The Dean Scene

Most dads [usually] make it look easy to be a father. But few have made anything look more effortless than Dean Martin, the crooner featured on this week's objet d'eBay, his 1958 Capitol Records release, "This is Dean Martin." It really wasn't.

As father to eight kids (three boys and five girls with three wives) Martin was apparently nothing like the lush roue he played on stage at home — at least according to the story of life with dad told by third son, Ricci, in his book of reminiscences, That's Amore. He was more a couch potato who made dumb jokes like buttering his hands when the family went out to eat. Still he did pass along some lessons (as well as money), including the one to go easy when performing. So, while his old partner, Jerry Lewis, is carting off whole troops of people to Perth, Ricci has gathered up some guys and is playing Vegas as a tribute to his pop. Apparently, that's a Martin amore.