Dean Martin: The Man Whose Voice Captured Christmas

I'm a huge fan of entertainer Dean Martin, whom I always think of as Dino, and during the Christmas season I listen to many of his classic Christmas songs.

So I was interested in reading Martin Chilton's good piece on Dean Martin and Christmas at the British newspaper the Telegraph.

When Elvis Presley was introduced to Dean Martin's young daughter Deana, the singer leaned in and whispered: "They call me the King of Rock and Roll, but your dad is the King of Cool."

The King of Cool, who died on Christmas Day 20 years ago, had a spectacularly successful recording career. Martin had 40 Top 10 singles between 1950 and 1969 and three of them – That's Amore (1953), Memories are Made of This (1955) and Everybody Loves Somebody (1964) – were million-sellers.

There were a lot of trials and tribulations before the man born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 17, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, made it to the top. Martin, the son of an Italian immigrant barber, was a reluctant performer as a teenager, believing that he would make more money as a prize-fighter and cardsharp. But after a spell labouring in a steel mill, and at the urging of enthusiastic friends, he began singing at weekends in small clubs.

At 21, he was spotted performing in a bar by a jazz bandleader named Sammy Watkins, who was impressed by his lush delivery of songs. At that time, the youngster was calling himself Dino Martini (after the popular Italian opera star Nino Martini) but Watkins renamed him Dean Martin and a show business legend was born.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/dean-martin-the-man-whose-voice-captured-christmas/

You can also read an earlier post on ole Dino via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/11/feeling-italian-here-is-smooth-sound-of.html

If you wish to learn more about Dean Martin you should read Nick Tosches' interesting biography of the great entertainer.

A Look Back At W.C. Fields On The 75th Anniversary Of His Great Film, 'The Bank Dick'

Martin Chilton at the British newspaper the Telegraph offers a look back at W.C. Fields and The Bank Dick.

W. C. Fields, a most defiantly disreputable comedian, has fallen out of the public consciousness, but the 75th anniversary of his masterpiece film The Bank Dick seems like a good time to salute one of the 20th-century's most original comic talents. Fields was doing Python-esq things long before Python, admits John Cleese. 

William Claude Dukenfield has not been entirely forgotten since his grim alcoholic's death on Christmas Day in 1946, aged 66, of course. He is one of the faces on the cover of iconic album Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and he even pops up in an episode of The Sopranos: Tony does an imitation of Fields after watching The Bank Dick. Cleese believes that Fields "had the courage and brilliance to make riskier and more profound jokes than Chaplin and Keaton”, and that's certainly true of the subversive humour of The Bank Dick.

At a time when Hollywood was offering a cloying version of family life (such as MGM's Andy Hardy movies), Fields showed the family as a festering hotbed of resentments. In the Bank Dick, written by Fields under the glorious nom de plume Mahatma Kane Jeeves, his character Egbert Sousè is at war with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law. With Fields, there is usually a subtle malice in play about family life, masked by mock affection: "Did you warble my little wren?" he says to his grim-faced wife Agatha. His status-minded wife insists that Sousè "is pronounced Sou-sè. Accent grave over the ‘e’”. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/wc-fields-a-master-of-comedy/ 

Bram Stoker: 10 Facts About the Dracula Author

Martin Chilton at the British newspaper the Telegraph looks back at the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker.

Bram Stoker's vampire novel Dracula, which paved the way for vampire lore in popular culture, was published today in 1897. Here are 10 facts about the former Daily Telegraph journalist.

1. Bram Stoker wrote 12 novels, including Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars, and also published collections of short stories. Dracula was originally titled The Undead. As Dracula says: “My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.” To date, more than 1000 novels and 200 films have been made about the vampire Dracula.    

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9215182/Bram-Stoker-10-facts-about-Dracula-author.html

John Wayne: 10 Things You Might Know About The Great Man

Martin Chilton at the British newspaper the Telegraph offers 10 things he learned from Scott Eyman's new biography of the late, great John Wayne.

John Wayne, who made 162 feature films, was one of the 20th century's biggest Hollywood stars. Here are 10 things we learned about the Oscar-winning actor from an impressive new biography by Scott Eyman.

• John Wayne cheated at chess

John Wayne was actually very good at chess (film director and experienced player Josef von Sternberg "was livid" when beaten by Wayne) and the actor had a chessboard permanently set up on his 136ft boat, The Wild Goose. Wayne once said of fellow actor Rock Hudson: "Who the hell cares if he's queer? The man plays great chess." Wayne repeatedly cheated when playing chess against Robert Mitchum (Wayne had huge hands and would carefully slide a piece into a different position as he made a separate move) and Mitchum eventually plucked up the courage to tell him he was cheating. Wayne replied "I was wondering when you were going to say something. Set 'em up, we'll play again."   

• He loved literature

Wayne liked the novels of Agatha Christie but his two favourite books were written by Arthur Conan Doyle and both are historical novels – The White Company (1891) and Sir Nigel (1906) – both set during the Hundred Years' War. Wayne was also a fan of Charles Dickens and if the actor agreed to a business deal, he would always say "Barkis is willing!", a phrase used by Mr Barkis when he tells David Copperfield that he is ready to marry Peggotty.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10749784/John-Wayne-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-star-of-True-Grit.html

You can also read a review of the John Wayne biography via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/04/a-review-of-john-wayne-life-and-legend.html

Bram Stoker: 10 Facts About the Author of 'Dracula'

Martin Chilton at the British newspaper the Telegraph offers 10 facts about Bram Stoker, the author of the classic novel Dracula.

Bram Stoker wrote 12 novels, including Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars, and also published collections of short stories. Dracula (1897) was originally titled The Undead. As Dracula says: “My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.” To date, more than 1000 novels and 200 films have been made about the vampire Dracula.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9215182/Bram-Stoker-10-facts-about-Dracula-author.html