I thought I'd finish the week on a lighter note, and show you my Dean Martin singing replica doll. He was a gift from my son, Greg, who knows that I have been a big Dean Martin fan since I was a teenager in the fifties.
Oh, how I swooned and mooned over Dino, back then, and bought all his records, and went to see all the silly movies he was in with Jerry Lewis. I considered myself his number one fan!
In the second photo you see, I placed some beautiful girls around Dino, because he was always surrounded by beautiful girls on his TV show! (TeeHee.)
The doll sings two songs, when his button is pushed. Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime, and That's Amore. My two younger granddaughters love to push Dean's button whenever they come for a visit. And as Dean bursts into song, his head moves from side to side, as does his hand holding the mike. He really kicks up the dust. Of course, that's because I forgot to dust his stand, before I took the picture.
In the mid-70s, I was invited to be the guest of a local disc jockey friend, at a snazzy night club in our city. The attraction that night was to be Frank Sinatra Jr. So, of course, I went. Frank Jr. sang nicely, sounding a lot like his famous Dad. During his break, Mr. Sinatra Jr. actually came to our table and sat down to chat a bit.
"A little bird told me you're a big Dean Martin fan," he said, smiling at me.
"Uh, yes, I am," I replied, somewhat flustered. "I'm his number one fan!"
"Well, I happen to know Mr. Martin personally. He is a good friend of my father's. And when I go back to Hollywood, I'll tell Dean all about his cute number one fan."
I blushed and thanked him for his remark, and then thanked my disc jockey friend, because I knew he had planned the whole thing. It was all kind of exciting. But the really exciting thing was yet to come
Actually, it came almost two months later, in the mail. For there was a large, padded manila envelope addressed to me from Dean Martin, Hollywood, California! And inside the envelope was a personally autographed photo signed, "To Renie, Always, Dean." I whooped around so loudly when I saw the photo, that my three kids came running, thinking I had gone stark raving mad! In a sense, I had.
It was kind of fun remembering Dino. I listen to his CDs often, to this day. He was my first singing idol. Although my autographed photo got lost somehow, when I was moving from the city to the country, I love my Dean Martin replica doll, and I will always be Dean Martin fan!
