Dean Martin's Drunk Act

In his book Johnny Carson, Henry Bushkin recounted the time when Dean Martin was in the bag during the rehearsal for Reagan's 1981 pre-inaugural gala which Carson hosted. Apparently Martin was so hammered at the rehearsal that he was ordered offstage by Frank Sinatra. There is a picture in the book which seems to show Sinatra telling Dean Martin to get off the stage.

 

Actually, the withdrawal did him in. I remember him looking terrible but saying his family was so proud of him for getting sober and then a few months later dead. Some are better off just being left alone to their own vices and not trying to conform to what society wants.

 

Tell the true story here. Dean had lost his "right arm", Mack Gray who was with him for decades and he was extremely despondent and took took to his J&B. It isn't just as if he did it on a lark. Bushkin is as valuable a biographer as is Kitty Kelley in my book. He got rapped pretty good (and deservedly so) for that trash book.

 

Jerry's book about Dean is a total rewrite of history to make Jerry look good.

 

So did the event happen or not?

 

It was not the withdrawal that did him in, it was emphysema caused by years of heavy smoking. He had a right to smoke and drink as much as he wanted, but his life most certainly was not an object lesson that people are better off if left to their own vices. If he'd never smoked, he would have lived years longer.

 

Interesting.....and yet, perfectly in character going by the "whispers" I've always heard. Are there any other books about Dean that treat that period more objectively and honestly?

 

Carson was the greatest. Nobody ever worked so hard to make other people look good.

He was a genius. Nobody else's stuff works if he doesn't do his thing. What an amazing show that was.

 

Regardless of what he died from , he probably would not have LIVED years longer.
He died at age 78 and the average American white male lifespan is only 76.
So you can just as well say drinking and smoking did nothing to prevent him from beating the odds by an extra 2 years.

 

Hilarious clip from 1969. Johnny Carson, Bob Hope and George Gobel all join in the drinking fun with Dean Martin who keeps flicking his cigarette ashes into George Gobel's drink.

 

Lowbrow Cool : DINO: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, By Nick Tosches (Doubleday: $24; 446 pp.) »

 

That book is FILLED with fictitious scenarios that never occurred...they only played out as possibilities in Tosches' head. Much like the garbage dreamed up/imagined by Kaplan in the Sinatra bios.

 

Don't forget the great "scenario dreamer" James Kaplan had a huge hand in Jerry's book. Can't really think of a bio on Dino that is completely objective. No one really knew the man.

 

I heard the same thing. A friend of mine (who's on this forum) told me a sad story about seeing Dean blitzed and sitting at a table of a famous restaurant in West LA, totally by himself, and really being out of it. And it was not an act. This would be late 1980s, a year or two after his son died.

And you did? Write a book!

 

On the other hand, the average life expectancy of a man who reaches age 60 is 21 more years, so from that standpoint it could be argued that he fell short of average and likely would have made it about three more years if he'd never smoked. Certainly there's no arguing that he would have lived longer if he'd never smoked, since that is what killed him.

 

And now Jeanne has joined her husband and their two sons. RIP.

 

Remembering our dear, beloved Jeanne:

 

RIP Jeanne.

 

That book is garbage.

 

RIP Jeanne.

 

Phil Harris' act was a cool and funny. Dean's "act" looked like a guy about to pass out and/or throw up.

 

Did you mean Foster Brooks? I agree completely if so.

 

No, Phil Harris from Jack Benny's radio show.

 

I saw Dean Martin the last time he appeared in A/C. I will never forget when he looked up to the Heavens and asked God why He took his son? "Why didn't you take me? I lived. Bring back my son and take me." The silence in that room was deafening.

 

Yup, Dean was the Foster Brooks of comedians.