Ken Dempsey

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made 16 films together. Then they went nearly 20 years without speaking privately, until Frank Sinatra brought Martin onto Lewis' live telethon without warning him. They debuted as a team in Atlantic City in 1946, and within a few years they were the biggest comedy act in America: radio, films, television. By 1956 it was over. During their last film, Lewis would only speak to Martin through the director. Martin told him he was "nothing but a dollar sign." They split in July 1956, exactly ten years after their first show. Lewis later wrote in his memoir: "I was losing my best friend and I didn't know why." On Labor Day 1976, Lewis was hosting his annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association when Sinatra walked out and said he had a friend who loved what Lewis did every year. Then Martin stepped onstage. In the video below, Martin tells him it seems like they haven't seen each other in 20 years. Martin died on Christmas Day 1995. Lewis later said he couldn't explain the stupidity of the silence. Did that reunion repair 20 years of silence, or was it just a moment for the cameras?