Lee Hale and the Dean Martin Show

“I wasn’t born in a trunk. I never heard of ‘greasepaint’ or a ‘follow spot.’ But I think I knew from the beginning that I was going to be in show business.” So reads the opening paragraph of The LEE HALE Story, the autobiography of The Dean Martin Show’s longtime Music Director who, we are profoundly saddened to report, passed away last Friday at the age of 96.

One-third of the triumvirate largely responsible for molding Dean’s weekly television program into what many consider to have been the best variety series ever made (the other two being Producer-Director Greg Garrison and of course, above all, Dean himself), Lee Hale, during his long and storied career, amassed a slew of credits and a pile of awards, and gained the respect and admiration of legions of prominent figures in Hollywood. After a triumphant debut in September 1965, Dean’s weekly variety series had in subsequent outings started to sputter in the ratings, and unhappy with the results, NBC brass fired the program’s original producer, Bob Collier, replacing him with the show’s Director, Greg Garrison, who in turn recruited Lee Hale — the latter having already chalked up a considerable number of professional accomplishments — to bring some fresh musical ideas to the proceedings.