Oh Deano!

4:00pm Wednesday 4th April 2007

Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were staying in a swanky hotel in Las Vegas.

Sinatra, surrounded by cronies and call-girls, was eager to party into the wee small hours. Martin, who was playing golf next morning, retired early to his room.

Sinatra gave a call girl $1,000 to go upstairs and give Deano a good time. The story goes that Martin gave her $2,000 to go downstairs and tell his old buddy how good he had been.

Dean Martin, whose crooner's swoony hooded eyes rivalled Robert Mitchum's, is best known in this country as one of Sinatra's Rat Pack (Lauren Bacall supplied the name). But in the United States he is remembered as a versatile all-round performer of stage, screen and television.

"People ask me if I would rather be Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. Women loved Frank. They swooned because they felt he sang just for them. The ladies also loved Dean, but so did men. He was so cool, self-assured and self-controlled. It was the days when men were men and just got on with it," Mark Adams said.

Born in Swindon in 1959, he graduated from sports and PE to drama class and amateur dramatics, playing Randall P McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

From there he went to the West End of London, appearing in Mutiny, starring David Essex and the great Frank Finlay. He has also starred in two series of The Manageress on Channel 4 and three series of Doctors.

A versatile performer himself, you can see why Dean Martin appeals to him (Mark played him for three years in The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas). The show he has helped devise for this year's 32-date UK tour is shaped by aspects of Dean Martin's laid-back talent as a variety performer.

"It's not just a pile of songs. There will be guest artists, a couple of sketches, some comedy. Hopefully it will be more a version of one of his TV shows. I want to make this show different to The Rat Pack," he added.

So, the backdrop won't be The Sands Hotel, The Flamingo or any of those Mafia-financed glittering desert palaces in Nevada, but more probably a TV studio.

In the 1960s Dean Martin's television show had a permanent parking space in NBC's top ten shows. But Martin declined to attend rehearsals. Mark, who has a collection of American DVDs of these shows, said: "He would just turn up on Sunday, the day when shooting was done and work off cue-cards all the way through. That was what made the show work. They kept in all the bloopers. He made mistakes and just carried on. It's just bloody hilarious, very different from his night club act."

Dean Martin acted the part of a drunk in the Western Rio Bravo. Some people believed that he actually was drunk during his act. "He liked to drink but he wouldn't go on bombed. Sinatra drank a bottle of Jack Daniels a day. Dean would have a Scotch and water at the end of a show but through it he would drink apple juice," Mark said.

The younger generation won't know but Dean Martin was a huge comedy star as part of a double act with Jerry Lewis. Lewis played a dottier American version of Norman Wisdom "Only he thought he was Charlie Chaplin, that was the problem," Mark added.

From 1946 to 1956 the two starred in a string of popular film comedies with Martin playing the dead-pan straight man. The screen act grew out of their more anarchic stage act.

"They cut men's ties off and poured pasta into people's laps and people loved it. Mitzi Gaynor was due to go on after them in one show but she couldn't follow them, they were so good. The partnership got acrimonious in the end.

"When they split up everyone thought Jerry was going to be the big star and Dean was going to struggle, but the opposite happened. He would say, I'm not a big star: I'm a personality.' He knew how to play Dean Martin, but he would never reveal himself emotionally as a person."

Dean Martin probably wouldn't bother with interviews in which a performer has to reveal a little of himself. Mark, married twice with two children from each relationship, doesn't have a problem talking about himself where pertinent. "I am shaping up like Dean," he said. His wife Claire Massie is also in showbusiness.

That's Amore: A Celebration of Dean Martin & Friends, is at St George's Hall on Friday, May 18, starting at 7.30pm. Call (01274) 432000.

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