When CIA got involved in abstract expressionism the art was cheap, under a grand. Many agents bought it realizing they were about to create a market for it and got very, very rich. The CIA also tried to use jazz to promote free form over Soviet kitsch, but the performers figured it out and rebelled.
DRACULA had saved Universal by making $700,000 ( $700,000 dollars in 1931 is worth $10,497,043.47 in 2017) Does anyone know how much FRANKENSTEIN made the first year? We know it had made 1.4 million by Summer, which in today's money would be $23,151,013.70
Dean's reputation with booze ( comedy that would be banned today by the way) hid the fact that Dean was (drum roll please) THE FIRST POT COMEDIAN. According to Jerry, from the late 1940's on Dean had pot mailed to him from around the world as he hated Mexican pot. He would smoke before going onstage. Here is rare footage of Dean out of it on pot, making pot jokes the audience pre-hippie didn't get but laughed because that was the charm of The Rat Pack. You can see him turn to the musicians when he starts making pot jokes as he knows they get them. Everyone wanted to be hip and part of it so the audience laughed but I doubt they got it. Jerry's description by the way in DEAN AND ME of the only time he got high with Dean before a show ( in the early 50's!) is hilarious. BTW- Jerry's kids have stated that Jer kept bags of pot in their bathroom medicine cabinet all through the late 50's and 60's until his back problems compounded. No one thought of using pot medicinally back then. Here is Dean high as a kite- but not on booze. https://youtu.be/APPpFrIGFQ8
One of the biggest myths is that Vegas was the first time. They actually reunited 3 times before Vegas, but don't tell anyone! LOL!
On March 13, 1960, Dean called Jerry up on stage at the Sands in Las Vegas. By the AP account, it looks like they did the Boxer Routine (from "Sailor Beware") as well as a duet of "My Heart Cries for You." There was also this: This documented Martin and Lewis re-union is quite ironic: it also concerns Eddie Fisher and took place at the Coconut Grove in Hollywood on July 25, 1961 - exactly five years to the day of their break up in 1956! The show itself gained notoriety in the press, and not in a positive light. The Rat Pack began heckling Fisher and at one point, went on stage and took over the proceedings. The crowd was there for Fisher and was not pleased. Milton Berle called it "a disgusting display of ego." Variety said the stunt "came off with a thud" and "the audience was not amused." Hedda Hopper wrote "Frank and his henchman took over and ruined Eddie's performance." Legendary columnist Sidney Skolsky said "You sensed a feeling of audience resentment. This was the first time The Clan played to a hostile audience; the first time they received unfavorable comment in the press."
Perhaps because of this unpleasant reception towards the Rat Pack, Dean and Jerry's brief re-union was never mentioned. Their second documented reunion: the 4/6/59 Academy Awards show. The next documented reunion has only recently come to light and certainly is a mystery. The location and date is not known. I would venture a guess it's in Las Vegas sometime in 1977. ( 8/23/77 at the Aladdin in Las Vegas). The liquor tray was a standard part of Frank and Dean's act at the time. The reunion everyone thought happened for the first time in 20 years was actually the fifth! If you are interested I do a page DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS: The Fun And The Fury on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DeanMartinAndJerryLewis/
ARTISTS AND MODELS is amazing. It is the only pop culture artifact that defends horror comics ( EC) when the government was censoring them ( they also went after Bettie Page and Irving Klaw). Any film Frank Tashlin directed is worth seeing. Tashlin also did the best rock movie ever made that inspired John and Paul to form the Quarrymen, the film starred Jayne Mansfield and top rock acts of the day. Tashlin worked with both the team and Jerry solo.
Does anyone know how much FRANKENSTEIN made the first year? We know it had made 1.4 million by Summer, which in today's money would be $23,151,013.70
On March 13, 1960, Dean called Jerry up on stage at the Sands in Las Vegas. By the AP account, it looks like they did the Boxer Routine (from "Sailor Beware") as well as a duet of "My Heart Cries for You."
There was also this: This documented Martin and Lewis re-union is quite ironic: it also concerns Eddie Fisher and took place at the Coconut Grove in Hollywood on July 25, 1961 - exactly five years to the day of their break up in 1956! The show itself gained notoriety in the press, and not in a positive light. The Rat Pack began heckling Fisher and at one point, went on stage and took over the proceedings. The crowd was there for Fisher and was not pleased. Milton Berle called it "a disgusting display of ego." Variety said the stunt "came off with a thud" and "the audience was not amused." Hedda Hopper wrote "Frank and his henchman took over and ruined Eddie's performance." Legendary columnist Sidney Skolsky said "You sensed a feeling of audience resentment. This was the first time The Clan played to a hostile audience; the first time they received unfavorable comment in the press."
Perhaps because of this unpleasant reception towards the Rat Pack, Dean and Jerry's brief re-union was never mentioned.
Their second documented reunion: the 4/6/59 Academy Awards show.
The next documented reunion has only recently come to light and certainly is a mystery. The location and date is not known. I would venture a guess it's in Las Vegas sometime in 1977. ( 8/23/77 at the Aladdin in Las Vegas). The liquor tray was a standard part of Frank and Dean's act at the time.
The reunion everyone thought happened for the first time in 20 years was actually the fifth!
If you are interested I do a page DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS: The Fun And The Fury on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DeanMartinAndJerryLewis/
https://youtu.be/Ztc_dN7L1UY
I have a Facebook page DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS: The Fun And The Fury
https://www.facebook.com/DeanMartinAndJerryLewis/