Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926), is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer and film director known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Career

Lewis was born in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish American family. His father was a vaudeville performer. He began in burlesque in 1942 at age 16 (if the birth year of 1926 is correct) and married two years later in 1944 at age 18. He gained initial fame with singer Dean Martin, who served as a straight man to Lewis's manic, zany antics as the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They distinguished themselves from the majority of comedy acts of the 1940s by relying on the interaction of the two comics instead of pre-planned skits. In the late 1940s, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act and then as film stars. Critics often found it difficult to describe their chaotic act beyond the laconic "Martin sings and Lewis clowns". They continued to perform in film and on television until their partnership ended in 1956. Following their split, the two became involved in a well-publicized and long-running feud that never truly ended; the next time they were seen together in public would be a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis's telethon in 1976, arranged by Frank Sinatra. Lewis wrote of his kinship with Martin in the 2005 book Dean and Me (A Love Story). When Sinatra tried to bring Lewis back to Martin, Lewis was quoted as saying, "I'll never work with that drunk ever again". Although the pair eventually reconciled in the late-1980s after Martin's son died, there was never any reunion.

Lewis returned as a solo act with his debut film The Delicate Delinquent in 1957. Teaming with director Frank Tashlin, whose background as a cartoonist suited Lewis's brand of humor, he starred in five more films, and even appeared uncredited as Itchy McRabbitt in Li'l Abner (1959) before he produced, directed, co-wrote with Bill Richmond, and starred in his own movie entitled The Bellboy in 1960. Using the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami as his setting, on a small budget, a very tight shooting schedule and no script, Lewis shot the film by day and performed at the hotel in the evenings. During production, Lewis developed the technique of using video cameras and multiple closed circuit monitors to allow him to view scenes at the same time as he was filming them. This allowed him to review his performance instantly. Later, he incorporated video tape, and as more portable and affordable equipment became available, this technique would become an industry standard known as video assist.

Lewis directed several more films which he co-wrote with Richmond including The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and the iconic film, The Nutty Professor. During this period he was consistently praised by some highbrow French critics in the influential Cahiers du Cinéma for his absurd comedy, in part because he had gained respect as an auteur who had total control over all aspects of his films, comparable to Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock. In March 2006 the French Minister of Culture awarded Lewis the 'Legion of Honor' calling him the 'French people's favorite clown.' ^*

Lewis's box office appeal waned by the mid-1960s. In 1966, he began hosting an annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a charity with which he had been publicly associated since 1950. He remained popular in Europe until the 1980s.

Later, Lewis starred in and directed the unreleased The Day The Clown Cried in 1972. The film was a drama set in a Nazi concentration camp. Lewis has explained why the film hasn't been released by suggesting litigation over post-production financial difficulties. It has been seen by very few select individuals, but most who see it decry it as the utmost in bad taste (as Spy Magazine did in 1992).

After an eight-year absence from movies, Lewis returned in the early 1980s with Hardly Working, a film he both directed and starred in. He followed this up with a critically acclaimed performance in Martin Scorsese's 1983 film The King of Comedy in which Lewis plays a late night TV host plagued by obsessive fans (played by Robert de Niro and Sandra Bernhard). Ironically, the role had been offered to, and turned down by, Dean Martin. Lewis continued doing interesting work in small films in the 1990s, most notably his supporting role in the dark comedy Funny Bones (1995), and also in Arizona Dream (1992).

Jerry and his popular movie characters were animated in the cartoon series Will The Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down? which premiered on ABC and lasted two seasons from 1970 to 1972. The show was produced at Filmation Studios, and starred David Lander (later of Laverne and Shirley fame) as the voice of Jerry Lewis. 17 episodes were created. Lewis was the show's partner.

