$20.66$20.66
FREE delivery:
Wednesday, Nov 8
Ships from: SharehouseGoods Sold by: SharehouseGoods
$9.21
Other Sellers on Amazon
+ $3.99 shipping
83% positive over last 12 months
+ $3.99 shipping
90% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the authors
OK
Memories Are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyes Hardcover – October 26, 2004
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
There is a newer edition of this item:
Purchase options and add-ons
So begins Deana Martin’s captivating and heartfelt memoir of her father, the son of an Italian immigrant from modest beginnings who worked his way to the top of the Hollywood firmament to become one of the greatest stars of all time.
Charming, debonair, and impeccably attired in a black tuxedo, Dean Martin was coolness incarnate. His music provided the soundtrack of romance, and his image captivated movie and television audiences for more than fifty years. His daughter Deana was among his most devoted fans, but she also knew a side of him that few others ever glimpsed.
In page-turning prose, Deana recalls her early childhood, when she and her siblings were left in the erratic care of Dean’s loving but alcoholic first wife. She chronicles the constantly changing blended family that marked her youth, along with the unexpected moments of silliness and tenderness that this unusual Hollywood family shared. Deana candidly reveals the impact of Dean’s fame and characteristic aloofness on her efforts to forge her own identity, but delights in sharing wonderful, never-before-told stories about her father and his pallies known as the Rat Pack. It may not have been a normal childhood, but Deana’s enchanting account of life as the daughter of one of Hollywood’s sexiest icons will leave you entertained, delighted, and nostalgic for a time gone by.
“From her heart, Deana Martin has told a frank and honest account of what her life was like with her famous father and family. It has been a wild ride, with lots of ups and downs, written with honesty, love, and understanding.” —Regis Philbin
“Dean Martin was the unique star who attained success in all of the entertainment media—movies, TV, recordings, concerts, and radio. His daughter Deana gives us something else that is also unique in this revealing book about growing up as the daughter of a true legend. Here’s to you Dean. I’ve got the booze, you get the ice.” —Don Rickles
“I have to say I loved reading what Deana wrote—maybe because she bit the bullet, she was courageous, up-front, tenacious, and so totally forthright. I read it with tremendous pride and love, and I know other readers will feel the same emotions I felt. I love this author for a myriad of reasons, but especially for how she has honored my partner.”—from the Foreword by Jerry Lewis
- Print length297 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarmony Books
- Publication dateOctober 26, 2004
- Dimensions6.75 x 1.5 x 10 inches
- ISBN-10140005043X
- ISBN-13978-1400050437
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
So begins Deana Martins captivating and heartfelt memoir of her father, the son of an Italian immigrant from modest beginnings who worked his way to the top of the Hollywood firmament to become one of the greatest stars of all time.
Charming, debonair, and impeccably attired in a black tuxedo, Dean Martin was coolness incarnate. His music provided the soundtrack of romance, and his image captivated movie and television audiences for more than fifty years. His daughter Deana was among his most devoted fans, but she also knew a side of him that few others ever glimpsed.
In page-turning prose, Deana recalls her early childhood, when she and her siblings were left in the erratic care of Deans loving but alcoholic first wife. She chronicles the constantly changing blended family that marked her youth, along with the unexpected moments of silliness and tenderness that this unusual Hollywood family shared. Deana candidly reveals the impact of Deans fame and characteristic aloofness on her efforts to forge her own identity, but delights in sharing wonderful, never-before-told stories about her father and his pallies known as the Rat Pack. It may not have been a normal childhood, but Deanas enchanting account of life as the daughter of one of Hollywoods sexiest icons will leave you entertained, delighted, and nostalgic for a time gone by.
