Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis...

A chance commingling, the kinetic duo exploded into fame, upping the ante on the term "overnight sensations." They were the Beatles AND Elvis of comedy, conquering stage, TV, and movies with ease and electricity, but friendship turned to feud, then the split. While the 16 films (in seven years) failed to fully harvest the team's manic, improvisational frenzy, they remain funny, breezy, and iconic.

1. "Sailor Beware" (1951)

The buddy formula gels nicely in their fifth feature. The gobs set sail in a submarine -- the one on which dingy Jerry is outside deck-swabbing when it dives. He's gonna need a bigger mop. The service comedy streams melodies, girls, and shtick, including an insane boxing sequence. James Dean and Betty Hutton appear briefly in this remake of "The Fleet's In" (1942), the movie that made her a star.

2. "Living It Up" (1954)

Glossy reworking of classic screwball movie "Nothing Sacred" (1937) and Broadway musical-comedy, "Hazel Flagg" (1953). Dr. Dean and reporter Janet Leigh hustle snively, dying Jerry to New York on a big publicity tour, but there's a catch. He's not ill. Wacky mix-ups and fix-ups with Martin & Lewis performing "Every Street's a Boulevard," one of their signature pieces. Dig the hyper-Jitterbug, too.

3. "You're Never Too Young" (1955)

Grown-up Jerry poses as an 11-year-old lad in Dean Dean's girl school for this energetic remake of Billy Wilder's "The Major and the Minor" (1942) -- an irony and a consolation of sorts because Lewis would pass on another Wilder cross-dressing comedy, "Some Like It Hot" (1959). A memorable, wild-stepping production number on the tennis court, plus some swift shenanigans with villain Raymond Burr.

4. "Hollywood or Bust" (1956)

The last Martin and Lewis picture show. The comedians' feud was raging at full tilt during the production. So bitter, they would only speak to each other on camera. At one point, frustrated director Frank Tashlin fired Jerry off the film! Ironically, this cross-country road trip is one of their best packages, a pleasing, underappreciated musical -- which Lewis claims to never have seen.

5. "Artists and Models" (1955)

Former Warner Bros. animator Frank Tashlin helms the first of eight couplings with Lewis and it shows. As co-writer and director of this splashy musical-comedy, his cartoon-like gags begin in the opening scene, extra appropriate since the boys are propelled into the world of comic book publishing. Warm and giggly, with strong support from Eddie Mayehoff and Shirley MacLaine in her second film.

6. "The Caddy" (1953)

The pals play through a golf romp with divots on and off the green, eventually tossing the clubs to become club entertainers. That's Donna Reed as Dean's love and "That's Amore," the Oscar-nominated tune. The bookended song-and-dance scenes capture the live Martin and Lewis experience better than their other films. Shots of crowds overflowing into the street are from actual hysteria for the team.

7. "Scared Stiff" (1953)

Clumsy cut-ups snoop through a weird haunted mansion with plenty o' laughs and laaaadies in hand. In a remake of Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers" (1940), Martin and Lewis meet Carmen Miranda and get eerie for Lizabeth Scott. Dean and Jerry reprise the crooner and bumbling busboy bit from their concert act, believed to have been hatched during their first professional performance together.

8. "At War With the Army" (1950)

The remaining films on and off this list are roughly equivalent in comedic content. ("The Stooge" (1953) is a dramatic exception, laced with disturbing parallels to the real life Martin and Lewis.) "At War" contains the movies' first quintessential Jerry sketch: a battle with an ornery soda pop machine. The infectious rap "The Navy Gets the Gravy, but the Army Gets the Beans" originates here, too.

9. "Pardners" (1956)

OK western hijinks, an update of Bing Crosby's "Rhythm on the Range" (1936), in the penultimate Martin and Lewis picture, produced at the height of their personal conflict and the public's fear of a divorce. Damage control for the franchise was important, because the stars interrupt the film's climatic moment to address the camera, promising fans they'll be partners for a long time to come.

10. "My Friend Irma" (1949)

The popular network radio sitcom jumped to the screen, but along the way producer Hal Wallis devised a detour to introduce his newly-contracted comedy franchise to movie audiences. Martin and Lewis stole the film in their relatively short appearance. By the next year, a sequel and a better movie, "My Friend Irma Goes West," would reverse the equation. Irma and pals are barely along for the ride.

View the original article here

Jerry Lewis Comedy Movies

These irresistibly zany films are at the core of my knowledge and love for Humor. As a schoolboy, the consumption of a new Jerry Lewis picture was more delicious than the finest chocolates. Umpteen viewings later, the comedies -- made during his 16 years as Paramount's savior and several as the highest-paid performer in movies -- still tickle and make me sad for the sacks who just don't get it.

1. "The Nutty Professor" (1963)

This pet project, an image-altering risk, is Lewis' fourth effort as writer-director and, in cinematic terms, his best film. Almost Disneyesque next to Eddie Murphy's crude redos, move over Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and meet Prof. Kelp and Buddy Love. Outrageous and cool in its day with Jerry somewhat restrained, but many great moments, like at the gym and that silly dance. Hey, kids, it's a gasser!

2. "The Ladies' Man" (1961)

The funniest of a rich batch. Even Jerry cracks up during the most hysterical sequence, an improvised hat bit opposite deadpan Buddy Lester. Our star-director wisely protects the laughs at the expense of all else -- a sign of his clout and popularity -- in the loopy tale of Miss Helen Welenmelon's jilted houseboy, Herbert H. Heebert -- the "H" stands for "Herbert." (See the related link below.)

3. "The Geisha Boy" (1958)

Written and directed by Lewis' mentor, animator Frank Tashlin, the happiest Jerry heart-warmer teams an inept magician and an orphan. On a personal note, this is the most influential movie I've ever seen. I was six. The amazing, cartoony gags -- the bathhouse flood is as uproarious as anything ever filmed -- and Harry, that surreal "bundle of bunny," opened my mind to the possibilities of comedy.

4. "The Bellboy" (1960)

The Jerry Lewis silent movie. Oh, there are plenty of sounds to be heard as Stanley the mute bellhop bumbles into wild predicaments. To fill a hole in Paramount's schedule, from scratch to completion in three weeks, Lewis wrote and directed his first film at Miami's Fontainbleu Hotel by day, while he performed concert obligations there each night. Plotless, reminiscent of Tashlin and Jacques Tati.

5. "The Errand Boy" (1961)

Ace stooge Morty S. Tashman is hired by the Paramutual movie studios to spy on the staff. Morty is mostly mute and bumbles into wild predicaments. Hey, it worked the previous year -- BUT HE'S NOT A BELLHOP! Wonderful behind-the-scenes look at Paramount and the golden days before computers ripped the heart and magic from motion pictures. Jerry's famous "Chairman of the Board" pantomine lives here.

6. "It's Only Money" (1962)

Nabbed at the last minute to direct this already prepped production, Frank Tashlin returned for his sixth Jerry Lewis picture and one of their better vehicles. It's a crackerjack spoof of detective yarns with TV repairman/apprentice private eye Jerry on a quest to find the lost heir to a fortune, not knowing the lad is ... guess who? Meanwhile, swindlers and man-eating lawnmowers chase him down.

7. "Who's Minding the Store?" (1963)

Jerry's a department store flunky in love with the owners' daughter (Jill St. John). He scoots through numerous duties to prove his worthiness, including dog walking, flagpole painting, and pantomiming to Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter," but Tashlin's ultimate live-action cartoon sequence awaits with a hungry vacuum cleaner gone berserk. Ray Walston, Agnes Moorehead and Nancy Kulp play straight.

8. "The Disorderly Orderly" (1964)

The final Jerry Lewis-Frank Tashlin collaboration dodges the scenario's comedy-deflating obstacles of illness and depression to become a slapstick success nonetheless. Set in a fancy nursing home, Jerome, the disaster prone aide, battles sympathy pains, a snail, and a gasping, high-speed ambulance chase.

9. "Rock-A-Bye Baby" (1958)

Inspired by Preston Sturges' superlative comedy "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944), this first Tashlin-helmed film for the solo actor borrows almost nothing from the original story. To protect a mother's identity, Jerry struggles to raise her infant triplets, while fending off meddlers and the mom's kid sister (Connie Stevens). Cute and sentimental. Catch Gary Lewis as Jerry in the flashback.

10. "The Family Jewels" (1965)

A chauffeur accompanies a child heiress when she sets out to choose her new "father" among her uncles. Jerry plays seven characters in what is essentially an elaborate collection of sketches, the highlight of which is no-frills airline mogul/pilot, Capt. Eddie. This movie is the end of an era, as Lewis, nearly 40, segued into somewhat more mature roles with diminishing physical humor and clowning.

View the original article here

Jerry Lewis Comedy Movies

These irresistibly zany films are at the core of my knowledge and love for Humor. As a schoolboy, the consumption of a new Jerry Lewis picture was more delicious than the finest chocolates. Umpteen viewings later, the comedies -- made during his 16 years as Paramount's savior and several as the highest-paid performer in movies -- still tickle and make me sad for the sacks who just don't get it.

1. "The Nutty Professor" (1963)

This pet project, an image-altering risk, is Lewis' fourth effort as writer-director and, in cinematic terms, his best film. Almost Disneyesque next to Eddie Murphy's crude redos, move over Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and meet Prof. Kelp and Buddy Love. Outrageous and cool in its day with Jerry somewhat restrained, but many great moments, like at the gym and that silly dance. Hey, kids, it's a gasser!

2. "The Ladies' Man" (1961)

The funniest of a rich batch. Even Jerry cracks up during the most hysterical sequence, an improvised hat bit opposite deadpan Buddy Lester. Our star-director wisely protects the laughs at the expense of all else -- a sign of his clout and popularity -- in the loopy tale of Miss Helen Welenmelon's jilted houseboy, Herbert H. Heebert -- the "H" stands for "Herbert." (See the related link below.)

3. "The Geisha Boy" (1958)

Written and directed by Lewis' mentor, animator Frank Tashlin, the happiest Jerry heart-warmer teams an inept magician and an orphan. On a personal note, this is the most influential movie I've ever seen. I was six. The amazing, cartoony gags -- the bathhouse flood is as uproarious as anything ever filmed -- and Harry, that surreal "bundle of bunny," opened my mind to the possibilities of comedy.

4. "The Bellboy" (1960)

The Jerry Lewis silent movie. Oh, there are plenty of sounds to be heard as Stanley the mute bellhop bumbles into wild predicaments. To fill a hole in Paramount's schedule, from scratch to completion in three weeks, Lewis wrote and directed his first film at Miami's Fontainbleu Hotel by day, while he performed concert obligations there each night. Plotless, reminiscent of Tashlin and Jacques Tati.

5. "The Errand Boy" (1961)

Ace stooge Morty S. Tashman is hired by the Paramutual movie studios to spy on the staff. Morty is mostly mute and bumbles into wild predicaments. Hey, it worked the previous year -- BUT HE'S NOT A BELLHOP! Wonderful behind-the-scenes look at Paramount and the golden days before computers ripped the heart and magic from motion pictures. Jerry's famous "Chairman of the Board" pantomine lives here.

6. "It's Only Money" (1962)

Nabbed at the last minute to direct this already prepped production, Frank Tashlin returned for his sixth Jerry Lewis picture and one of their better vehicles. It's a crackerjack spoof of detective yarns with TV repairman/apprentice private eye Jerry on a quest to find the lost heir to a fortune, not knowing the lad is ... guess who? Meanwhile, swindlers and man-eating lawnmowers chase him down.

7. "Who's Minding the Store?" (1963)

Jerry's a department store flunky in love with the owners' daughter (Jill St. John). He scoots through numerous duties to prove his worthiness, including dog walking, flagpole painting, and pantomiming to Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter," but Tashlin's ultimate live-action cartoon sequence awaits with a hungry vacuum cleaner gone berserk. Ray Walston, Agnes Moorehead and Nancy Kulp play straight.

8. "The Disorderly Orderly" (1964)

The final Jerry Lewis-Frank Tashlin collaboration dodges the scenario's comedy-deflating obstacles of illness and depression to become a slapstick success nonetheless. Set in a fancy nursing home, Jerome, the disaster prone aide, battles sympathy pains, a snail, and a gasping, high-speed ambulance chase.

9. "Rock-A-Bye Baby" (1958)

Inspired by Preston Sturges' superlative comedy "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944), this first Tashlin-helmed film for the solo actor borrows almost nothing from the original story. To protect a mother's identity, Jerry struggles to raise her infant triplets, while fending off meddlers and the mom's kid sister (Connie Stevens). Cute and sentimental. Catch Gary Lewis as Jerry in the flashback.

10. "The Family Jewels" (1965)

A chauffeur accompanies a child heiress when she sets out to choose her new "father" among her uncles. Jerry plays seven characters in what is essentially an elaborate collection of sketches, the highlight of which is no-frills airline mogul/pilot, Capt. Eddie. This movie is the end of an era, as Lewis, nearly 40, segued into somewhat more mature roles with diminishing physical humor and clowning.

View the original article here

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis...

A chance commingling, the kinetic duo exploded into fame, upping the ante on the term "overnight sensations." They were the Beatles AND Elvis of comedy, conquering stage, TV, and movies with ease and electricity, but friendship turned to feud, then the split. While the 16 films (in seven years) failed to fully harvest the team's manic, improvisational frenzy, they remain funny, breezy, and iconic.

1. "Sailor Beware" (1951)

The buddy formula gels nicely in their fifth feature. The gobs set sail in a submarine -- the one on which dingy Jerry is outside deck-swabbing when it dives. He's gonna need a bigger mop. The service comedy streams melodies, girls, and shtick, including an insane boxing sequence. James Dean and Betty Hutton appear briefly in this remake of "The Fleet's In" (1942), the movie that made her a star.

2. "Living It Up" (1954)

Glossy reworking of classic screwball movie "Nothing Sacred" (1937) and Broadway musical-comedy, "Hazel Flagg" (1953). Dr. Dean and reporter Janet Leigh hustle snively, dying Jerry to New York on a big publicity tour, but there's a catch. He's not ill. Wacky mix-ups and fix-ups with Martin & Lewis performing "Every Street's a Boulevard," one of their signature pieces. Dig the hyper-Jitterbug, too.

3. "You're Never Too Young" (1955)

Grown-up Jerry poses as an 11-year-old lad in Dean Dean's girl school for this energetic remake of Billy Wilder's "The Major and the Minor" (1942) -- an irony and a consolation of sorts because Lewis would pass on another Wilder cross-dressing comedy, "Some Like It Hot" (1959). A memorable, wild-stepping production number on the tennis court, plus some swift shenanigans with villain Raymond Burr.

4. "Hollywood or Bust" (1956)

The last Martin and Lewis picture show. The comedians' feud was raging at full tilt during the production. So bitter, they would only speak to each other on camera. At one point, frustrated director Frank Tashlin fired Jerry off the film! Ironically, this cross-country road trip is one of their best packages, a pleasing, underappreciated musical -- which Lewis claims to never have seen.

5. "Artists and Models" (1955)

Former Warner Bros. animator Frank Tashlin helms the first of eight couplings with Lewis and it shows. As co-writer and director of this splashy musical-comedy, his cartoon-like gags begin in the opening scene, extra appropriate since the boys are propelled into the world of comic book publishing. Warm and giggly, with strong support from Eddie Mayehoff and Shirley MacLaine in her second film.

6. "The Caddy" (1953)

The pals play through a golf romp with divots on and off the green, eventually tossing the clubs to become club entertainers. That's Donna Reed as Dean's love and "That's Amore," the Oscar-nominated tune. The bookended song-and-dance scenes capture the live Martin and Lewis experience better than their other films. Shots of crowds overflowing into the street are from actual hysteria for the team.

7. "Scared Stiff" (1953)

Clumsy cut-ups snoop through a weird haunted mansion with plenty o' laughs and laaaadies in hand. In a remake of Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers" (1940), Martin and Lewis meet Carmen Miranda and get eerie for Lizabeth Scott. Dean and Jerry reprise the crooner and bumbling busboy bit from their concert act, believed to have been hatched during their first professional performance together.

8. "At War With the Army" (1950)

The remaining films on and off this list are roughly equivalent in comedic content. ("The Stooge" (1953) is a dramatic exception, laced with disturbing parallels to the real life Martin and Lewis.) "At War" contains the movies' first quintessential Jerry sketch: a battle with an ornery soda pop machine. The infectious rap "The Navy Gets the Gravy, but the Army Gets the Beans" originates here, too.

9. "Pardners" (1956)

OK western hijinks, an update of Bing Crosby's "Rhythm on the Range" (1936), in the penultimate Martin and Lewis picture, produced at the height of their personal conflict and the public's fear of a divorce. Damage control for the franchise was important, because the stars interrupt the film's climatic moment to address the camera, promising fans they'll be partners for a long time to come.

10. "My Friend Irma" (1949)

The popular network radio sitcom jumped to the screen, but along the way producer Hal Wallis devised a detour to introduce his newly-contracted comedy franchise to movie audiences. Martin and Lewis stole the film in their relatively short appearance. By the next year, a sequel and a better movie, "My Friend Irma Goes West," would reverse the equation. Irma and pals are barely along for the ride.

View the original article here