“You Skinny Hebrew”

By: Dean Dino Martin

Never before Available to the General Public

(A 1953 humorous & satirical birthday tribute song from Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis)

Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995), born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio to Italian immigrant parents, Gaetano and Angela Crocetti.

Martin and Lewis’ official debut together occurred at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on July 24, 1946 and they were not well received.. More than a few people dubbed them “The Organ Grinder and the Monkey”.

Lewis and Martin agreed to “go for broke”, to throw out the pre-scripted gags and to improvise. Dean sang and Jerry came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and making a shambles of both Martin’s performance and the club’s sense of decorum until Lewis was chased from the room as Martin pelted him with breadrolls. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter. This success led to a series of well-paying engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a triumphant run at New York’s Copacabana.

The act broke up in 1956, 10 years to the day from the first official teaming.

Dino made a public reconciliation with Jerry Lewis on Lewis’ Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in 1976. Frank Sinatra shocked Lewis and the world by bringing Martin out on stage. As Martin and Lewis embraced, the audience erupted in cheers and the phone banks lit up, resulting in one of the telethon’s most profitable years. Lewis reported the event was one of the three most memorable of his life. Lewis brought down the house when he quipped, “So, you working?” Martin, playing drunk, replied that he was “at the Meggum” – this reference to the MGM Grand Hotel convulsed Lewis. This, along with the death of Martin’s son Dean Paul Martin a few years later, helped to bring the two men together. They maintained a quiet friendship but only performed together again once, in 1989, on Dean’s 72nd birthday.

Martin died of acute respiratory failure at his home on Christmas morning 1995, at the age of 78.

“You Skinny Hebrew”

By: Dean Dino Martin

Never before Available to the General Public

(A 1953 humorous & satirical birthday tribute song from Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis)

If you go to the Apple iTunes Store and type “You Skinny Hebrew” in the search line, you will see the Dino to Jerry song.

You can also click on this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/you-skinny-hebrew-live/id352134363?i=352134391&ign-mpt=uo%3D4