And it was always said with oodles of affection.
My Grandpa Joe loved him some "Jahlouyish".
Nobody could make him laugh harder that Jahlouyish.
At least until I was twelve, at which, at which point, in 1960, he died.
And he made me laugh almost as hard at 13..
In many respects, he still does.
What was funny about him has always been funny.
And it included absolute genius. He was a pioneer of what could be done wih the camera.
He was an extraordinary physical comedian, with unmatched timing.
I was always impressed with the way he could raise the level banality of conversation to an art form.
Creating and adding new levels of nonsense to the language.
In the movie "The Errand Boy", my personal favorite by a lot. (There isn't even a close second.),
there is a sequence where the wonderful actor Del Moore plays the announcer at a movie premiere.
He rattles off a series of recent "Paramuitual Pictures" hits.
They are "Hot Heat", "Heaven is Far", and "So?.
The last one accompanied by a wonderful arm shrug.
Jahlouyish was capable of letting other actors let laughs.
What is also wonderful about "The Errand Boy" is that it is never hampered by a plot.
It is a series of bits.
The same is true of "The Bellboy", but that suffered by Mr. Louyish deciding to not to speak.
"The Errand Boy" introduced us to the wonderful names Mr. Wobbidnotley. Mr. Bape Wosenthal,
Mr. Fermidnin, and of course, Jah's characters name, Morty S. Tashman, a send-up of Frank Tashlin.
His previous frequent director.
Probably the best and most notable charcter name was given to the well known opera singer Helen Traubel, who played the proprietress of the Girls boarding school in "The Ladies Man". Her name was Mrs.Helen Wellenmelon. If you don't think that's funny, there's no hope for you.
There are unfortunate comparisons to be drawn between Jahlouyish and Donald Trump.
This is a sad thing to contemplate.
There seems to be almost no middle ground between those who hate Trump, and those who hate Jahlouyish. Of course, those who hate Trump are right. I am certainly aware of his flaws, and I realize that Louyish wasn't perfect. But we know that at least he was funny. So I fall somewhere in the middle.
Jahlouyish is guilty merely of personal excesses, and perhaps mistreating his staff.
His movies with Dean don't hold up well. Dean was usually cast as the oily villain who was handed a series of forgettable songs to be sung to the leading lady, driving all of us 9 year olds to get refills on popcorn at the refreshment stand. Dean was not treated well in those movies.
I've already had the thought that if Jerry and Dean meet up in the afterlife, would Dean still not want to talk to Jerry?
But their appearances on "The Colgate Comedy Hour hold up great
"The Nutty Professor" is very uncomfortable to watch. It cuts a little too close the bone.
He seems a little too close to his alter ego, Buddy Love, in real life.
He certainly made his share of forgettable movies, and not everything in The Errand Boy" is great, but there is so much that is: his typewriter pantomime which with his death makes the typewriter totally obsolete, his Count Basie pantomime, pretending to be the boss is brilliant, his other great character names in other movies, Herbert H. Heebert, Stanley Belt, Professor Julius Kelp, Willard Woodward, Wilbur Hoolick, Norman Phiffler, this all reflects a body of work.
If you haven't seen "The Errand Boy" and need convincing, please reserve judgement and seek it out.
Oh, and did I mention "Hey Lay-dee!!!!
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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.,
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
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Posts
I loved Rock A Bye Baby, because i thought it was human as well as funny. i like human.
ReplyDeleteThe day after Mr. Lewis' passing I saw video of him appearing in front of a number of members of the press. I guess it was a photo op. He was in a wheelchair. Larry King was standing behind him. Photo flashes were going off. The press were shouting "Hey, Jer! Jerry, look over here! Hey, Jerry!" Mr. Lewis was pulling faces, rolling his eyes, pointing at the cameras. His tongue was lolling out of his mouth. He was kissing and licking a DVD copy of "The Nutty Professor" that he was holding. It was sad and cringingly pathetic. It wasn't funny. It was hard to watch. It was a 90 year old man in a wheelchair mugging for a bunch of the press who were egging him on in the mistaken belief that what he was doing was entertaining. It was cruel.
ReplyDeleteI was indeed fortunate. My lone encounter with Jerry Lewis was one of immense joy. He was coming to town to perform at a Palm Springs casino and did a promotional interview on the radio station for which I worked. Actually, the interview was passed around like a hot potato, as so many had heard about how difficult Lewis was reputed to be. I leapt at the challenge, and it became one of my favorite on-air moments in 30 plus years in the business. He couldn't possibly have been nicer, funnier, more cordial, more giving nor more animated. I hated for the interview to end. To close out the interview I asked him if he would be kind enough to do one of his trademarked, "Hey, Laaaaaddddeeee" calls. He nicely, and quickly corrected me and said, "There never was a 'Hey,' it was only Lady." He then went into about a 30 second long, "Laydeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" until he was totally out of breath. He held it for as long as he could. It's a recording I'll treasure for the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1960s, years after Martin and Lewis had parted with unhappy feelings, my parents and I toured the NBC studios in Burbank. At the time, both of these performers were stars of big NBC variety shows, both produced in the same building. The tour guide said that the hallway between the two studios was sometimes referred to as the Gaza Strip.
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