Jerry Lewis: The Total Film-Maker

well yeah, esp when he went offscript or did 10 minutes of his Vegas act in the middle of his big song.

moderator: Richard Belzer

so, here's what happened. Coulda called it The Old Man and the Shpritz.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/03/the-indelicate-delinquent-in-manic-winter-an-evening-with-jerry-lewis/

Little wonder that, in a star-studded video of birthday wishes played near the tribute's end, '50s kids Werner Herzog (wishing Lewis a future "saturated with life") and Lou Reed materialized.

!!!

Thanks for posting, Morbs. What a wonderful tribute. Wish I could've been there.

some folx showed up on videotape AND in person, ie Jerry Stiller and Joe Piscopo.

De Niro, Bogdanovich, Letterman and the comedy team of Tom Hanks & Jonah Hill also sent regards.

It's always great to see Jer getting the respect he deserves.

Also,
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8k7m4e2TYeU/ScMKqlC1SCI/AAAAAAAACmY/ETY0vSaTqwg/s400/glass.bmp

I'm really sorry we couldn't run a photo of him doing that from this event

lou reed's last record w/ Metallica is (unintentionally) funnier than anything jerry lewis has ever (intentionally) done for a laugh.

it was nice to hear the Ladies Man butterfly gag get a big laugh

"Thanks for the mail now baby let's wail."

nice piece Morbz, sounds like a fun night

I didn't include Jerry's claim that he was the first to use arclights on a Hollywood set. "I saw them at UFA!"

Hoberman catalogs some of the evening's weirder moments (so right about the tanned wiseguys), and btw calls JL "Hollywood's most cerebral funny man since Buster Keaton":

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/94492/hey-jer-ree/

After calling Jerry’s trademark “Hey lay-DEE!” the Beethoven’s Fifth of Comedy, Belzer...

Belzer OTM.

can't believe I never made the connection between that and Beasties "Hey Ladies" before

I can believe it.

Also, Richard Brody:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/03/jerry-lewis-and-love.html

amazing story morbius

I do have a question though -- in that 'hardly working' clip upthread, why is the music a faux-oriental koto cover version of 'memories' from cats

why

via Mubi: a smorgasbord!

The centerpiece of the new issue of the multi-lingual film journal La Furia Umana is a walloping dossier on Jerry Lewis. Of the 24 pieces on Lewis, ten are in English: B Kite on the Little Clown in The Errand Boy (1961), Zach Campbell on Lewis's relation to his own image on screen, Murray Pomerance on that face, Peter Nellhaus on the extension of Lewis's auteurship into the films he didn't direct, David Phelps on Lewis's "Janus-faced comedy," R Emmet Sweeney on the September 18, 1955 broadcast of the Colgate Comedy Hour, Sudarshan Ramani on Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1982), John J Kern on The Day the Clown Cried (1972), Steven Shaviro on Smorgasbord (aka Cracking Up, 1983) — and Gina Telaroli's remarkable, extra-textual piece on Hardly Working (1979).

http://www.lafuriaumana.it/

B. Kite's is one of the great essays I've read on Lewis.

Smorgasbord/Cracking Up was brilliant. If it was his last film as a directory (as seems insanely likely), what a film to go out on.

Must read this.

I've always been intrigued with the idea of transcribing the wandering, rococo verbalizations of Jerry the Kid in the films, so here's a partial, inadequate start:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/its-only-money/2269

Nice!

I'd never seen It's Only Money before and was kind of shocked to hear him aaaaalmost doing the Kelp voice.

Dave Itzkoff, NYT:

Can you make an Alaskan Polar Bear Heater in Tennessee? A musical version of “The Nutty Professor,” the Jerry Lewis comedy that introduced that stiff alcoholic concoction – along with the Jekyll-and-Hyde-like characters of Julius Kelp and Buddy Love – will have its world premiere in Nashville before a planned Broadway run later this year, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center said on Wednesday.

The “Nutty Professor” musical will be performed at the center’s James K. Polk Theater from July 24 through August 19, the organization said. The production, which is adapted from Mr. Lewis’s hit 1963 film of the same title, is to star Michael Andrew as Kelp, and will feature music by Marvin Hamlisch (“A Chorus Line”) and a book and lyrics by Rupert Holmes (“Curtains,” “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”). Mr. Lewis – who didn’t need a fat suit to play his “Nutty Professor,” thank you very much – is directing.

With his trademark humility, Mr. Lewis said in a statement: “This musical will be spectacular for a couple of reasons. One, I’m directing it. Two, I have Michael Andrew, who is one of the best talents to come down the pike in 50 years. And I’m surrounding him with one-of-a-kind creative people, like Marvin Hamlisch, Rupert Holmes and me.” He added: “After it’s over, give me a call and let me know if everything I said was spot on.”

I'll definitely see this when it's within driving range, but ffs, Marvin Hamlisch? Lewis had Count fucking Basie in his films, and the best he can come up with for this is Hamlisch?

Everybody else he'd approve of is dead.

At the NYC birthday gala, the crowd went 'ooooh' at Hamlisch's name, to give you an idea of his most loyal demo.

this was on cable last night for some reason and just... wtf this film is so lol 90s in every way

Was it it the uncut 140-minute-something version? Pretty good, and maybe Vincent Gallo's best performance before Essential Killing.

I only caught the last half and admittedly was fascinated by the nutso casting. Gallo is pretty funny. The final scene with Depp and Lewis as icefishing eskimos (speaking Inuit?) and then the fish up and flies away.... o_0

my Friars Club friend ran into Jerry last week and told him that he smelled great. Jerry laughed.

Jerry and Me... Been looking forward to this since donna rouge's curator pal told me about it:

http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=4395

So, unless it's a very elaborate ruse, Jerry appears to be directing the Nutty musical.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/theater/jerry-lewis-directing-a-musical-nutty-professor.html?pagewanted=all

I'm guessing no one here will be filing a report from Nashville.

up and running (RIP Marvin Hamlisch)

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120806/ENTERTAINMENT03/308060072/Jerry-Lewis-thanks-Nutty-patrons

Jerry-directed episode of "Super Force"

http://thefilmsaurus.com/2012/10/31/jerry-lewis-directs/

Wow, never knew he'd done any tv work post-Cracking Up.

next, his episode of Showtime's "Brothers":

http://thefilmsaurus.com/2012/11/05/the-return-of-jerry-lewis-directs/

a recent AV Club primer.... I don't think Artists and Models is quite so great but it's a decent place to start w/ the Dean years.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/where-to-start-with-jerry-lewis-filmography,88748/

The Total Film-Maker

it is his book.

is it good

I have only seen a copy once. Scorsese swears by it apparently.

It's a how-to.

Shooting starts tomorrow on new Jerry movie.

(with Mort Sahl in the cast!)

that's a lotta chopped liver

p amazing tales of initial teaming w/ dean martin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iKNCm7hSgHo#!

Wow, that's great.

My dad saw them live at the Paramount in the early 50s, says he never laughed so hard before or since. After that, all other comedy fell just a little short.