From Dino To Funny Bones - The Hollywood Love Affair With Lewis And Martin

I recently acquired a copy of the new autobiography from Jerry Lewis co written by James Kaplan simply titled "Dean & Me."

Told in that familiar all American southern droll, Lewis takes us to a place on a street corner in Manhattan, March 1945 where he was to be introduced to one of the most charismatic singers and certain icons of a generation, Dino Crocetti, or better known as Dean Martin. The Monkey met the straight man - singer versus the slapstick.

Envisage a chance meeting - not unlike the church fete where John Lennon was introduced to Paul McCartney or the throwing together of public school student namely Peter Cook and working class London boy, Dudley Moore - it would seem that such legendary characters simply don't fall into each other's laps any more, not by pure chance anyway, yet in this book, the chance was completely fatal - in it's not so final sense - Lewis crossed the street with a pal and hands shook. History was made.

What followed was to be the most popular, successful and highest paid comedy duos in entertainment history, not just in the 20th Century but for probably this one as well. Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin's reign over the airwaves, concert halls, night clubs including the renown Copacabana, sliver screen and television lasted for ten years, not to mention the decades which followed when even now, a newer generation of Lewis and Martin fans are coming into the world. Watch how a bunch of five years olds go potty over re-runs of The Colgate Comedy Hour.

Their humour was timeless, effortless and still just as exciting today as it was in rigid, tight lipped, post war America. They were to the States what The Goons were to Britain - new and uncharted ground.

What has also contributed to their allure is their tragedy - with ever comic line there comes the darker side - sadness and with Lewis and Martin, their ten year friendship/partnership ended with a three show stint at the Copa in July 1956, after which, they shook hands and went their separate ways. What actually happened after would happen on the very same street where they both lived - a few doors away, but not a word spoken for twenty years. The Rat Pack followed for Martin - and a life and act either drunk or pretending to be. For Lewis, he went on to be one of the greatest solo comic geniuses on film for decade after decade, although critics scorned him for simply making films as "therapy" either focusing on the highs of Lewis or the downfalls of Martin, "The Nutty Professor" (1963) being the most criticised...

The pair did share a brief and happier time in reconciliation in the late eighties, but it was not enough to repair any professional troubles they had parted over thirty years before.

Dean Martin died in 1995.

The book is a, to coin a cliche, a masterpiece, yet the true shock of it is, it is not a story of a comic duo who came and went, but a bond which never broke between them - it is the ultimate love story.....