From her heart, Deana Martin has told a frank and honest account of what her life was like with her famous father and family. It has been a wild ride, with lots of ups and downs, written with honesty, love, and understanding. Regis Philbin
Dean Martin was the unique star who attained success in all of the entertainment mediamovies, TV, recordings, concerts, and radio. His daughter Deana gives us something else that is also unique in this revealing book about growing up as the daughter of a true legend. Heres to you Dean. Ive got the booze, you get the ice. Don Rickles
I have to say I loved reading what Deana wrotemaybe because she bit the bullet, she was courageous, up-front, tenacious, and so totally forthright. I read it with tremendous pride and love, and I know other readers will feel the same emotions I felt. I love this author for a myriad of reasons, but especially for how she has honored my partner.from the Foreword by Jerry Lewis
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Inside each of us is a small, dark place we can escape to when we're in pain. It is a silent sanctuary where comforting thoughts and memories wash over us, providing a soothing balm for the fear we're feeling inside. I first discovered mine when I was quite small. Cared for by an aunt while my mother disappeared for three days, I was sent to live with my father, a man I barely knew despite the name I bore.
I can vividly recall standing in the foyer of his opulent Beverly Hills mansion, along with three big boxes of clothes belonging to me and my two older sisters. A woman I knew as my stepmother picked up each item between her thumb and forefinger. "No, not this," she'd say, or, "This looks clean, we'll keep it," or-with a sympathetic look-"This can go to Goodwill." One of the boxes was mine, and
I stood staring at my only possessions being picked over and graded.
That first interminable summer in my father's house, I remained completely mute, breaking my silence only occasionally to whisper my fears to my sisters, from whom I became inseparable. My arms were pocked with hives, my skin raw from nervous scratching. While my father worked hard to maintain his position in Hollywood, revered by his millions of fans, his little Deana sat clutching the banisters every night. Dressed in one of my stepmother's baby-doll nighties, I dripped silent tears on the top step of his grand staircase, grieving for a loss too enormous for a nine-year-old child to comprehend.
On August 19, 1948, the day I was born in the Leroy Sanatorium, New York City, my father was busy doing what he did best. I emerged into the world at the very same moment a desperate woman threw herself from the window of the Russian embassy across the street. The media throng that gathered outside to cover the mystery suicide had no idea that Dean Martin's fourth child was bawling for attention just feet away.
Dad was on the other end of the country at the time, with his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis, playing at Slapsy Maxie's Café, a popular new nightclub on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Theirs was the hottest ticket in town, and regularly filling front-row seats were friends like Humphrey Bogart, Tony Curtis, and Janet Leigh. Sitting alongside them would be stars like Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Jane Wyman, James Cagney, and Gary Cooper, as well as just about every studio head and entertainment executive in town. Dad opened each show with a song. The minute he walked out onto that stage, the atmosphere was electric. His image, style, magnetism, class, and talent just lit up the club. Hollywood's brightest settled back into their seats, eagerly anticipating what lay ahead.
Dad and Jerry were superstars, earning around ten thousand dollars a week just after the end of the Second World War. They were about to sign a ten-movie, five-year deal with Paramount Studios worth $1,250,000. They also had a separate recording contract with Capitol Records and a radio deal with NBC. With three young children and my recent arrival, Dad was finally succeeding in paying off the debts that had dogged him for years, and funding the fairy-tale lifestyle he hoped to create for us all.
My mother, Betty, called Dad at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel the night I was born to tell him he had a new daughter to add to his family. He was so deeply asleep when he took the call that he thought it was someone fooling around and hung up. Hours later, Dad rang back to see if his hazy memory of the previous night was correct. It was true. Mother had given him another baby girl. Between them, they settled on the name Deana Angela. Dad had always wanted at least some of his children to be named after him. Having successfully chosen the names Craig, Gail, and Claudia, Mother was only too happy to comply with Dad's request. At the hospital, the registrar misspelled my name, writing it as Dina on my birth certificate, much to Mother's annoyance. It was a mistake that was to be repeated throughout my life. When the gossip columnist Walter Winchell wrote in his Sunday column that my name was Dinah, my mother was exasperated. She sang the line from the song, "Dinah? Is there anyone finah in the state of Carolina?" and muttered, "Can't Winchell get anything right?"
