‘ The Dean Martin Show’…September 16, 1965 – April 5, 1974
‘ The Dean Martin Show’…September 16, 1965 – April 5, 1974
If you watch this two minute clip, you’ll get the attitude of the show’s 9 year, 264 episode run, plus…a BIG surprise at the end!
An important key to Dean’s, and the show’s, popularity was the spontaneous, unrehearsed feel of each week’s production. Martin read his dialogue directly from cue cards and usually, if he flubbed a line or forgot a lyric, Martin would not do a retake and the mistake, and his recovery from it, went straight to tape and onto the air.
The show was done from NBC’s Burbank’s Studio 4 and was produced and directed by Greg Garrison. Among his Garrison’s first productions were ‘The Kate Smith Show’ and ‘Your Show of Shows’. He went on to produce and direct many television specials with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Donald O’Connor and many others. He was probably best known for producing and directing this show and ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts’. He also directed one of television’s landmark 1960 presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
During the summer months, Garrison kept Dean’s Thursday night time slot hot with some very good guest hosts. In 1966, Rowan and Martin hosted a few of Martin’s summer shows which were so well received that it put them on the trajectory as hosts of one of television’s most memorable series..’Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In’.
As you see in the photos, the show started with RCA TK41s, but later graduated to TK44s around 1968. Enjoy and share!
I seem to remember hearing or reading that Dino and Garrison had no written contract between them, that it was strictly a handshake agreement. Am I right, anyone?
No studio audience?
His recovery from gaffes were some of the funniest bits!
Never missed one!