Dean and Me: A Love Story
Written by Jerry Lewis
Narrated by Stephen Hoye
4/5
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About this audiobook
Before long, they were as big as Elvis or the Beatles would be after them, creating hysteria wherever they went and grabbing an unprecedented hold over every entertainment outlet of the era: radio, television, movies, stage shows, and nightclubs. Martin and Lewis were a national craze, an American institution. The millions (and the women) flowed in, seemingly without end-and then, on July 24, 1956, ten years from the day when the two men joined forces, it all ended.
After that traumatic day, the two wouldn't speak again for twenty years. And while both went on to forge triumphant individual careers-Martin as a movie and television star, recording artist, and nightclub luminary (and charter member of the Rat Pack); Lewis as the groundbreaking writer, producer, director, and star of a series of hugely successful movie comedies-their parting left a hole in the national psyche, as well as in each man's heart.
In a memoir by turns moving, tragic, and hilarious, Jerry Lewis recounts with crystal clarity every step of a fifty-year friendship, from the springtime, 1945 afternoon when the two vibrant young performers destined to conquer the world together met on Broadway and Fifty-fourth Street, to their tragic final encounter in the 1990s, when Lewis and his wife ran into Dean Martin, a broken and haunted old man.
In Dean & Me, Jerry Lewis makes a convincing case for Dean Martin as one of the great-and most underrated-comic talents of our era. But what comes across most powerfully in this definitive memoir is the depth of love Lewis felt, and still feels, for his partner, and which his partner felt for him: truly a love to last for all time.
From the Hardcover edition.
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is one of the greatest living American comedians, revered in the States and Europe as a comic auteur in the tradition of Chaplin and Keaton. Born in 1926 in Newark New Jeresey, from the age of five he performed on stage alongside his parents, also comics. After splitting with Dean Martin he went on to produce, direct and star in a series of highly successful films throughout the fifties and sixties. In 1982 he was declared clinically dead after a massive heart-attack resulting from his excessive life style. He was miraculously revived and went on to continue to play important roles in modern classic films, such as Martin Scorcese's The King Of Comedy (1983) and Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night (1992). He chronicles his partnership with Dean Martin in Dean and Me: A Love Story.
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Reviews for Dean and Me
102 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had heard the rumors but glad I know straight from the horse's mouth the truth. Highly recommended for anyone interested in biographies and old Hollywood.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and respect between partners and friends
This book is a very detailed description of how one of comedy's greatest duos came to be - and subsequently parted ways.
Jerry Lewis writes from the heart about his love and respect for Dean Martin, personally and professionally. He elaborates with love how they met, the development of their act, and how they met their disappointing end of the partnership. Lewis is consistently in awe of Martin and how Dean's talent is underestimated in the early part of his career.
Although some of the writing is disjointed and a bit challenging to follow from time to time, the book is quite enjoyable and enlightening. Definitely recommended reading for anyone interested in Hollywood history. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Detailed, humorous tell-all from Jerry Lewis about Lewis and Martin. xoxoxo
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Having been a longtime fan of Martin and Lewis - with Dean Martin being more my favourite as I grew up on his tv shows and music - it was really great to get this point of view on their relationship. Basically, reading about it from Jerry's side added a new perspective to what I already knew from Dean's autobiography.
Lots of memories, lots of laughs, and lots of nostalgia for me. A great, if poignant, book. Or as Jerry would say, Pathos. :) - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's subtitled: "A love story" and that it definitely is. But Lewis's ego gets in the way about 2/3 of the way through ... as the strain in their original partnership has to be explained. Still it's a very good book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book was fun to read. It was a paean of praise of Dean Martin and what his relationship meant to Jerry. (I played Dean Martin singing in the background while reading this :)
Reading about their breakup was very sad. Lewis described going into their last performance as feeling so choked up it was like he was being chocked without hands. Horrid feeling. Fortunately there was plenty talking about their good times together too.
This book felt like it was coming straight from the lips of Jerry Lewis. So well done to the chap that helped put this together. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a memoir about two people (Martin and Lewis) that find success as a comedy team and break up at the peak of their popularity. The story is told by Jerry Lewis and all the events are retold from his view point.In the last chapter I could feel the love Lewis held for Martin. Two people can’t work together without some connection, no matter how different they are. Not a bad read and I didn't feel I wasted my time learning their story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I could have done without Lewis' constant "Christ!" outbursts and his Holocaust joke ("Pastrami killed more of my people than Hitler"), but for the most part I really enjoyed this book. It does give great insight into the relationship between the two men and makes readers feel as though they're right there, back in the old days when Martin & Lewis ruled the world.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A very entertaining book on the relationship between Martin and Lewis. A real page-turner that reveals so much about their relationship.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My reading of this book has been long overdue and I don't now what took me so long. I can't express just how surprised I was by this book; I expected a lot of bullshit, but I was wrong. The honesty in this book was almost shocking; Jerry didn't hold back. I love the funny stories of him and Dean in the early part of their partnership and marked a few of them to go back and read when I need a laugh. Jerry Lewis has always made me laugh with his Idiot shtick and he made me laugh with the written word.The admiration and love he had for Dean is unmistakable. He was just as mad as anyone that Dean wasn't getting the respect he deserved. Dean was always a clever and masterful comedian, but in a way that was subtle. He could spew off one-liners without even thinking about it.The honesty and the love that went into this book is well worth five-stars. The last chapter and afterword had me in tears.Bravo, Jerry.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written and surprisingly subtle autobiography of Jerry Lewis's days with Dean Martin. It's the kind of book that takes you back through time. You feel as though you are Jerry, just getting started in the unique New York show business world of the 1940s, desperately trying to get a foothold. Then you suddenly discover magical on-stage chemistry with an older, equally ambitious singer. Both of your lives change overnight from hungry wannabe to wealthy superstar. More than just an autobiography, it's a slice of show business history and an insight into the personality and life story of Dean Martin by his closest friend. Jerry was an only child whose Vaudevillian parents were often absent, and he found the older brother he unknowingly craved, in Dean. It is an emotional, funny and dramatic story, unforgettable. Especially vivid is the one time Dean openly revealed his ambitiousness and drive to succeed, after seeing Frank Sinatra brilliantly perform at the Paramount, to the adulation of his fans. He and Jerry sit at a deli after the show , and the not-so-young, struggling singer Dean bangs on the table, saying "That should be me!"