It was two months before my father finally met me. His West Coast debut of The Martin & Lewis Show and his first movie role with Jerry in the film My Friend Irma kept him more than three thousand miles from 315 West 106th Street and Riverside, New York. That was where I shared an apartment with my mother, brother, and sisters and our housekeeper, Sue. Staying with us were my maternal grandmother, Gertrude, and my young aunts Anne and Barbara, who'd come from Philadelphia to help with my arrival. In the apartment above us was the singer Lena Horne, whose children played with us from an early age.
I finally came face to face with my father in Philadelphia, where Patti Lewis, Jerry's wife, accompanied the Martin family to a long-awaited reunion. Having taken me in his arms, he beamed adoringly into my big hazel eyes. Dad then announced that we were all moving to California. We returned to New York almost immediately to start packing, while my mother's family traveled home, their task complete. It was an emotional parting. To add to the tears, Mother's close friend, the actor Jackie Cooper, came to bid her good-bye.
"I wish you weren't going to Hollywood, Betty," he told her, giving her a warm embrace. "I just know it's gonna break your heart." Mother wondered what he knew.
For a brief period after my arrival, my parents enjoyed real happiness. Dad loved being a family man, and reveled in being a star. He could hardly believe how much his fortunes had changed. "Who'd have thunk it?" he would say. "For a boy from Steubenville, Ohio?"
He was always proud of where he came from, and mentioned it whenever he could. My grandfather Gaetano Crocetti had traveled to Steubenville shortly after arriving at Ellis Island in New York in 1913. A nineteen-year-old farm laborer, he came from Montesilvano, Italy, near Pescara on the Adriatic coast, following his two elder brothers to eastern Ohio. Steubenville was thirty-five miles west of Pittsburgh and had a large Italian immigrant population. Once settled, my grandfather became a barber. He embraced his new life but never lost his impenetrable Italian accent or his love for the old country.
My grandmother Angela Barra was born in Fernwood, Ohio, to parents who emigrated from Italy. She was raised by German nuns who taught her all the things that a young lady needed to know: The art of cooking, caring for a home, and, most important, they taught her how to sew. This was a skill, that she developed into a lucrative profession, as she became known as the finest seamstress in the region. Because of her, all of the boys in the neighborhood had beautifully handcrafted clothes, either new or altered from older suits. When we were children she made many of our finest outfits, all matching, and it was she who gave my father his impeccable sense of style. She also gave my grandfather his American nickname "Guy." On Sunday, October 25, 1914, at the age of sixteen, Angela married Guy at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Steubenville, Ohio. Their first child, Guglielmo, known to me as Uncle Bill, was born on June 24, 1916. Dad, who was baptized Dino Crocetti at the same church, was their second child. He was born June 7, 1917.
My grandmother was an excellent homemaker and a wonderful cook. Her sons were raised on traditional Italian cuisine such as spaghetti and meatballs, veal or sausage with peppers, and Dad's favorite-pasta fagioli. My grandfather was a respected barber, and his sons were never lacking for anything. All he ever wanted was their health and happiness. He also hoped that one day they might work alongside him in his barbershop.
Dad grew up in a close-knit neighborhood that served as an extended family. With his cousins John, Archie, and Robert, he played bocce ball and baseball in the lots behind their houses and swam in the Ohio River. There was church every Sunday, where Dad and Uncle Bill were altar boys; Boy Scouts, where he was the drummer; and the Sons of Italy social events. Until he was five years old, Dad spoke predominantly Italian, but that changed when he started going to school.
