MY TOP 12 FAVORITE DEAN MARTIN SHOW S.E. DVD MOMENTS

Dean Martin, good god do I love him. I love his charm, his voice, his songs, and his humor. He does fine in his movies, but his best performances are on his show, "The Dean Martin Variety Show". Not only was Dean a great host, but he had funny skits, wonderful songs, amazingly talented celebrities, and it was all improvised. He even had his own Roast show, which were always a hoot to watch as well. Since there's been no official seasonal release of his Variety Show, I'm going to pick my favorite moments from each DVD release of the best moments. I'm going to start with the first volume set of DVDs presented by the shows director Greg Garrison and yes, I'll have a list of my favorite roast moments from each Roast special as well. The DVD where I'm picking my favorite moments is the Special Edition.

So here are my...

TOP 12 FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM "THE BEST OF THE DEAN MARTIN VARIETY SHOW: SPECIAL EDITION" DVD

("FAVORITE DEAN MARTIN SHOW S.E DVD. MOMENTS" for short)

Let's get on to number 12...

            DEAN MARTIN AND THE DOLLS

The skit starts out with Deans face singing "Thank Heavens For Little Girls" to a boom mic and the camera slowly pans down to reveal dolls of little girls moving.  The way he sings the song is cute and charming, but when you see the Dolls moving around, they keep falling or coming close to him. Dean never loses his cool and calmly picks up the fallen dolls like a professional while singing and being charming, and he even improvises by saying "I think one of them got my bottle by mistake".  Later on Dean would mock the skit by using live girls to look and move like dolls. He sits on a stool, and as the girls act like the Dolls they would move close to him like the dolls in his previous skit and instead of Dean moving them around, the girls turn their selves around. Dean in disbelief of the skit asks "How come they can touch me, but I can't touch them?".

NUMBER 11

A GAME OF MUSICAL QUESTION MESS UP

In a recurring skit called "Musical Question", the pretty girls would come down the stairs, sing the question on the card and Dean would sing them an answer. At first it starts out smooth, but as the third girl sings, she messes up the words to a song by singing "Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all", the girl stops in embarrassment and Dean laughs and tells the audience that "She made a mistake" and is glad it wasn't him. He corrects her by telling her the lyric before the lyric she just sang; humors the girl; and decides to do the whole song all over again just for her. As the girls sing their song again, the girl who messed up got it correct and a proud Dean Martin briefly kisses her on the cheek and beautifully sings her the answer. This was no outtake or blooper this was actually aired live on TV. That was part of the fun on the show, you didn't know what was going to happen or if somebody was going to mess up and when they did, Dean would get a good  laugh, fix the mistake and sometimes redo the whole song or skit.

NUMBER 10

THE SWORDS MAGIC ACT

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This was a short and brief skit. Dean is put in a box for a magic act by his pretty girls. The girls put the swords in the box, leave them in for 5 seconds, take the swords out and Dean comes out unharmed. However, he gets himself a drink and water starts squirting out of his body. If that's not funny enough, as Dean is talking to the audience water unexpectedly keeps squiring out of him. Dean went through with any over the top non-sense in this unrehearsed show and this short skit defiantly proves it.

NUMBER 9

THE NEW YEARS EVE PARTY 

It's New Years Eve and Dean and Frank Sinatra are invited to a party by their friend Ken (Who'd play the piano on the show) and the parties chaperone is Ken's Mother played by Kay Medford. This skit always gives me a laugh, not just from Dean and Frank, but mostly from Kay Medford because of her acting like a stereotypical mother and is constantly insulting both Dean and Frank that are so mean spirited that it proves you don't need curse words to be funny and insultive. The skit really gets me roaring with laughter when the dates enter. Ken gets a beautiful girl that's taller than him, while Dean and Frank get two ugly dates (One of them being Gladys). The dialogue is funny, the casting's great, and there's a lot of outrageous things going on.

NUMBER 8

JOHNNY CARSON'S HOSPITAL COMPLAINT

One of the best talents to see together on the show (Besides Frank Sinatra) is seeing Dean the king of improv on TV, and Johnny Carson the king of late night on TV, together doing a laugh out loud skit. Yes, they have been together before, but I personally think this is their best moment together. Johnny plays a patient who's complaining to the head of a hospital played by Dean. Johnny tells Dean that he and a patient switched beds, and the next day they were both scheduled for an operation, and Johnny got the operation that the patient was supposed to have and it was a SEX CHANGE. We find out that Johnny's character was once a girl and who is now stuck with being a man. Not only do we hear funny dialogue about a whole new life for her, but we also see Johnny acting all feminine. This skit always gets me laughing and at the end of the skit we meet the husband, which I won't spoil it for you. It's great seeing two legends together and this is the first time I ever saw a doctor wear a tux on the job.

NUMBER 7

DEAN MARTIN AND GOLDIE HAWN

This is the first time Dean and the comedic Goldie Hawn  worked together and already just by watching them together, they make great chemistry. Dean is happy to meet Goldie Hawn and he loves how she pretends to be dumb on TV, but Goldie tells Dean that she really is dumb and that "Dumb is beautiful". She first talks about how the smart people cause all the problems; talks about a national organization runned by dumb people; a march on Washington by tons of dumb people; and proves to the audience that Dean is just as dumb as her. She gives Dean an initiation test with a Dictionary being thrown (By another dummy off screen) and the two begin to sing. This is a very funny and charming skit because as you watch Dean and Goldie giggle, talk and sing throughout the skit, you get the feeling that these two great performers are enjoying each other company and will probably do a lot more skits later on in the show. This is another wonderful chemistry with Dean and a guest star.

