Deana Martin

Dean Martin is woven through the fabric of my childhood. Watching him slide down that fire pole on The Dean Martin Show, laughing so hard at the various "roasts", and rocking slowly along when the Rat Pack sang. I've never seen a Martin and Lewis film, the famous partners had broken up before I ever became aware there was such a duo.

Daughter Deana Martin is the youngest of the children from Dean's first marriage to Betty, Deana was very small when that marriage broke up and Dean remarried Jeanne who gave him three more children. While all the children lived with their father at various points, Deana ended up calling Jeanne "Mom" because she lived with Dean and Jeanne much longer than she lived with Betty.

The book is filled with an honest look at her famous father, a man who known as "a man's man". He loved women but he really was happiest with his "pallies" The lifelong friendship with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the other of the Rat Pack is well documented but the connection with Frank and Sammy lasted their whole lives.

Deana is brutally honest about her father, he was generous to a fault, could be petty and was often withdrawn. He loved his children but didn't express it often or well. In other words, he was a man who grew up with traditional male view of the family, male to bring home the money, female to take care of the family, children to be seen when wanted and gone when not. Deana was hurt several times by her fathers attitude but as she got older she started to understand that everyone in the world wanted a piece of Dean Martin, and she protected himself by keeping a part of himself to himself.

I really enjoyed this book, it showed me many sides of Dean Martin I had never heard of, it also showed that even the biggest of stars aren't perfect, no matter what it seems on the surface.… (más)

It's always interesting to read about a subject via their relatives or friends, and this book is a different look at Dino from one of his daughters.

Unlike his son's book, which seemed more of a whitewash, Deanna's book brings a decidedly personal view. The reader ends up getting her main point, which is that she was the middle child in a huge family and was overlooked by her famous father. However, some of her writing comes as very whiny, reflecting more of a spoiled child. She also is very pro-family, so that any deviation from that path, whether it's her stepmother slighting Deanna's child or Dino not being there AT ALL TIMES for Deanna's cherished son, is noted...over and over. Yet, she basically trivializes her real mother, and when she writes about finding out that her mother died in her sleep while living above a bar in San Francisco, there doesn't seem much love. Deanna discovers her mother had built a large library of books in her apartment, but the books are donated to a local library. Gee. Such familial love.

If you don't mind the complaints about money from a child of one of the richest celebrities of all time, it's not a bad book. The world's coolest dude worked his toosh off, so his kids could live the good life. I always wondered why Dino The Cool suddenly took a different path from the '70s onward, and after reading about his family, I can understand his need for peace and quiet.

Book Season = Summer… (más)

This is a really interesting book about one of the most prolific entertainers in modern Hollywood history. He along with Frank Sinatra are two of the few who have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Music, TV, Film). This daughters account (she's from his first marriage) is difficult to describe with name dropping equaled only by Jane Fonda's book. I like books about Los Angeles history and this has so much to tell. Martin wasn't the best man or father but the guy did pay his working dues. I actually didn't know that much about him, so reading the book was a good way for me to catch up on someone nobody knows now, but was a legend to my parents generation. Deana talks about Frank Sinatra, the breakup with Jerry Lewis, Charles Manson, JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, The Beatles. Worth reading if you want to know anything about the bygone days of Vegas and glamor days of Hollywood. The editing/co-writing was well done, more so in the first part than in the second. Nice B&W pictures and even an name index.… (más)