Learning English as a second language gave Dad a slow and easy style of speaking that remained with him for the rest of his life. Like all children, he began picking up phrases and expressions from his school friends and soon sounded just like them. Unlike his studious brother, Dad spent much of his spare time watching westerns at the local movie house, the Olympic. Sometimes he would hang out at the poolrooms and nightclubs that were opening to cater to the increasing numbers of steelworkers in the town, which became known as "Little Chicago." It was great entertainment, and all done openly within a few yards of his father's shop.
For a time some of Dad's friends joked that the only chair he was heading for was not the swiveling type in his father's barbershop. Dad even added a funny line about that into the song Mr. Wonderful years later, that went, "Back home in Steubenville, they're doubting all this, I swear. / They're still betting six-to-five I get the chair."
Dad once told an interviewer, "I had a great time growing up in Steubenville. I had everything I could possibly want-women, music, nightclubs, and liquor-and to think I had all of that when I was only thirteen."
My father learned from an early age that charm, good looks, and a smile could help him find everything from employment to hot bread at the Steubenville Bakery. He was, at different times, a milkman, a gas station attendant, and a store assistant.
He loved to sing, which he did at any opportunity, never passing up an invitation to entertain. He had a beautiful voice and enjoyed sharing it. The idea of making a living from singing first came to him when some friends pushed him onto the stage of a club called Walker's Café. He was sixteen. "Go on," they urged, "you can do it."
Cracking jokes between songs, with lines like "You should see my girlfriend, she has such beautiful teeth . . . both of them!"-Dad won over the crowd and soon started to pick up a few extra dollars singing at other venues around town. His role models were the Mills Brothers, who were fellow Ohioans, and Bing Crosby, whose records he played on a wind-up gramophone until he wore them out. Dad looked good and sang great, was well mannered, and had impeccable taste in clothes and girls. The combination made for a heady mix.
But the salary for a nightclub singer was meager at best. Forever humming tunes in his snap-brimmed hat, he began running errands for those making the most of Prohibition. He did everything from dealing at illegal card games to delivering bootleg whiskey throughout the area-the alcohol he claimed was so potent he could have run his car on it. He was a card dealer at the Rex Cigar Store, where he slipped so many silver dollars down his trouser legs and into shoes that he jangled when he walked. It was money his bosses didn't begrudge him, and which he quickly spent.
My aunt Violet used to say to him, "Dino, you never have any money."
He'd smile and reply, "I don't need money, Vi, I'm good looking."
Dad kept working, taking on different jobs, and accepting donations from friends who subsidized his pay so that he would keep singing. His only alternative was a career in the steel mills of Ohio and West Virginia-something he tried briefly. "I couldn't breathe in that place," Dad told me many years later, shaking his head. "I have nothing but respect for those guys. They're tough, but it wasn't for me."
He took up prizefighting briefly, under the pseudonym Kid Crochet, for ten dollars a match, breaking and permanently disfiguring the little finger on his right hand. He traveled the state, working as a croupier or a roulette stickman in numerous clubs across Ohio. By the time he was in his late teens, he was a worldly-wise young man earning twice as much as his father. He knew what he wanted-the world beyond the river. The dream was crystallized by a road trip to California with a friend in 1936. There he soaked up the atmosphere of Hollywood and wondered wistfully if one day he would be part of its magic.
His greatest desire was to pursue his singing career, and in 1939 he was finally offered a full-time job as the lead singer in the Ernie McKay Band in Columbus, Ohio. He was twenty-two. It was Ernie who gave him his first stage name, Dino Martini, in the hope of cashing in on the popularity of a heartthrob Italian singer named Nino Martini. Not long afterward, Dad was lured to Cleveland by Sammy Watkins and his orchestra. Sammy insisted on another name change, and this time it would stick. In a rented tuxedo and under an entirely new identity-Dean Martin-Dad sang the liltingly romantic songs that were to become his own. The stars were aligning.
It was 1941 and my mother, Elizabeth (Betty) MacDonald, was eighteen years old and a student in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, when she first met Dad. Pretty, a world-class lacrosse athlete with a good singing voice and a tremendous sense of fun, she was one of five sisters much admired by the local young men. She was in Cleveland with her father, Bill MacDonald, who was being relocated there as a senior salesman for Schenley Whisky.
