Comments on: Jerry Lewis Takes Manhattan

By: Al Lowe

Al Lowe — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:38:17 +0000

You are getting old if you remember back when Jerry Lewis was enormously popular.
But boy was he popular! He was a sensation in the movies and on 50s television.
There are a few points I’d like to make.

1. In all fairness, you should at least mention the truly terrible movies he made, such as THREE ON A COUCH and THE BIG MOUTH. Lewis is amazing in that he alternates moments of brilliance with choices so awful that even small children ask, “Why in the world did he decide to do that?”

2. He reminds me of Marlon Brando in one respect. When he was at the zenith of his popularity he rejected efforts by incredibly talented people who wanted to write for him – namely Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett. Brando did the same thing; he fired Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah from ONE EYED JACKS.
By the way, Norman Lear of All in the Family fame was one of his writers for the Colgate Comedy Hour.

3. I may be alone in this but I liked him best in AT WAR WITH THE ARMY. There were a lot of people and subplots in that movie but you kept waiting for Lewis to come back on screen again. You had no such waiting period in some future Lewis epics where he would play six or seven parts – all badly.

4. I recall a routine I first saw Lewis do when he was hosting the Tonight Show nearly five decades ago. It is a tongue twisting memory trick, first used to test announcers on their memories and pronunciation skills.
This is it. See how much you can remember and how well you can say it:

One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alverso’s tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who hall stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery all at the same time.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:08:09 +0000

I’m a tried-and-true Lewis fan, probably more fascinated than strictly amused by his movies, but always loving him.

It’s always a good time to celebrate Jerry Lewis! If memory serves me correctly, fellow Morlock Jeff and I attended a live performance of Mr. Lewis in Atlanta once upon a time. Faced with an auditorium that was not close to filled to capacity, he came out an announced that he was going to give an amazing show, no matter how many of us were in the audience. And boy, did he!

He’s a trouper!

By: suzidoll

suzidoll — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:31:02 +0000

The first blog I wrote for the Morlocks included several paragraphs on THE BELLBOY, specifically his use of an entire hotel as a prop (The Fontainebleu in Miami). You can better understand Lewis if you see him in context with the history of American physical comedy — from Keystone shorts to Stan Laurel to the Three Stooges to the Ritz Brothers to Lewis. But, to only talk of his comic persona is to miss half his talent. For ex., his breaking of the 4th wall, or his self-reflexive gags, adds another layer to his film comedy. The first movie I ever saw in a theater was a Jerry Lewis film, VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET, and I have been a movie lover ever since. I figure I owe him.

By: saraeg

saraeg — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:14:12 +0000

When i was young, my uncle took me to the movies and because we lived in New York City, i saw alot of movies in Times Square in the old movie palaces, Radio City Music Hall, and the RKO Coliseum on 181st Street. He enjoyed taking me and I saw him laugh out loud whenever the movie was a Jerry Lewis movie. There wasn’t a lot to be happy about when I was growing up, being that my parents and their families escaped from Nazi Germany and it was hard for them to assimilate into American culture besides being poor. I think my uncle even looked a little like Jerry Lewis. So whenever there is a chance to see Jerry on TV in one of his old movies or the Labor Day Telethon, it reminds me of those days. I also got to see Jerry on Broadway when he starred in ‘Damn Yankees’ That was a special night and I will never forget it. God Bless Jerry Lewis!

By: Jerry Kovar

Jerry Kovar — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:48:47 +0000

Over the years we seem to grow less and less appreciative of Jerry Lewis. As his audience has grown older, there appears to be a stigma that his humor is now beneath us. How could those wacky French pay homage to this man.

However, his annual Christmas and summer releases were major Box Office, not to mention the numerous re-released double bills – of his Martin-Lewis films as well as his solo work – to satisfy our Jerry craving.

The man was funny. Poor and (definitely) simple. “The Bellboy” is classic comedy but it seems that “The Nutty Professor” is the only Lewis film worthy of retrospective.

Like many full length comedies, it is very difficult to sustain 90 minutes of laughs. His bits were hit and miss but the hits were huge and the misses tolerable. (Watch “The Bellboy” again if you haven’t in a while.)

Kudos to the Anthology Film Archives, Chris Fujiwara, AMPAS and R. Emmet for giving the Clown a little more spotlight.

Jerry Kovar