On Dino’s 107th birthday, BERNARD H THORPE in this article* from our latest edition of Just Dino (#424, 7 June 2024) considers the impact Dean has on all of us.

Where to begin?

Sometimes when I sit amid the hundreds and hundreds of letters that come in to the London DMA office addressed to Dino, I recall in 1960 that I had no idea to the extent of how far reaching his admirers were around the world. The majority of course are in the US, and that makes perfect sense, but we have a huge percentage in the UK and across Europe. Australia features large, as does South Africa, and so many from Asia.

I occasionally wonder too how Dean’s voice ‘translates’, for our members for whom English isn’t their first language. We know how he works a lyric, how he phrases a word and holds a note. But at the end of the day, I know he transcends such silly barriers as language and culture! Dean truly is an international superstar, and appeals to all corners of our fragile planet. He brings everyone together, and those who are brought together indeed find a common ground.

When we started out, we were Dino’s Fan Club, then The International Dean Martin Club. But Dean told us he wanted us to be called The Dean Martin Association; so what our Chairman proposed, we gladly and without hesitation complied.

You see, Dean knew what he was doing. He always knew what he was doing. He just liked to make us think he didn’t. That was his stage act.

We were an association of Dean Martin admirers – that’s how I saw us and that’s what Dean was happy to see in us, too. So we literally became an association, in name and in actuality. We became Dean’s association.

All of what we do at the DMA is for our wonderful Dino and for our wonderful members. We have built working relationships and made friendships all over the world because of this one man.
He smiles and nods when I tell him whenever our membership numbers increase (which at the time of writing, following his London concerts, is quite often and by quite a lot!). ‘Is that so?’ he gently says, as if he is diplomatically incredulous that anyone would be interested in anything he does!

But interested we are, and interested his admirers are (I don’t like to use the word fan because Dean isn’t fond of the label, another reason why he changed our name). We would like to play his records twenty-four seven; we’d watch his TV show back to back if we could; his movies would be on endless repeat…

So what does he mean to me, this enigmatic, hugely talented American entertainer? What does he mean to all of us? Perhaps that’s assumptive of me to know what he means to others, but by all the mountains of correspondence we get, let alone what Dean gets himself directly, I can be certain that he means very much the same thing to all of us: we admire his effortless charm, his suavity, his ability to make everyone feel welcome and wanted. We enjoy his outlook, the manner in which he sings a song, how he walks across a cabaret stage in Las Vegas or a soundstage in Hollywood. We appreciate his elegance in dress, his way that he can spin a gag and make us laugh. He makes us feel like he’s there for us, and only us.

He looks like a million dollars, and we feel like a million dollars when we watch him.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet him, to spend time alone with him talking about business and pleasure. I feel privileged to be in his company, but that doesn’t mean I am ever a sycophant to him: I respect him greatly and very deeply, and I offer my opinions to him. He likewise understands I’m not here to bask in his glory, to pass it off as my own. No. And I would never ever misuse my position as the president of his association. I do a job for him. But what a job! To have to listen to his latest LP or his newest single, to have to attend premiers to his films, to go around the world talking about him and his career! Oh boy! Some jobs are a bind. But this one? I wouldn’t change it for the world!

How much longer can the DMA go on for? That’s not up to me, that’s not even up to Dino.

That’s up to you. And I hope it will go on forever.

_{^{*originally written in 1983}}