It was in the Vogue Room of the Hollenden Hotel where Dad was rehearsing that my mother first set eyes on him. Twenty-three years old, with dark wavy hair, and billed as "The Boy with the Tall, Dark, Handsome Voice," Dad was the best-looking man she'd ever seen. The mutual attraction was instant, and Dad fell for the Irish twinkle in Mother's eyes.
As an added insurance policy, Mother-who, having four sisters, knew how to attract attention-arrived at his show later that night wearing a big red sombrero. "Just to make sure he noticed me," she'd say, glowing from the memory.
Product details
- Publisher : Harmony Books; First Edition (October 26, 2004)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 297 pages
- ISBN-10 : 140005043X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1400050437
- Item Weight : 1.55 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.75 x 1.5 x 10 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #128,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,228 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #3,350 in Music (Books)
- #4,055 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Important information
To report an issue with this product, click here.
About the authors
Wendy Holden (aka Taylor Holden) is a novelist, non-fiction author, historical biographer and ghostwriter as well as a former journalist for the London Daily Telegraph. Her books have sold two million copies, have been adapted for television and radio, and some have been adopted into the schools curriculum. Two of her titles are about to be made into major Hollywood films.
Since leaving newspapers in 1996, Wendy has written more than forty books, including sixteen international bestsellers and the acclaimed novel The Sense of Paper, published by Random House, New York, now available as an ebook. Her bestselling title is Born Survivors, the true story of three young mothers who hid their pregnancies from the Nazis and gave birth in the camps. This has now been published in 22 countries and translated into 16 languages and was released in a special VE Day 75 edition in 2020. She also wrote the memoir Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day and his Life Lessons with Captain Sir Tom Moore, both of which became top ten bestsellers and remained in the charts for over eight months.
A reporter for eighteen years, Wendy covered news events at home and abroad, including conflicts in the Middle East, Communist Europe, and Northern Ireland. Her non-fiction titles have chiefly been the autobiographies of remarkable women, many with wartime experiences such as Zuzana Ruzickova, who survived three concentration camps and slave labour to become one of the world's leading musicians (now an award winning documentary), and Edna Adan Ismail, an inspirational midwife, First Lady, civil war survivor, and builder of hospitals. Wendy also wrote Tomorrow to be Brave, about the only woman in the French Foreign Legion during World War II (soon to be a film). Her book Behind Enemy Lines was about a young Jewish woman who repeatedly crossed German lines as a spy (now an award winning animation); and Til the Sun Grows Cold tells of a British mother whose daughter was killed in troubled Sudan. She also wrote Lady Blue Eyes, the memoir of Frank Sinatra's widow Barbara, A Lotus Grows in the Mud, the best-selling autobiography of Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn, and Memories Are Made of This, a biography of Dean Martin as seen through the eyes of his daughter Deana.
She penned Ten Mindful Minutes with Goldie Hawn, an international bestseller on mindfulness for parents, and she wrote an ebook for children and adults entitled Mr. Scraps about a dog caught up in the London Blitz. In 2012 she conceived and wrote the bestselling memoir of Uggie, the dog from the Oscar winning movie The Artist, published in 12 countries, and she also wrote Haatchi & Little B, the remarkable story of the relationship between a disabled boy and his three legged-dog, which was a number 1 bestseller in the UK, Portugal, and the US as it melted hearts around the world.
Other works have included the bestselling novelisations of the films The Full Monty and Waking Ned, as well as an Antarctic travel guide with comedian Billy Connolly. She wrote Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking with Pauline Prescott, and Heaven and Hell with Don Felder, co-founder of The Eagles. Her book Shell Shock, a searing investigation into the trauma of conflict from the World War One to the Gulf War, was published in conjunction with a four-part television documentary.
