The Sheila Variations

I believe that is what is known as a "rumpus room."

That pinky-ring dude looks like he could rumpus with the best of 'em.

(I think I've seen that picture before, and the little posing boy was Dean, Jr., ex-husband of Dorothy Hamill, RIP.)

I don't want to ask this. I could google it. But I would rather you answer:

Who was Dean Martin? Is he a movie star? A dancer? I honestly don't know.

Nevermind. I just re-read yesterday's posts. He was a picture actor. : )

I remember reading an article in Esquire written by Bill Zehme- which later became the book "The Way You Wear Your Hat" (greatest sinatra book ever but that is for a later time) and there was a bit about Dean Martin that I never forgot. SOmething along the lines of Frank gave a borad a thousand to wait in Dean's room and Dean gave her two thousand to tell Frank he was magnificent. That book also said that (this might be a myth) Elvis used to wistfully ride his motorcycle past Dean's house in hopes that someday he would be as cool and nonchalant as his hero.

There is a long running argument in my family about Frank vs. Dean that was even mentioned in my grandmother's eulogy. Her last word of saying that Dean was the greatest and that was it.

Oh teah- I spent months scouring ebay looking for a copy of "Dino Latino" on vinyl. He wears a matador outfit on the album cover. I used to listen to it with my grandmother. Amazing. The French style one is good too.

RTG - actor, crooner, member of "the Rat Pack", Vegas star, and he was also famous for his partnership with Jerry Lewis!

:)

mejack - I love your stories - in your grandmother's eulogy!! that's awesome. :)

I REALLY SHOULD READ MY COMMENTS BEFORE I POST THEM.

Frank gace a BROAD a thousand dollars- not a Borad.

and teah= yeah

Thank you.

Also - Frank GACE?? hahahaha

That's okay - i knew what you meant.

I think Frank Gace played for the Cubs in the fifties... =)

If this keeps up, Sheila, I'm going to think that you're cheating on your Dead Boyfriend.

I think the boy sitting on the sofa is his son. My memory of him as a young child was as the spitting image of his dad.

Nightfly - I know. I'm two-timing Alexander Hamilton. But I think my original "obsession central" blogging frenzies were before you started reading me. First came Bogart. It was all Bogart all the time here. Then came Cary Grant. And I actually felt a little disloyal to Bogart when the Cary Grant obsession FAR surpassed the Bogart one. I felt disloyal because I am insane. After that came a brief Gary Cooper obsession - although it didn't take over my life to the degree that Cary Grant did. Now it's Dino. I shall see where this takes me. Hamilton will understand.

To expand on red's answer to RTG:

In short: quite possibly the coolest person ever.

One of my favorite things is the ad for his signature golf ball line. I saw it once on TV Land (as one of their "retromercials") and now thanks to the YouTube miracle, it can be enjoyed by everyone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4Jg3A_wmNw

His expression 0:33 into it makes me laugh out loud.

Alex - oh my god, I love that so much. hahahahahahahahahahahaha

You are so right about that 0:33 expression - HILARIOUS!!

Oh, and the fact that the Hawaii Five-0 theme is running the whole time is insane.

I love when he starts chopping wildly into the sand.

I had completely forgotten about the commercial until you began The Dino Obsession posting marathon (which I'm still working through).

This weekend, I'll try to go to my parents' and stealing their complete set of Dean Martin variety Show DVDs, which will likely remind me how over 85% of modern TV completely sucks.

When he starts chopping, it's like he's having a happy nervous breakdown.

HAHAHAHA

How to separate Sheila from $19.95 (+ $3.95 S&H) per month:

http://www.deanmartinroasts.com/index.php

OT: The Brotherhood DVDs come out on 9/26.

I smell a Jason Isaacs obsession coming on. . .

Lisa - ha!!

Also OT:

While searching for some Dean Martin DVDs on your wish list, noticed you have a couple of Oriana Fallaci books on there... you planning on doing a post about her?

Nope. I won't do a post about her.

But rest in peace.

Red,

Perhaps I missed it.
But I was just wondering....
What started the Dean Martin obsession?

regards, Hank

Okay then... you gonna put some Dino stuff on your wish list? (Although if I HAPPEN to buy you some Dean Martin DVDs, it would be under the stipulation that you'd share them with RTG who appears to be woefully uninformed on the "king of cool")

JFH - ha! I NEVER update my wish list - you're right!! Okay, I'll put some Dino on there. :)

Oh and yes - we need to get RTG up to speed.

What should she see first??

The easiest and most accessible stuff RTG could get her hands on have got to be the Matt Helm movies, he completely changed the fictional character to fit his real life personality... Then again I may be biased as I knew the 60s Dean Martin long before I knew about the 50s Dean Martin...

Hank - what started the obsession?

Oh, the usual. Sexual frustration.

Hey, you asked!! :)