I grew up with the Rat Pack. I know, I know, it’s not nice to talk about my brothers and sisters like that. But seriously, my mother seemed to both love despise those players and singers from the 1950’s and 60’s, most famously including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and today’s Song-of-the-Day star, Mr. Dean Martin.
Martin rose to popularity in comedy movies alongside Jerry Lewis, and came to be known as quite the drinker and playboy. However, his eight children have told a different story. The father they told People Magazine about in 2021 was a responsible and sober, good hearted dad, not the carousing persona that we saw regularly on TV, which they say was more of an act, a gimmick, what we might these days refer to as his “brand.”
What do you think? Was it just apple juice on the rocks, as one of his sons said? Was he really soused half the time or just a good actor who came home to his family every day at 6:00 pm. With all those kids and three wives, I’d think that someone would have come out of the woodwork with a tell-all if he was as scandalous as his act would have us believe. Still, a lot of us were convinced back in the day. How about you?
A bit of trivia for you, did you know that the original Ocean’s 11 hit the movie theaters in 1960? I didn’t even know that the Ocean’s Eleven from 2001 wasn’t the original! But now it makes total sense to me since the 1960 cast included “Rat Pack” members, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. as well as Angie Dickinson (!) and our star of the day, Dean Martin. The goofy 2001 acting now makes more sense to me.
Knowing that Dean Martin was acting drunk more than he actually was drunk sheds some light on songs like “Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me,” from his 1967 album, Welcome to My World.
I hope you’re having a good weekend and not wasting away in a “honkey in Chicago with a broken heart.” If you are, by the way, stop it. Call somebody with quarters for the juke box, not just the bartender. Call me and we’ll do this little dance instead.
Jeff's Song of the Day 