"I once shook hands with Pat Boone, and my whole right side sobered up." - Dean Martin

Guess who was born today 88 years ago?



None other than the ultra-suave Dean Martin! I must admit that I am a Dean Martin fan. I think that he had the smoothest voice (Return To Me, That's Amore, Innamorata. And when you see images or films from his youthful days, you understand why he was such a ladies man.

From my lifetime, I remember him as a child on variety TV specials and Holiday shows. Unfortunately at that time he was well on his way to becoming a parody of himself. Massive consumption of alcohol was rampant in the late 60's/eary 70's. (The next time you happen to catch a rerun of this fabulous show


Pay attention to how many times booze enters into the script "I'll have a single, no - a double, no better make that a quaddruple!"



Though, I have read that the whole lovable alcoholic thing was a character that he made up and that he didn't really drink any more than the next guy back then. Though, by then his ultra-cool and lounge'lucious days as a bonafide member of the original "Rat Pack" were behind him.



Nevertheless, when he was it, he was it. Happy B-Day Dino!!!