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Enfant Terrible!: Jerry Lewis in American Film

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Books on the "king of comedy" are,unfortunately,few and far between.A much misunderstood,underappreciated and undeservedly maligned genius.I must also state that Lewis could sometimes (often?) be his own comedic "worst enemy" ,and his on-screen persona arguably worked best when he was directed BY someone other than himself (a'la Frank Tashlin).

But Lewis has always been a man who's failures are almost as fascinating as his triumphs.This book is a compendium of essays on the various facets of the Lewis persona--most of which are authoratative and fascinating.It comes highly recommended and every JL fan will want to read what it has to say.

I just read the review of this book by Jmark2001, which apparently has been here since 2002. In any event, as a professional film historian who has written about comedy for 20 years, I must say that I have never run into these mysterious "tiers of film comedy" this person mentioned in his review. I agree that Jerry Lewis deserves a real reassessment in the U.S. before he passes on, but placing the superlative Laurel and Hardy in a "second tier of film comedians?" Please! Many film historians consider L&H the absolute apex, and DEFINITELY the greatest comedy team of all time. Abbott and Costello on a "second tier," maybe. The Three Stooges, UNDOUBTEDLY. But we are talking about apples and oranges here, in the first place. Go ahead and praise Jerry Lewis, but let's not denigrate two absolute geniuses like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Saying they were second-rate is akin to saying the same thing about Beethoven or Satchmo! (This is a very good book, by the way!)

Lewis is a bewildering American talent: he is one of the best comedy directors around, was an amazingly original screen comic (we too easily forget that his character - the nerdy adolescent - was new when he invented him), was an excellent mime, an inventor (he invented several innovations still used in film), writer of much of his material, actor, singer, etc. He could easily have been remembered as being on the second tier of American film comics (along with Laurel and Hardy) though he aspired to be on the first tier with Chaplin and Keaton. So what went wrong? Why do people hold their nose when his name comes up (except in Europe)? Although his personality has become increasingly abrasive over the years and his screen character was not able to age gracefully (what comic personae does? Look at the abominable final films that Chaplin made!), it must be remembered that all of this is not Lewis' fault. He had a disastrous back injury (on live tv, no less) in the early sixties that gave him unbearable pain for years afterward and that led to his abuse of painkillers. That accident sapped most of his creative powers. It is terrible that so much of the good stuff that Lewis is responsible for has been forgotten. He deserves some objective reassessment. I hope someone will do this before he dies as he deserves to be recognized here in the USA as an improtant figure.

"Enfant Terrible!: Jerry Lewis in American Film" is a worthy book for those serious fans of Jerry Lewis. A good collection of essays, it is most beneficial with Shawn Levy's update from his detailed, very readable biography of Lewis' life (a bio that Lewis apparently did not care for, as Levy notes). Also worthy is the detailed analysis of Lewis' "The Jazz Singer" TV special, of which I heard little about (other than in Levy's book) before purchasing this. Other films are given serious thought - "Arizona Dream," "The Geisha Boy," "The Stooge," and "The Disorderly Orderly." What's missing is a detailed list of all of Lewis' films (which, of course, would have added another 10 pages to the volume). But I have referred back to it on occasion and it is a critical, even-keeled look at a major comedian/actor of the 20th century.

Lewis is a bewildering American talent: he is one of the best comedy directors around, was an amazingly original screen comic (we too easily forget that his character - the nerdy adolescent - was new when he invented him), was an excellent mime, an inventor (he invented several innovations still used in film), writer of much of his material, actor, singer, etc. He could easily have been remembered as being on the second tier of American film comics (along with Laurel and Hardy) though he aspired to be on the first tier with Chaplin and Keaton. So what went wrong? Why do people hold their nose when his name comes up (except in Europe)? Although his personality has become increasingly abrasive over the years and his screen character was not able to age gracefully (what comic personae does? Look at the abominable final films that Chaplin made!), it must be remembered that all of this is not Lewis' fault. He had a disastrous back injury (on live tv, no less) in the early sixties that gave him unbearable pain for years afterward and that led to his abuse of painkillers. That accident sapped most of his creative powers. It is terrible that so much of the good stuff that Lewis is responsible for has been forgotten. He deserves some objective reassessment. I hope someone will do this before he dies as he deserves to be recognized here in the USA as an important figure.