NUMBER 6

THE MONTAGE OF DEAN AND HIS GUESTS

This montage shows Dean singing with a couple of guest stars on the show. Even though the performances and songs are mostly cut in this montage, it still shows the fun and joy that the guests had with Dean. The first part of the montage, we see him and The Andrew Sisters walking around in a circle and if you watch Dean, he looks or is acting dizzy and out of breath. Next we see Dean with Ella Fitzgerald and Gordon Macrae singing in great harmony and by looking at their faces, they seem to be enjoying each others company. The next two are my favorite part in this montage. Next we see Dean singing with the great Louis Armstrong and what makes this number great is we see Dean impersonate Louis Armstrong and as he's doing it, Louis laughs very hard and seems to be having a ball. Finally, we see Dean sing with Lena Horne singing "Welcome To My World" and the two of them sing beautifully; we hear a beautiful chorus; Dean holds her hand while singing; and this all makes it a beautiful number and moment. Oh, and look for the boom mic in this number.This montage shows many great performances on the show and shows how much guests love being on the show and even though they're cut short, it still is my 6th Favorite Moment on the DVD and who knows maybe I'll see the full performances on the other DVDs.

NUMBER 5

"MY KIND OF GIRL"

This is just Dean singing his opening number to start the show and this song is one of my all time favorite songs he sings, it's called "My Kind Of Girl". We first see Dean hop down a small flight of stairs and then he starts singing. How do I put his singing, "He sings like an angel sings, he smiles like an angel smiles and his charm, man what a guy. What a cool guy, he's my kind of guy".  This is a song I love to sing when watching this DVD when I was a kid and I still sing it. Oh, and by the way, look for the boom mic and listen for when Dean nearly burps while singing the song.

NUMBER 4

DEAN MARTIN AND GENE KELLY SINGING "HAPPY BLUE SONGS"

 

Dean and Gene are really good friends and seeing them on the show together is not only an amazing duo of truly great entertainers, but also shows the amount of fun and joy they had together. The skit opens with Dean and Gene singing "Blue Songs" together and as they sing "Am I Blue", Dean interrupts the song and tells Gene he's "all choked up" cause his "shorts are on backwards" and wants to sing something "Bouncy" with Gene. Gene suggests to sing "Happy Blue Songs" such as "Blue Skies" and "Bye Bye Blues" which makes Dean sad by mistaking one of the songs titles thinking it was called "Bye Bye Booze" and as you know, Dean loves his liquor. Dean sings the two songs in a medley as Gene dances. It's not only a great look at watching two great friends and entertainers perform together, but it's also the catchy medley, the laugh out loud jokes, and Genes amazing dance moves that make this performance so incredible. This performance is so happy and bouncy that it kisses my blues, bye bye and has "blue skies smilin' at me".

NUMBER 3

DEAN AND FRANK SING "THE OLDEST ESTABLISHED"

This was originally going to be my number 1 favorite moment on the DVD but the moment I have in store as number 1 is a moment that gets funnier and funnier every time I watch it. So what's happening in this moment, it's Frank and Dean singing a classic musical number from "Guys And Dolls" called "The Oldest Established". First off, I love seeing two legends together singing a swinging tune and this was on the shows first episode. However, what really makes this moment stand out is Dean. He's stealing the spotlight with his singing and performing like he's drunk, he even almost trips while he's singing. This is a very rare occasion when someone steals the spotlight from Frank, even Elvis my all time favorite singer wasn't able to steal the spotlight while singing with Sinatra. The only disappointment is they cut out the whole part when they sing about the "Biltmore Garage" and Frank asks if Dean is dizzy. Neither the less it's still a great performance and was on the episode that started it all.

NUMBER 2

THE CLOSET MONTAGE

The show had so many unexpected things happening that the guests nor would Dean himself know what to expect on this unrehearsed show. Best example is the Mystery Closet. During the show Dean would open the closet door and a guest would usually come out of there. If it wasn't a guest, you'd see some random and outrageous things. My favorite has to be when a full Marching Band is marching out the door. The only celebrity we see perform in this montage is Red Skelton mistaking for Dean show as the "Flip Wilson Show" and gives Dean a drink he made. That door is like a box of chocolates or a present, you never know what you're going to get or who's behind door number 1.

AND MY NUMBER 1 FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM "THE BEST OF THE DEAN MARTIN VARIETY SHOW: SPECIAL EDITION" DVD IS...

VICTOR BORGE'S MUSICAL PHONETIC PUNCTUATION
  
This skit always has me laughing hard and at times has me sing along to the songs. Victor Borge teaches Dean how to sing a song with punctuation marks and they both do a medley by singing hit songs by making the punctuation sounds. The noises and hand gestures for the punctuation marks really, really make me cry with laughter. Dean and Victor both seem to be having a ball and Dean nearly spits at Victor a few times while making the noise. All the songs they sing are all classics and hearing them in a new way makes me want to try to sing them that way. Heck, sometimes they miss a lyric, while making the noises. This skit has me roaring with laughs every time I see it; teaches me a new comedic method in singing; and on top of it all, my Grandma loves this skit a lot and she too loves Dean as much as I do.

Those are my top moments of my "Favorite Moments From "The Best Of The Dean Martin Variety Show: Special Edition DVD". Other moments include Dean and Bob Newharts first skit together; Jimmy Stewart doing impressions; a hoedown with Roy Rogers; Jack Benny and his own Ding-A-Lings; and Ann Margret singing a duet with Dean. They are all good skits too, but these are my favorite and yes, the DVD is at least worth a look for fans of Dean and his show. Coming up next I'll be doing another Dean Martin related list and a special thanks post for a special Dean site for supporting my count down when that list is finished.