at the Sands
• Dean Martin biography/discography on The Interlude Era site
• Radio interview with Deana Martin WSLR