Release Date: 31 May 2004
Label: Naxos - Nostalgia / Naxos Nostalgic
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943276129
Genres: Jazz
Description
DEAN MARTIN'When You're Smiling' Original 1946-1953 RecordingsBallad singer, light comedian, sometime dramatic screenactor and colourful Chief Deputy of the 'Rat Pack', Dean Martin was the essenceof devil-may-care, the epitome of nonchalance. Born Dino Paul Crocetti, the son of an immigrant Italianbarber, in Steubenville, Ohio, on 17 June 1917, after quitting school in the10th grade he was employed as shoe-shine boy, petrol pump attendant, steel milllabourer and (it is said) 'card shark', before turning full-time to pugilismwhere, billed variously as 'Kid Crochet' or 'Kid Crocetti', his bouts in thecategory of welterweight earned him $10 per fight. The shine of being a human punch-bag soon wore off, however,and he next took up employment as a croupier in a local casino while vocalisingin his spare time. By 1940, as 'Dino Martini', he had turned in earnest tosinging for a living, as vocalist first with Ernie McKay and the following yearwith the Sammy Watkins band. Afterthe US entry into World War II he was excused military service on healthgrounds and, with a wife and children to support, continued to sing withvarious bands for the duration of hostilities. Dean's first records, made in 1946 for Diamond and thealmost exclusively 'race' Apollo label, included revivals of time-honouredstandards such as Walkin' My Baby Back Home (1930) and All Of Me (1931) as wellas 'covers' of more recent fare, notably I Got The Sun In The Morning (from theIrving Berlin Broadway musical Annie, Get Your Gun, 1946). None were particularly successful, nordid they bring Dean his much-needed first break, which would materialise fromanother direction.In 1946 Dean was still a small-time entertainer when hefirst teamed with Jerry Lewis. After their first show, at the 500 Club in Atlantic City, they were soonin demand at other venues throughout the States. Martin the laid-back crooner played a singing straight-man,a stooge to the wacky machinations of the Newark, New Jersey-born comic; theirrepartee and ad-libbing were infectious and by the late 1940s, via TV andradio, their Mutt-and-Jeff antics had made them household names; to Mr. Averagetheir hilarious knockabout comedy, often reminiscent of the Marx Brothers, wasa tonic for post-war gloom and doom. In 1949 they were signed by Paramount and in their first film My FriendIrma (1949) they appeared in a supporting capacity; it was a prelude to aseries of fourteen more comedy money-spinners, including At War With The Army(1950), Jumping Jacks (1952), Sailor, Beware! and Scared Stiff (both 1953) andLiving It Up (1954). After the split of the Lewis-Martin partnership in 1956, itwas at first generally predicted that Dean would not make it solo. However, after an indifferent start asa light comedian in the 1957 MGM fiasco Ten Thousand Bedrooms, he emerged thefollowing year as a dramatic actor in the Marlon Brando World War II drama TheYoung Lions (for 20th Century Fox)
Tracklisting
Various
Wisdom:Grenfell:Murray
Whiteman
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin
