Biography:

Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch;^[a] March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, who in 1946, teamed up with Dean Martin to form Martin and Lewis, before going as a “solo” stage act, movie star and singer in 1956. Lewis was an early and prominent user of video assist, which allows real-time review of how a scene looks on camera.^[3]

Lewis performed in concert stages, nightclubs, casinos, theaters, music recordings, radio and starred in 118 film and television productions throughout his career. While nicknamed as “The King of Comedy” in the U.S., Lewis was also known as “Le Roi du Crazy” in France.

Early life

Lewis was born on March 16, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey, to a Jewish family.^[4][5] His parents were Daniel “Danny” Levitch (1902–1980), a master of ceremonies and vaudevillian who performed under the stage name Danny Lewis, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire to New York, and Rachael “Rae” Levitch (née Brodsky; 1903–1983), a WOR radio pianist and Danny’s music director, from Warsaw.^[6][7][8][9] Reports about his birth name are conflicting; in Lewis’s 1982 autobiography, he claimed his birth name was Joseph, after his maternal grandfather, but his birth certificate,^[10][11] the 1930 U. S. Census, and the 1940 U. S. Census all named him as Jerome.^{[3][9][12][13]}

Reports about the hospital where he was born conflict as well; biographer Shawn Levy claims Lewis was born at Clinton Private Hospital and others report it as Newark Beth Israel Hospital.^{[14][15][16][17]} Other aspects of his early life conflict with accounts made by family members, burial records, and vital records.

In his teenage years, Lewis was known for pulling pranks in his neighborhood, including sneaking into kitchens to steal fried chicken and pies. He was expelled from Weequahic High School in the ninth grade and dropped out of Irvington High School in the tenth grade.^[18] Lewis said that he ceased using the names Joseph and Joey as an adult to avoid being confused with Joe E. Lewis and Joe Louis.^[6]

Early career

By age 15, Lewis had developed his “Record Act”, miming lyrics to songs while a phonograph played offstage.^[19] He landed a gig at a burlesque house in Buffalo, but his performance fell flat and he was unable to book any more shows. To make ends meet, Lewis worked as a soda jerk and a theater usher for Suzanne Pleshette‘s father Gene at the Paramount Theatre^[20] as well as at Loew’s Capitol Theatre, both in New York City.^[21]

A veteran burlesque comedian, Max Coleman, who had worked with Lewis’s father years before, persuaded him to try again. Irving Kaye,^[22] a Borscht Belt comedian, saw Lewis’s mime act at Brown’s Hotel in Loch Sheldrake, New York, the following summer, and the audience was so enthusiastic that Kaye became Lewis’s manager and guardian for Borscht Belt appearances.^[23]

During World War II, Lewis was rejected from military service because of a heart murmur.^[24]

Career

Teaming with Dean Martin

In 1945, Lewis was 19 when he met 27-year-old singer Dean Martin at the Glass Hat Club in New York City, where the two performed until they debuted at Atlantic City‘s 500 Club as Martin and Lewis on July 25, 1946. The duo gained attention as a double act with Martin serving as the straight man to Lewis’s zany antics. The inclusion of ad-libbed improvisational segments in their planned routines added a unique quality to their act and separated them from previous comedy duos.^[25]

Martin and Lewis quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act, then as stars of their radio program The Martin and Lewis Show.^[26] The two made their television debut on CBS’ Toast of the Town (later renamed as The Ed Sullivan Show) June 20, 1948.^[27] This was followed by an appearance on Welcome Aboard on October 3, 1948, and by a guest stint on Texaco Star Theater in 1949.

Comedy Hour to final act

In 1950, they signed with NBC to be one of a series of weekly rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour, a live Sunday evening broadcast. Lewis, writer for the team’s nightclub act, hired Norman Lear and Ed Simmons as regular writers for their Comedy Hour material.^[28][29] Their Comedy Hour shows consisted of stand-up dialogue, song and dance from their nightclub act and movies, backed by Dick Stabile‘s big band, slapstick and satirical sketch comedy, Martin’s solo songs, and Lewis’s solo pantomimes or physical numbers.

Martin and Lewis often broke character, ad-libbing and breaking the fourth wall. While not completely capturing the orchestrated mayhem of their nightclub act, the Comedy Hour displayed charismatic energy between the team and established their popularity nationwide. By 1951, with an appearance at the Paramount Theatre in New York, they were a hit. The duo began their film careers at Paramount Pictures as ensemble players, in My Friend Irma (1949) and its sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).

They then starred in their own series of 14 new films, At War with the Army (1950), That’s My Boy (1951), Sailor Beware (1952), Jumping Jacks (1952), The Stooge (1952), Scared Stiff (1953), The Caddy (1953), Money from Home (1953), Living It Up (1954), 3 Ring Circus (1954), You’re Never Too Young (1955), Artists and Models (1955), Pardners (1956) and Hollywood or Bust (1956) and on the Olympic Fund Telethon, hosted by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Martin and Lewis cameoed in Bing and Bob’s film Road to Bali (1952), then Crosby and Hope would do the same in Dean and Jerry’s Scared Stiff a year later. Attesting to the duo’s popularity, DC Comics published The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis from 1952 to 1957. The team appeared on What’s My Line? in 1954, the 27th annual Academy Awards in 1955, The Steve Allen Show and The Today Show in 1956.

