Product Description

Offering an irreverent inside look at American entertainment, from the heyday of Hollywood and Las Vegas and the rise of television, this is a biography of Dean Martin. Born in Ohio, Dino Crocetti came up the hard way, pumping petrol, boxing, working in a steel mill and dealing craps in a local mob joint, before turning to singing. After two changes of name and a nose job, he rose to great heights of fame, wealth and power, and as his notoriety and fortune grew he withdrew more and more into the silence of seclusion. Eventually he ceased to perform. The book tells of Martin's rise to fame, and exposes the dark side of this success: the underworld secrets, the hidden regions of the American dream racket and the despair of a man driven into his own shadow. And along the way there are revelations about Sinatra, Monroe and the Hollywood/White House connection, and portraits of the Rat Pack, Jerry Lewis, and the mob's virtual invention of Las Vegas. The author's other books include "Hellfire", a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151891 in Books
• Published on: 1993-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

Customer Reviews

Disagree with everyone else
I've read this book but totally disagree with the other reviewers. The author spoilt this completely for me. he just tries too hard to make Dean Martin cool and misses the entire point: the reader already knows that Dean Martin was cool. what I wanted to know is what happened and how, not why. Sorry to be the odd one out, but I've read lots of biographies and eveyr ow and then an author will destroy the subject for me. this is one such occassion.

VIVA LAS DINO!
Absolutely fantastic! A must read book for everyone who has heard of Dean Martin (and let's face it there can't be many people who haven't). Think you may know all there is about Dean and the Rat Pack?, then think again after reading this book. Mr Sinatra, big chief with the Mafia? think again. Dean had just as much power if not more. It takes you right back to the very beginnings, through the adventures, the Rat Pack Years and towards his eventual reclusiveness. (Oh, did I forget about the broads and the booze!!!)

A real stunner of a story which you must read soon. Buy this book now.

The drinks, the broads, the celebrity roasts!!!
Dino ? Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams

Nick Tosches

Dino is an extraordinary blend of cod-Chandler thriller and American social history. Tosches chronicles the rise of Dean Martin from gangster-ridden Steubenville to his heyday in gangster-ridden Vegas. The divorces, drinks, celebrity-roast shows of the 70s are all laid bare. Dino, a man seemingly unhindered by intellectual and emotional content, rode the showbiz rollercoaster with more concern for the glass in his hand than his friends, family or self-esteem. The book is as incisive a portrait of the struggle of Italian-Americans as it is of Dino‚s struggle to stay solvent or simply cling to the bar. A joy to read and a must for all lounge afficiandos.