Lewis currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lewis suffered a minor heart attack on June 11, 2006 at the end of a cross-country commercial airline flight en route home from New York City. ^*

Charitable work

Lewis has organized a Labor Day telethon to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) since 1966. His efforts have helped raise approximately ^*]2" target="_blank" >billion. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/27/entertainment/main712316.shtml Lewis is one of few fund raisers who brings in more than is actually pledged. This is because many donors as they write a check add extra money to help "Jerry's Kids" given his generosity and no pressure appeal. In 1977, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and in 1985, he received a US Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. In September 2005 Lewis was slated to receive the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, honoring his long-running telethons.

The telethons are typically star-studded: among Lewis's co-hosts through the years were Ed McMahon and Casey Kasem. A frequent performer in the 1970s and 1980s was the late Frank Sinatra, who reunited Lewis with Dean Martin on the telethon in 1976.

On his 40th Labor Day telethon in 2005, Lewis added Salvation Army fundraising (for Hurricane Katrina) to his usual MDA fundraising, though he also encouraged viewers to give to the American Red Cross.

Criticisms

The MDA and Jerry Lewis have been criticized by some disability rights activists for their tendency to paint disabled people as "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."^* Critics argue that focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" disabled people fails to address issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, employment opportunities and other civil rights for the disabled.

Jerry Lewis has also made some remarks that have been regarded as insensitive towards the disabled:

In 1990, he wrote a first-person essay entitled "If I Had Muscular Dystrophy" for Parade magazine magazine, in which he characterized those with muscular dystrophy as "being half a person."Many in the disabled community viewed his remarks as prejudicial, contributing to the idea that disabled people are "childlike, helpless, hopeless, non-functioning and noncontributing members of society."[http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/archive/jerry92.htm
On May 20 2001, he responded to his critics in an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning: "If you don't want to be pitied for being a cripple in a wheelchair, don't come out of the house." Again, disability rights activists blasted him for characterizing disabled people as helpless and home-bound.

Trivia

Jerry Lewis has won many prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards from The American Comedy Awards, The Golden Camera, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The Venice Film Festival and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Lewis has battled prostate cancer, diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis. Medical treatment for the fibrosis in the early 2000s caused the comedian to experience weight gain and bloating that noticeably changed his appearance.
Lewis has suffered years of back pain due to a failed slapstick stunt that almost left him paralyzed. An electronic device developed by Medtronic recently implanted in his back has helped reduce the discomfort. He is now one of Medtronic's leading spokesmen.
Lewis tried his hand at singing in the 1950s, having a chart hit with the song "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" (a song originated by Al Jolson and popularized by Judy Garland) as well as the song, "It All Depends On You" in 1958.
The Simpsons' voice actor Hank Azaria based the voice of Professor Frink on Lewis' Nutty Professor character Julius Kelp. Lewis was eventually invited to guest as Frink's father.
The Animaniacs character of "Mr. Director" is inspired by Lewis
He is a supporter of the Brisbane Lions Football Club in the Australian Football League.
In 1984, he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor for his role in Slapstick of Another Kind.
Lewis changes white sweatsocks several times a day, always putting on a brand-new pair, and he gives the used ones to charity.
Lewis is the father of 1960s pop musician Gary Lewis, who had several hits during the mid-1960's with his group Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
He has been roasted by The Friars Club on three separate occasions, and now holds the position of abbot.
In a radio interview associated with his 2005 book, he said that his IQ has been measured at 169.