Their films were popular with audiences and were financial successes for Paramount. In later years, both Lewis and Martin admitted frustration with Wallis for his formulaic and trite film choices, restricting them to narrow, repetitive roles. As Martin’s roles in their films became less important over time and Lewis received the majority of critical acclaim, the partnership came under strain.

Martin’s participation became an embarrassment in 1954 when Look magazine published a publicity photo of the team for the magazine cover but cropped Martin out.^[30] The boys did their final live nightclub act at the Copacabana on July 24, 1956.

After the split

Both Lewis and Martin went on to have successful solo careers, but neither would comment on the split nor consider a reunion. They were occasionally seen at the same public events and even reunited on stage for 15 minutes to do their old act together in 1960 at The Sands hotel. Dean surprised Jerry on his appearance on The Eddie Fisher Show on September 30, 1958.

They appeared on TV together at the 1959 Academy Awards closing, reunited several times publicly and sometimes privately according to interviews they gave to magazines. Twenty years after their breakup, Frank Sinatra surprised Lewis by bringing Martin onstage during The Jerry Lewis Telethon in September 1976.^[31]

Performing solo

After ending his partnership with Martin in 1956, Lewis and his wife Patty took a vacation in Las Vegas to consider the direction of his career. He felt his life was in a crisis state: “I was unable to put one foot in front of the other with any confidence. I was completely unnerved to be alone”.^[24] While there, he received an urgent request from his friend Sid Luft, who was Judy Garland‘s husband and manager, saying that she couldn’t perform that night in Las Vegas because of strep throat,^[24] and asking Lewis to fill in.

Lewis had not sung alone on stage since he was five years old, twenty-five years before. He delivered jokes and clowned with the audience while Garland sat off-stage, watching. He then sang a rendition of a song he’d learned as a child, “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” along with “Come Rain or Come Shine“. Lewis recalled, “When I was done, the place exploded. I walked off the stage knowing I could make it on my own”.^[24]

Album recordings, live shows and more

At his wife’s urging, Lewis used his own money to record the songs on a single.^[32] Decca Records heard it, liked it and insisted he record an album for them.^[33] The single of Rock-a-Bye Your Baby went to No. 10 and the album Jerry Lewis Just Sings went to No. 3 on the Billboard charts, staying near the top for four months and selling a million and a half copies.^[24][34]

With the success of that album, he recorded additional albums More Jerry Lewis (an EP of songs from this release was released as Somebody Loves Me), and Jerry Lewis Sings Big Songs for Little People (later reissued with fewer tracks as Jerry Lewis Sings for Children). Non-album singles were released, and It All Depends On You hit the charts in April and May 1957, but peaked at only No. 68. Further singles were recorded and released by Lewis into the mid-1960s.

But these were not Lewis’s first forays into recording, nor his first appearance on the hit charts. During his partnership with Martin, they made several recordings together, charting at No. 22 in 1948 with the 1920s That Certain Party and later mostly re-recording songs highlighted in their films. Also during the time of their partnership, but without Martin, he recorded numerous novelty-comedy numbers for adults as well as records specifically intended for the children’s market.

In late 1956, Lewis began performing regularly at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which marked a turning point in his life and career. The Sands signed him for five years to perform six weeks each year and paid him the same amount they had paid Martin and Lewis as a team.^[33] The critics gave him positive reviews: “Jerry was wonderful. He has proved that he can be a success by himself,” wrote one.^[33] He continued with club performances in Miami, New York, Chicago and Washington.

Live performances became a staple of Lewis’ career and over the years he performed at casinos, theaters, and state fairs. In February 1957, Lewis followed Garland at the Palace Theater in New York and Martin called on the phone during this period to wish him the best of luck.^[33] “I’ve never been happier,” said Lewis. “I have peace of mind for the first time.”^[33]

Lewis established himself as a solo act, starting with the first of six appearances on What’s My Line? from 1956 to 1966, then guest starred on The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, Tonight Starring Jack Paar, The Ed Sullivan Show and beginning in January 1957, did a number of solo specials for NBC and starred in his adaptation of “The Jazz Singer” for Startime.

Lewis hosted the Academy Awards three times, in 1956, 1957 and 1959. The third telecast, which ran twenty minutes short, forced Lewis to improvise to fill time.^[35] DC Comics published a new comic book series titled The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, a sequel to The Adventures of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis series, running from 1957 to 1971.

Critical success with Paramount and contract

Lewis remained at Paramount and started with his first solo film The Delicate Delinquent (1957) then starred in The Sad Sack (1957). Frank Tashlin, whose background as a Looney Tunes cartoon director suited Lewis’s brand of humor and came on board. The two did new films, first with Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958) and then The Geisha Boy (1958). Billy Wilder asked Lewis to play the lead role of an uptight jazz musician, who winds up on the run from a mob in Some Like It Hot, but turned it down.

Lewis then appeared in Don’t Give Up The Ship (1959) and made a cameo in Li’l Abner (1959). A 1959 contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions specified a payment of $10 million plus 60% of the profits for 14 films over seven years.^[36] This contract made Lewis the highest paid individual Hollywood talent to date and was unprecedented in that he had unlimited creative control, including final cut and the return of film rights after 30 years.

Lewis’s clout and box office were so strong (meaning his films had already earned Paramount $100 million in rentals^[37]) that Barney Balaban, head of production at Paramount at that time, told the press, “If Jerry wants to burn down the studio I’ll give him the match!”^[38]

Credits:

Wikipedia