TO BE RELEASED BY TIME LIFE DECEMBER 6, 2011
NEW 6-DVD SET A FOLLOW-UP TO THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED AND BEST-SELLING
“BEST OF DEAN MARTIN” DVD SET
OVER FOURTEEN HOURS OF DEAN & GUESTS, INCLUDING CLASSIC COMEDY FROM RED BUTTONS, MICKEY ROONEY, LUCILE BALL, SID CAESAR, ROWAN & MARTIN, JACKIE MASON, BILL COSBY, BOB NEWHART, AND MANY OTHERS
COLLECTION ALSO FEATURES 128 MUSICAL PERFORMANCES BY ELLA FITZGERALD, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, JOHNNY MATHIS, LIBERACE, HERB ALBERT AND MANY OTHERS
Los Angeles, CA (November 14, 2011) – NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products and TIME-LIFE has announced the release of a new 6-DVD collection featuring The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show to be released December 6th. THE KING OF COOL: The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show sets capture material never before released from some of the shows greatest episodes during its nine-year run on television from 1965 to 1974. Hosted by Dean Martin, the acclaimed variety and comedy show was one of the highest-rated in television history, garnering 12 Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe award (Dean Martin “Best Actor in a Comedy Television Series” 1967), frequented by hundreds of guests from across the world of entertainment including legendary actors and actresses from the stage and screen, pop and jazz singers, dancers and comedians.
KING OF COOL boasts 18 classic episodes of The Dean Martin Variety Show, featuring Dean and an impressive array of guests. Among the mean comedians and actors featured are: a young Bill Cosby in a 1966 episode, fresh off the success of I Spy; Art Carney, who said of Dean, “he’s a lot like Jackie Gleason—bright and boozy;” veterans Red Buttons, Sid Caesar and Art Carney, who each appear in several classic sketches with Dean; Ruth Buzzi, who at the time was a star on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In; plus Mickey Rooney, George Kirby, Flip Wilson, Jonathan Winters, Dom DeLuise, Jackie Mason, plus many others.
Included among the 128 musical performances on KING OF COOL are many all-time classics, including: Ella Fitzgerald, singing “Hallelujah, I Love Him So;” Louis Armstrong performing a “Dixie” medley with Dean; Johnny Mathis singing a beautiful “In Love for the Very First Time;” plus additional performances from Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, the Supremes, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Engelbert Humperdinck and many others.
Also featured on KING OF COOL is Dean’s daughter Deana Martin, who was a regular performer on her dad’s show. Deana is featured in two episodes on KING OF COOL: On a December, 1966 episode, she sings a duet of “Side by Side” with her dad; and Deana also appears in a memorable episode from 1971 featuring the offspring of Dean, Frank Sinatra, Lucile Ball and Ronald Reagan. Remembering her appearances on The Variety Show, Deana said, “Those are some of the warmest memories for me—appearing on a TV show with my dad! It’s great that these episodes are finally available on DVD.”
The Dean Martin Show ran for nine seasons, airing on NBC from 1965 to 1974. Hosted by legendary entertainer Dean Martin, the unique variety and comedy show was a television pioneer. There were no rehearsals, no re-takes, and Martin simply just wasn’t a host behind a desk and a microphone – he took part in virtually all the segments. Whether talking and singing with guests or performing a comedy sketch, Martin put every guest at ease and was able to coax even the most serious actors (such as Orson Welles and Jimmy Stewart) to indulge in their comedic and musical sides. Guests had a great time, word got out, and after the initial success of the show EVERYONE wanted in on the act. A 6 DVD collection was released earlier this year, featuring 20 episodes of the iconic show. The new set boasts 18 different episodes, including those which Deana Martin appears in.
A famed star of the silver screen, television icon, Grammy® Award-winning singing sensation and member of the renowned “Rat Pack,” Dean Martin’s show business legacy is legendary. His musical career features such classics as “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head,” “That’s Amore,” “Mambo Italiano,” “Everybody Loves Somebody,” “Sway,” “Volare,” and more, releasing dozens of album recordings over his lifetime. Starring in dozens of well-known movies including Ocean’s Eleven, Rio Bravo, The Caddy, and Who Was That Lady?, for which Martin received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, coupled with a highly popular television career, Dean Martin certainly earned his nickname as the “King of Cool.”
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