Over the years, we are always asked the same questions about our experiences as "The Golddiggers". Questions like: "What was it like to be on ‘The Dean Martin Show’? What was Dean like? Did he drink?"
During production of the show we would rehearse without Dean during the week, and our musical director, Lee Hale, would stand in for him. As a matter of fact, we didn’t see Dean until taping day and dress rehearsal. He would pull up in his car to the NBC stage door, already dressed in his tuxedo, have a music run-through with Les Brown and his band and us. The magic of the show was in keeping it looking fresh, spontaneous, fun and unrehearsed!!! Dean never knew what was going to happen next, which was just how it was planned. That was one of the secrets to the show’s success. Several of us were designated to push Dean around during our musical numbers. That was very easy, since he went anywhere you pushed him. That was the look of the show Greg Garrison and Dean wanted, and they got it.
Dean's drinking was highly exaggerated. Dean drank only socially and never while he worked. Dean once said, "I couldn't go out and sing and talk every night if I were soused. My vocal chords would be in ruin. The drinking is an image -- a gimmick -- but it works!"
For "The Golddiggers" it was thrilling to be on his show! We had the opportunity to meet and work with the greatest Hollywood stars, and the good fortune to be on a weekly national TV show that captured the highest ratings. Being on "The Dean Martin Show" made us celebrities, and "The Golddiggers" became a household name. "They were the envy of every young American girl, and the dream of every hot-blooded American male of any age."
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