Jerry Lewis
Look this is about artists and their art. This isn’t a judgment of someone’s life, but about their contributions to our culture. May God’s grace shine on every one of us. So in the vein of celebrating living national treasures, I most emphatically nominate one of my favorite funnyman geniuses – the very talented, smart, and delightfully life-affirming Jerry Lewis. With Jerry and his comedy, one could forget the troubles of the world through laughter and entertaining mayhem. Jerry could grab us by our heart because he was almost always emotionally invested. It always seemed that his characters cared, so we cared too. Certainly, Jerry will also be remembered as the philanthropic star who founded and hosted the most well-known fund-raising event in television.
When you laughed at Jerry’s slapstick goofiness, you were always laughing at yourself. Some remember him best as the funny-guy, little brother (or even le femme) of the Martin and Lewis duo with their nightclub improvisations and films like The Stooge (1951) or Artists and Models (1955) featuring the wonderful Shirley MacLaine. For me, when Jerry took more control of his works as writer and director, he absolutely shined during the early 1960s with films like the comedic masterpiece The Bellboy (1960); The Ladies Man (1961); and the crazily hilarious The Nutty Professor (1963). The Geisha Boy (1958) is so sappy sentimental that I can barely watch it anymore, but it’s wonderful. Cinderfella (1960) and The Disorderly Orderly (1964), both directed by Frank Tashlin, are so fun I can watch them anytime day or night and, well, I guess, like Jerry, I’m a kid again when I watch these pictures.
Jerry Lewis’ characters weren’t everyman characters either. Like many comedic geniuses, he played the “little guy” – the underdog in a world structured for the strong. Much of his humor was how his socially awkward characters would interact with the more conforming, and socially acceptable, members of our world – the matronly and domineering, charmingly smooth operators either of the lovable variety like Dean or the patronizing and smug variety, successful business people and intelligentsia, and of course the bullies. He didn’t always get the best of them either, but he always had us on his side.
His humor did take a subversive slant on our society. Jerry seems to ask us about the misfits, the little guys and the weakest among us. If any deserve our sympathy, isn’t it these? Jerry’s characters always cared and in a real way this was another of the many qualities that set him in opposition to the character Dean Martin portrayed alongside Jerry. Maybe this is why Jerry always got my sympathy, even if I will always love Dean for the films he made with Jerry and for his smooth, mellow crooning. So we should treasure Jerry as one of the greats and for the timelessness of the art he shared with us all.
This post originally appeared on the Reveille website on August 9, 2017 shortly before his passing from this incarnation to the next. We still love you Jerry and praise God for your great films.