Say Goodnight, Dick!

Here's a link to the New York Times obit for Dick Martin.

Most of the pieces on Martin mention the 1969 Rowan and Martin movie, The Maltese Bippy…a really awful, hurriedly-made film. It was quite a flop that did not replicate, as was intended, the success of the Martin and Lewis movies. In fact, one of the first jokes I ever sold to television was a line that Dean Martin delivered when they roasted Rowan and Martin on his show. (I didn't write on that series but the head writer, Harry Crane, sometimes bought material like that.) The line went something like this: "Dan and Dick starred in The Maltese Bippy…the movie that put MGM where it is today. In the hotel business."

That was touted at the time as their motion picture debut…but they actually starred in a 1958 western comedy called Once Upon A Horse, written and directed by Hal Kanter. It wasn't a great movie but it was a lot better than The Maltese Bippy. Most things in life are.