Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis knew how to laugh and cry
want to know why Barbra Streisand is so difficult? Because she’s brilliant. She’s a brilliant entertainer, she’s a brilliant lady, and she’s a wonderful human being, and the community doesn’t like it.”
Lewis was born into a world of vaudeville and silent movies and carried with him decades of 20th century show business. He was a final link to the old Borsch Belt culture that also turned out Mel Brooks and Henny Youngman, to the nightclub circuit where entertainers such as himself, Frank Sinatra and his old partner Dean Martin got their starts, and to the early years of Las Vegas when Lewis helped shape the city’s brand of glitz and sentimentality.
Lewis was equally memorable talking too much or saying nothing. As the French seemed to know better than anyone, he was among the last comedians who modeled their work after Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the greats of the silent era. Like the early masters, he was the sole author of his best work, serving as star, writer, director and producer of “The Nutty Professor,” “The Bellboy,” “The Patsy” and other films. His most memorable routines had a near-martial precision, whether in “The Errand Boy” when he points a cigar to the beat of Count Basie’s “Blues in Hoss Flat” or his mimicry of a typewriter in “Who’s Minding the Store?”
He knew well how to suffer, but also called himself “the luckiest Jew in the world” and liked to say that happiness was family. Also work and recognition, knowing he would always be spotted in a crowd. He also loved the admiration of peers and the bad taste of their compliments. When he celebrated his 90th birthday at the Friars, friends such as Richard Belzer, Gilbert Gottfried and Robert Klein turned up to wish him well, remind of his age and make fun of his sex life. Jim Carrey had a final message for his hero.
“”He’s 90!” Carrey called out. “He can still disappoint us!”