For three years, The Golddiggers hosted Dean Martin's summer series and were the hottest thing on TV! In their final year, the show pulled in a 15.4 percent national rating and a 34 percent share, which were phenomenal numbers.
With such apparent public demand and the interest of many sponsors, The Golddiggers were offered their own variety show. Chevrolet grabbed the opportunity to underwrite the new variety series and syndicate "Chevrolet Presents The Golddiggers" all over the United States and in worldwide markets. Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars were eager to appear on The Golddiggers series, including Steve Allen, Vincent Price, Dom DeLuise, Dionne Warwick, Don Meredith, Buddy Hackett, Bob Crane, Fess Parker, Lou Rawls, Vikki Carr, Ernest Borgnine, John Forsythe, Bob Newhart, Roger Miller, Doug McClure, Ruth Buzzi, Martin Millner, Mike Connors, Eddie Albert, Glenn Ford... the list goes on and on!
"Chevrolet Presents The Golddiggers" was an instant hit and the show went into a second season in high gear. The volume of fan mail that poured in for the group set an all-time high, rivaling even the biggest stars of the time, and the fans knew each one by name.
Even though The Golddiggers, who continued to regularly appear on Dean's show, led the pack in viewership, decisions were made to dissolve the original group and discontinue the show. "Sometimes it’s best to go out on top," said the group's founder, Lee Hale. Many business-related factors contributed, including union strikes and changing corporate structures, but there was also the desire for a new direction for the person who's name was most closely associated with The Golddiggers: Dean Martin. Dean was now concluding his own weekly variety series to focus on a new history-making chapter of his own -- Las Vegas. Thus, The Golddiggers were restructured from the original group, leaving their highly rated TV series behind, to co-star with Dean in his Las Vegas act.
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