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role	With Dean Martin	Notes
1949	My Friend Irma	Seymour	Yes	Film Debut
1950	My Friend Irma Goes West	Seymour	Yes
1950	The Milkman	Unamed Milkman		Cameo (Unconfirmed)
1950	At War With The Army	PFC Alvin Korwin	Yes
1951	That's My Boy	'Junior' Jackson	Yes
1952	Sailor Beware	Melvin Jones	Yes
1952	Jumping Jacks	Hap Smith	Yes
1952	Road to Bali	'Woman' in Lala's Dream	Yes
1953	The Stooge	Theodore Rogers	Yes
1953	Scared Stiff	Myron Mertz	Yes
1953	The Caddy	Harvey Miller, Jr.	Yes
1953	Money From Home	Virgil Yokum	Yes	Filmed in 3-D
1954	Living It Up	Homer Flagg	Yes
1954	3 Ring Circus	Jerome F. Hotchkiss	Yes	aka 'Jerrico The Wonder Clown'
1955	You're Never Too Young	Wilbur Hoolick	Yes
1955	Artists and Models	Eugene Fullstack	Yes
1956	Pardners	Wade Kingsley Sr/Wade Kingsley Jr.	Yes
1956	Hollywood Or Bust	Malcolm Smith	Yes
1957	The Delicate Delinquent	Sidney L. Pythias
1957	The Sad Sack	Private Meredith Bixby
1958	Rock-A-Bye Baby	Clayton Poole
1958	The Geisha Boy	Gilbert Wooley
1959	Don't Give Up the Ship	John Paul Steckler I, IV, and VII
1959	Li'l Abner	Itchy McRabbit		Cameo
1960	Visit to a Small Planet	Kreton
1960	The Bellboy	Stanley/Himself
1960	Cinderfella	Cinderfella
1961	The Ladies Man	Herbert H. Heebert/Mama Heebert
1961	The Errand Boy	Morty S. Tashman
1962	Only Money" target="_blank" >^*	Lester Marsh
1963	The Nutty Professor	Professor Julius Kelp/Buddy Love/Baby Kelp
1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Man Who Runs Over Hat		Cameo
1963	Who's Minding the Store?	Norman Phiffier
1964	The Patsy	Stanley Belt/Singers of the Trio
1964	The Disorderely Orderly	Jerome Littlefield
1965	The Family Jewels	Willard Woodward/James Peyton/Everett Peyton/Julius Peyton/Capt. Eddie Peyton/Skylock Peyton/'Bugs' Peyton
1965	Boeing Boeing	Robert Reed
1966	Three On A Couch	Christopher Pride/Warren/Ringo/Rutherford/Heather
1966	Way...Way Out	Pete Mattermore
1967	The Big Mouth	Gerald Clamson/Syd Valentine
1968	Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River	George Lester
1969	Hook, Line & Sinker	Peter Ingersoll/Fred Dobbs
1970	Which Way to the Front?	Brendon Byers III
1981	Hardly Working	Bo Hooper		Released in Europe in 1980
1983	The King of Comedy	Jerry Langford		Filmed in 1981
1983	Cracking Up	Warren Nefron/Dr. Perks		aka 'Smorgasbord'
1984	Slapstick (Of Another Kind)	Wilbur Swain/Caleb Swain		Released in Europe in 1982
1984	Retenez Moi...Où Je Fais Un Malheur	Jerry Logan		French Release. Never Released in the US. Tentetive US Titles were To Catch a Cop and The Defective Detective
1984	Par Où Rentré? On T'a Pas Vue Sortir	Clovis Blaireau		French Release. Never Released in the US. Tentetive US Title was How Did You Get In? We Didn't See You Leave
1987	Fight For Life	Dr. Bernard Abrams		ABC Television Movie
1989	Cookie	Arnold Ross
1992	Mr. Saturday Night	Guest		Cameo
1993	Arizona Dream	Leo Sweetie
1995	Funny Bones	George Fawkes

Miscellaneous filmography

Thirtieth Anniversary Special (1950) (short subject)
The Jazz Singer (1958) TV Appearance
Raymine (1960) (Sings the Title Song Only)
Ben Casey (1964) (TV Episode)
Batman (1966) (TV episode)
Silent Treatment (1968) (unfinished)
One More Time (1970) (director only & voice of the bandleader)
The Day the Clown Cried (1972) (unfinished)
Rascal Dazzle (1980) (documentary on the Little Rascals; narrator only)
Wiseguy (1988) (TV series, four episodes 'Garment Trade Arc')
Mad About You (1993) (TV episode)

Books

The Total Film-Maker. New York: Random House, 1971, ISBN 0394467574
Jerry Lewis: In Person with Herb Gluck. New York: Atheneum, 1982, ISBN 0689112904
Dean & Me (A Love Story) with James Kaplan. New York: Doubleday, 2005, ISBN 0767920864

External links

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