Several of her books have been serialised in national newspapers and magazines around the globe, selected for audio extracts on BBC Radio's Book of the Week and elsewhere, adopted for the curriculum in schools and colleges and transferred to both commercial television and radio drama. Four of her books have been optioned for film. She also writes screenplays, is an international public speaker, literary festival chair, and teaches creative writing online and at exclusive venues in Italy, Dubai, and around the UK.
Wendy divides her time between the UK, US and Italy but lives mostly in Suffolk, England, with her husband and dogs where she likes to relax in her award-winning garden. She also writes occasional articles for newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, Daily Mail and The Lady. Follow her on Twitter @wendholden, on Instagram @wendyholdenbestsellingauthor, via her website www.wendyholden.com, or her Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/wendyholdenfanpage/?ref=bookmarks). She is an occasional podcaster (http://wendyholden.buzzsprout.com). She has her own Youtube channel - https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCl-hBBGrQhBDQaV2yFqqyug, is her own literary agent, mentor to aspiring writers, and owns a company that develops and publishes e-books and book-related apps.
DEANA MARTIN
Biography
A world class entertainer equally comfortable performing with a celebrated symphony at a legendary concert hall and an intimate cabaret stage with a swinging jazz quintet, Deana Martin – daughter of legendary singer, actor and entertainer Dean Martin – has forged an inspiring path as a visionary artist in her own right. In addition to her many musical successes, she is a New York Times bestselling author, a gifted actor, a vocalist of incredible emotional depth and passion and a licensed pilot.
When she published her bestselling memoir Memories Are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter’s Eyes and recorded her long awaited debut album Memories Are Made of This in 2006, she was all about extending her family legacy via cool interpretations of some of his best loved tunes. Now, with hundreds of worldwide performances behind her, a growing discography of jazz flavored albums rising on the Billboard charts and an ever increasing demand for performances at clubs, festivals and concert halls before sold out audiences throughout the U.S., Australia and Italy, she continues to create a unique legacy of her own.
Decades after she achieved her initial success in films, theatre and television, Deana has added to her status as a modern day Renaissance woman, becoming a nationally syndicated radio host, licensed pilot and entrepreneur. Since launching her career as a recording artist in the mid-2000s, she has scored numerous chart successes. Her 2006 debut Memories Are Made Of This, stayed in the top ten for 40 consecutive weeks. In 2009, her album Volare debuted on the Billboard charts at #7 and the Jazz chart at #22. Her 2011 holiday release White Christmas has become a seasonal evergreen, hitting the Top Ten each year since its release. Deana’s critically acclaimed 2013 collection Destination Moon received airplay on over 1,200 radio stations.
For Deana, ever the stylish musical adventurer, there was only one place to go following Destination Moon – a trip to “52nd and Broadway,” also known as Swing Street. Produced by her husband John Griffeth and conducted and arranged by the legendary Patrick Williams and Chris Walden, the 15 track collection offers an exciting mix of swinging classics from multiple eras (including Classic IV’s “Spooky”), five emotionally compelling new Williams-composed originals, and an Italian tune of unknown origin (“Bellisima”) whose lyrics by Deana pay direct homage to her dad.
Memories Are Made Of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter’s Eyes was a New York Times bestseller when it was first published. Recently, it has enjoyed a resurgence thanks to electronic media. In 2015, it was ranked on Wall Street Journal’s Top Ten non-fiction e-books list. The book will soon be made into a movie, directed by actor Joe Mantegna, with screenplay written by actor/writer/television host Bonnie Hunt, and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Growing up, Deana remembers her dad connecting so deeply with his audiences that he would often ssay, “How did all these people get into my living room?” Deana likewise, creates a beautiful mix of joyfulness and intimacy. Like her dad, she makes it all look so easy – and, even after years playing up to 280 dates per year, her audiences still can’t get enough.
Deana and her husband John Griffeth divide their time between Beverly Hills, CA and Branson, MO.
