Obit: Jerry Lewis 1926-2017

While Mr. Lewis was not a favourite of mine by any measure, his contribution to comedy and film are not to be ignored. I did like him in the film "King of Comedy" and some of his physical comedy was quite brilliant. So here is a little summary directly from Wikipedia to make up for my lack of knowledge about him. 

Jerry Lewis (born either Jerome Levitch or Joseph Levitch, depending on the source;[1] March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, singer, producer, director, screenwriter, and humanitarian. He was known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He and Dean Martin were partners as the hit popular comedy duo of Martin and Lewis. Following that success, he was a solo star in motion pictures, nightclubs, television shows, concerts, album recordings, and musicals.
Lewis served as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and hosted the live Labor Day weekend broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for 44 years. He received several awards for lifetime achievement from the American Comedy Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Venice Film Festival and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

RE: The Header This Month

Halfway through this:

When Jerry Lewis Met Al Goldstein

Josh Friedman, where are you?

"I Tell a Clown What Round He's Goin' Down"

Cassius meets Jerry. Yes.

Sam Cooke's on - if you see the first Clay-Liston fight, he steps into the ring at the end, and Clay calls him "the greatest singer in the world." I like the shout out to Dee Dee "Mashed Potatoes" Sharp.

The rest here.

Essential Slammer Reading

This arrived in my mailbox today - as a gift!
PS. It gets weirder. I know the author's daughter.

God Has Spoken To Me

Thanks, James Neibaur, for making this happen.

Jerry Lewis and the Humbugs

I love Jerry and I swear, I will watch him do anything.

Drew on the 'thon!

The mind boggles! Drew Friedman will be ON the Telethon this year - which I can't even imagine without Ed. No, he won't be co-hosting with Jerry (we wish) but still. Read the rest here.


Image courtesy Fantagraphics/Drew Friedman.

RIP, Sammy Petrillo

Damn.

Bad Karma, Nice Lady Style

All enlarge upon viewer clickulation.....using actual working links, yay.

Am I Dreaming?

No! Go to Classic Television Showbiz and watch all of the Jerry Lewis Show Premiere from 1963.

"The Bellboy" - seriously, folks

If you love Jerry as much as we do, head over to Senses of Cinema, and read James L. Neibaur's latest piece on "The Bellboy." James has written the Jerry BIBLE - "The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography of the Innovative Comic" (with Ted Okuda, 1994) and even has the benediction of the King himself!

Happy Father's Day, Jer

Why couldn't it have been me?!

Help Me

Dollhouse

Mise en scène heaven from The Ladies Man.

Open the Goddamn Door

The DVD featurette has Marty Scorsese saying that the butler's door sticking blooper was left in final cut because Jerry entered with a great ad-lib "(Will ya) open the god damn door!?! I'm standing out there 8 minutes..."

Oh !! this movie is better than ever. Delusional Rupert and his lady friend taking train to Jerry's house in The Hamptons without an invitation? Genius!



Kim Chan (Jonno the Butler) died 5 months ago, October 2008. He was in his nineties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/arts/television/10chan.html

From a 2007 NY Times profile:

Mr. Chan’s career path was an unlikely one. His father, Lem Chan, a philosopher, fled China in 1928, bringing young Kim and his two older sisters first to Rhode Island, then to New York, where the family got into the restaurant and laundry businesses.

One day, the father caught the son lying to cover up an afternoon whiled away at the movies. Presented with an ultimatum, Kim Chan chose to leave his family, only to end up homeless in Central Park before moving on to other laundries. He never fully reconciled with his father, who died in 1952. Both his sisters have also died.

It took nearly four decades in inconsequential television, film and stage productions for Mr. Chan to shake free of the day labor grind.

He spent those years adrift, working at restaurants and laundries. He made movie contacts by day, and hustled cards and slept at night on ironing boards crawling with bedbugs.

His big break came in 1983 in “The King of Comedy.”

Jerry Lewis- filmation style

The opening and closing to Filmation's "Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down", which aired from September 12, 1970 through September 2, 1972 on ABC-TV. The series, which featured David L. Landers (later Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley") as the voice of Jerry Lewis, was based on various characters that were originally created by Jerry Lewis for his films.

Black Friday Madness?

I'm eagerly awaiting Mavis' tales of hearing the Great One speak last weekend!

Say it isn't so!

A recent headline: McCain calls Lewis remarks 'outrageous'

Jerry Double Whammy

Classic Television Showbiz - a must-bookmark site, if you haven't already - has been servin' up the Jerry lately, with this latest gem.

Be sure to check out the cringe-inducing clips from The Jerry Lewis Show, 1958.


Jerry as Charly Chin.