Line #26 Creator/JerryLewis


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jerry_lewis_photo.jpeg]]
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3	->''"HEY, LAAAAAADY!"''
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5	Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker, noted for his wacky style of comedy and, later on, for his [[LongRunner long-running]] annual Labor Day {{telethon}}s for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He's also the TropeMaker for a lot of things.
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7	While his career stretched across more than seven decades, Lewis is generally considered to have been [[GloryDays at his peak]] in the [[TheFifties 1950s]] (when [[ComedyDuo he worked with]] Music/DeanMartin as one half of Creator/MartinAndLewis) and the early [[TheSixties '60s]].
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9	Lewis wielded a considerable amount of control over his projects at the height of his solo career, and he became respected as an ''auteur'' who wrote, directed, and starred in his own material to keep true to his own vision. As an extension of this, he pioneered the use of video assist on film sets, because he needed to review his performances immediately rather than wait for dailies to be developed and screened the next day.
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11	He passed away at age 91 on August 20, 2017, the same day as fellow comedy legend Creator/DickGregory.
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13	Not to be mistaken for Music/JerryLeeLewis, though he did make some recordings as a singer (including a pair of non-comedic albums of pop standards), and his son Gary enjoyed success in the music world as frontman for the '60s pop/rock group Gary Lewis & the Playboys.
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16	!!Films with pages on this wiki:
17	* ''Radio/MyFriendIrma'' (1949) and ''My Friend Irma Goes West'' (1950) – Seymour
18	* ''Film/RoadToBali'' (1952) – cameo
19	* ''Film/ScaredStiff'' (1953) – Myron Mertz
20	* ''Film/ArtistsAndModels'' (1955) – Eugene Fullstack
21	* ''Film/TheSadSack'' (1957) – Private Meredith Bixby
22	* ''Theatre/LilAbner'' (1959) – cameo
23	* ''Film/TheBellboy'' (1960) (his directorial debut) – Stanley/[[AsHimself Jerry Lewis]]
24	* ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor\|1963}}'' (1963) – Prof. Julius Kelp/Buddy Love
25	* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' (1963) – cameo
26	* ''Theatre/BoeingBoeing'' (1965) – Robert Reed
27	* ''Film/TheFamilyJewels'' (1965) -- Peyton Uncles and the chauffeur
28	* ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried'' (1972) – Helmut Doork
29	* ''Film/HardlyWorking'' (1980) – Bo Hooper
30	* ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'' (1983) – Jerry Langford
31	* ''Film/HowDidYouGetInWeDidntSeeYouLeave'' (1984) – Clovis Blaireau
32	* ''Film/ArizonaDream'' (1993) – uncle Leo
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34	!!Tropes associated with Jerry Lewis:
35	* AdamWesting: He is one of the few who used this trope for ''drama''.
36	* AmbiguouslyJewish: Almost every Lewis character, or even any knockoff character ''based on'' one of Lewis's characters, will come off as this.[[note]]In real life, he had Russian-Jewish heritage, as contrasted to some of his characters, which would make this a real-life aversion.[[/note]]
37	* AnimatedAdaptation[=/=]InkSuitActor: A number of Lewis-based characters (including one called [[TheDanza Jerry Lewis]] and some from ''The Family Jewels'' (''See'' DoubleVision'', below'') formed the cast of a 1970 Creator/{{Filmation}} SaturdayMorningCartoon series, ''Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down''. (Lewis did not voice the part (David Lander, aka Squiggy from ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'', did), though Lewis did contribute to some of the scripts.)
38	* BerserkButton: ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried'', when asking him about it.
39	* BillingDisplacement: Martin and Lewis got their big screen big break in ''Radio/MyFriendIrma'' (1949) and its sequel ''My Friend Irma Goes West''. The actual star was Marie Wilson but these the films are very much remembered for Martin and Lewis.
40	* BorschtBelt: Performed there in his childhood alongside his parents, and the style influenced his comedy.
41	* BreakingTheFourthWall: He often did gags of this nature in his films, especially the final scene of ''The Patsy'', where his character falls over a ledge, but moments later Lewis walks back into frame and breaks character, reassuring co-star Creator/InaBalin that it's all just a movie, and it ends with them walking off the set together past the crew members.
42	* ButtMonkey
43	* TheCameo: Makes brief but memorable ones in ''Film/RoadToBali'', ''Theatre/LilAbner'', ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'', and Professor John Frink Sr. in the "Frinkenstein" segment of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' ''Treehouse of Horror XIV''.
44	* CelebrityEndorsement: Appeared in print ads for both RC Cola and for Kentucky Fried Chicken, even appearing alongside its founder Colonel Sanders in the latter.
45	* CopiouslyCreditedCreator: Produced, directed, wrote, and starred in many of his films starting with ''Film/TheBellboy'' as well as playing multiple roles in ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor\|1963}}'' and ''The Family Jewels''. Needing a way to direct himself on the spot without relying on dailies, he is also credited with developing modern video playback on movie sets[[note]]which allows cast and crew to immediately review performances without having to wait for film stock to be developed and delivered for screening[[/note]]. His considerable technical skills began when he was expelled from High School (for duking the Principal who'd made an anti-Semitic remark) and had to attend a Vocational-Technical School. Before leaving school entirely (at age 16) he spent the rest of that year working in electrical and mechanical shop.
46	* DisownedAdaptation: While he ultimately liked Creator/EddieMurphy's remake of ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor\|1996}}'', he initially hated it for the copious amounts of [[ToiletHumor fart jokes]] it added, for which he turned down a CreatorCameo.
47	* DoubleVision: Was well known for his ''tour-de-force'' performance in ''The Family Jewels'', in which he played seven different characters.
48	* TheKlutz: A big part of his usual screen persona.
49	* LargeHam
50	* LethallyStupid: Almost all the characters he portrayed, though he managed to make them likable.
51	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: He ''hated'' talking about ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried'', a film he directed and starred in as a means of establishing himself as a dramatic actor and director. The movie was plagued with production issues and an extremely dark plot, and Lewis resolved never to release it, claiming it was an "artistic failure". Anyone who mentioned it in his presence could expect to be met with anger or despondency, as he would remind them of his decision and quickly change the subject.
52	* ManChild: Not ''quite'' the TropeCodifier, but damn close.
53	* MissingEpisode: ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried'' is a famous example. It exists but is locked up due to legal issues. In 2015 he arranged for it to be released ten years later, likely counting on being long dead by then, which ended up being the case, as of 2017.
54	* OhGodWithTheVerbing: The TropeMaker.
55	* OldShame: ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried'', '''[[BerserkButton big-time]]'''. He also wasn't especially pleased with how ''Film/HardlyWorking'' turned out.
56	* {{Telethon}}: Trope [[strike:maker]] codifier. The first telethon, broadcast by NBC in April 1949, was a fundraiser for the Creator/DamonRunyon Cancer Research Foundation.
57	* VarietyShow: Back when he was with Creator/DeanMartin, the duo was one of the rotating hosts of the ''Series/ColgateComedyHour''.
58	* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Similar to his later partner, Dean Martin, the young Jerry Lewis learnt to speak the language of his immigrant family (specifically his grandmother who largely raised him) alongside English as a child.
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Context Creator / JerryLewis