For more information on Deana Martin, her career and upcoming concert appearances, please visit her website at www.DeanaMartin.com.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
Submit a report
- Harassment, profanity
- Spam, advertisement, promotions
- Given in exchange for cash, discounts
Sorry, there was an error
Please try again later.-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Yet Deana paints a sad portrait, the other side that the public got a peek at, but weren't privy to the background story.
These celebrities present a happy front, but the more you find out about them the more you see that they had their own demons to deal with, just like the rest of us.
Dean married his first wife, Betty, while he was Dino Crocetti, and had four kids with her. Then he became famous and lived on the road with his act. While on the road he mixed & mingled until he fell in love with Jeanne the beauty-queen. He deserted his first wife and children (supporting them with alimony payments and child support, of course), and married wife #2, then made three kids with her.
This is where Deana fills in the gaps, and tells how Betty (wife #1) and the four kids handled the situation ... and the situation got worse. Betty took to hard drinking and Hollywood living; when Dean found out, he cut off her alimony, which gradually drove the first family into worse economic shape, until Betty couldn't afford to raise the kids anymore. Her drinking problem made things worse, and the four kids were all taken to live with Dean and wife #2 in their giant fortress.
Betty disappeared from the scene, and Deana described what it was like growing up with Dean and Jeanne with wealth and fame.
But even wife #2 didn't keep Dean happy, so after a number of years he divorced her and played the bachelor for a short while until he got married again to wife #3 ... for a short while. After their divorce, Dean had to cough up 6 million to keep her happy and off his back, a large settlement at the time.
He had it all but somehow it wasn't enough. The older he got the more he withdrew. He left wife #1, wife #2, and wife #3. He was a hard guy to get to know, and he kept most people at arm's length. I guess you have to do that when you've got a lotta dough, but he wound up doing that to members of his own family. They were treated to cars and presents, more than most of us will ever see, but I think they loved him (and he loved them)... but there was a certain distance that was maintained. Guess Dean was trying to protect himself, and withdrawing from his family members was one way to maintain his peace of mind. Deana did a good job explaining him; an interesting (and entertaining) read.
What I found was STUNNING. In my own estimation, Deana Martin is very much at the heart of the American experience.
I want to keep this brief, but one of the many reasons I wanted to learn about Deana Martin was in reconstructing the life of Sharon Tate. I felt Deana had something to offer in this area, and she did. Her description of the Rat Pack, Sinatra, and the vast array of Hollywood superstars is incredible. Deana's way of honoring her parents is that she misses them, that's all. Parents can only fill so much of the heart, a spouse another part, and to be overflowing is only possible with our Maker. Deana senses this, and shares old-fashioned values.
I also grew up watching The Monkees television shows and Deana was featured in one of the episodes that I remember well as a young boy. That really connects for a fellow like myself. She dated Davy Jones, which is a big deal because of the influence of The Monkees music on American youth. Deana also had a picture taken with The Beatles, which had an enormous effect on American life. When reading about Deana's encounter with Sharon's murderers about a year before, it was shocking. I thought to myself what are the odds that Deana is at that house while her dad Dean Martin is down the road filming a movie with Sharon Tate? It is astronomical the coincidence, and a big part of how I view Deana's mysterious, providential circumstances in life and how she handled that. This leads me to a final observation.
When Dean found out about her previous encounter about a year later after Sharon's death, her dad called her up in Las Vegas terrified, naturally, and was angry about any form of running across these wicked hooligans. Here is where the reader can miss the boat: Deana realized, perhaps later in life, that her dad was angry about the situation because he loved her and felt protective. Deana understands this, she does honor her dad -- faults and all -- and is thankful to God for her life, her parents, and the many memories of growing up around the Hollywood superstars. What we have left is a mature woman who lived through those times, has her own voice to sing with, writes this book and hopefully more, and explains what really happened. I am glad I bought this book.