R.I.P. Jerry Lewis

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Eenusch
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Re: R.I.P. Jerry Lewis

Post by Eenusch »

Jerry Lewis felt slighted by the Academy and bitterly blamed the fact that comedies did not have a separate category apart from dramas.

Yet, the Globes recognize comedy and Jerry got nothing from them for his own work, only a nomination for Boeing, Boeing (1965).

The Nutty Professor (1963) got nothing in a year when there were 6 nominees for Best Picture and 8 for Best Actor.
Big Magilla
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Re: R.I.P. Jerry Lewis

Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee wrote:I was a bit too young for Martin & Lewis, except in retrospect, but Jerry solo in his prime was my childhood, and every young kid loved the son of a bitch.
dws1982 wrote:If you look at something like The Ladies Man, it's pretty tough to deny that he had a strong command of filmmaking in general
I never saw a Martin & Lewis film, even n retrospect. The Ladies Man was the first, and possibly only, Lewis film I saw contemporaneously.

The film was not given a first-run engagement in New York. It opened at the top of a double-bill with Love in a Goldfish Bowl at the Brooklyn Paramount on June 28, 1961 and was not reviewed by the critics until the double-bill opened citywide at theatres on the RKO circuit two weeks later. At the time, all films ended up on either the RKO or Loew's circuit. The theatre I worked at was on the RKO circuit. It was unusual for a Paramount film to play RKO as Paramount films along with MGM, United Artists and Columbia played Loew's. RKO played Fox, Warner Bros., Universal and Disney.

It was also unusual for a film with a major star, as Lewis was at the time, to be dumped directly into neighborhood theatres. As part of the promotion, Lewis made personal appearances at RKO theatres showing the film, but not Brandt's, Century (which I worked for) or other theatres on the RKO circuit. As I recall, the two films did a healthy business in the early days of summer, but neither was especially well-received by the critics. Howard Thompson in the N.Y. Times began his review lamenting the missing apostrophe after ladies, but going on to say that wasn't all the film was missing. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that I found it silly and annoying.

I did, as I've mentioned here before, get to meet Lewis years later when he had an office in the building I worked at on 7th Avenue and 50th Street across from what was then the Americana Hotel on the site of the old Roxy Theatre. His presence must have had something to do with the Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day telethons, because it was at this time of year that he would be there. He was one of those show biz types, unlike many others I've met over the years, who was always "on". Riding the elevator with him was sheer torture to the point that if he was in one I simply didn't get on, but I just smiled wanly at his clowning if he got on after me and proceeded to put on one of his impromptu shows.

I have seen a few of his films over the years, but I actually found him better in dramatic roles than in the comedies in which I thought he tried too hard to be funny.
dws1982
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Re: R.I.P. Jerry Lewis

Post by dws1982 »

If you look at something like The Ladies Man, it's pretty tough to deny that he had a strong command of filmmaking in general. (That movie definitely deserved an Art Direction nomination too.) I tend to prefer his movies with Frank Tashlin, but at any rate he was definitely a unique comedic voice in 60's films. He was one of my dad's random favorites, although it could've just been that he grew up watching some of his movies.
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R.I.P. Jerry Lewis

Post by Mister Tee »

And, speaking of someone who used to be hugely famous.

I was a bit too young for Martin & Lewis, except in retrospect, but Jerry solo in his prime was my childhood, and every young kid loved the son of a bitch. "Son of a bitch" may be a bit too on the nose for him in his later years -- many thought the Mr. Hyde part of The Nutty Professor was an all-too-accurate reflection of his personality. But, though I never understood the whole French "He's a secret genius" argument, I have to acknowledge he made me laugh a lot when I was a kid.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/jerry ... 202533899/
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