Today is Jerry Lewis 80th birthday. So Happy Birthday to you. When I was between the ages of 5 and 9 to me the biggest names in movie stars were Dean Jones, Kurt Russell, Elvis and Jerry Lewis. I didn't see any of the movies that he did with Dean Martin till I was older when they reran them on TV. I loved anything that had to do with Jerry Lewis. I saw all his movies mostly when Mom and Dad took me to the drive-in. I was such a big fan of his that one of my memories of my families first trips to Florida was when we first got there and got a room at a hotel. We ate our dinner and watched Rock-A-Bye Baby. On his own Mr. Lewis starred in movies that were either cinema genius or to be kind not that good. Love him or hate him you have to admit that he is a very talanted man who can make people laugh. My favorites were the Patsy, Cinderfella and of course The Nutty Professor. While with Dean Martin DC Comics starred them in their own comic book. When they broke up DC kept Jerry in his own book. Later in the early 70's he got his own cartoon series. I hope they put that out on a DVD boxed set soon. Every labor day he did a wonderful thing by getting entertainers together to raise money to combat MD. For the longest time I watched every year and pledged because an old elementry school friend of mine, Wayne VonGrease and his brother found out that they both had it. It was so bad that Wayne had to leave school because he could no longer climb the stairs. Later I saw in the newspapers that he graduated high school without ever setting foot in the school. This was in the days before home schooling became more normal. When they took the play "Damn Yankees" was on the road my friend Jeff Reeves and I got tickets. He said he knew someone who could get us in to meet Mr. Lewis. If Jeff said he could get us in to meet someone it usually happened. However, this time his show business powers met their match and we didn't get in. We gave then some photos to see if they could get him to sign them but they came back unsigned. Now I don't hold any of that against Jeff or Mr. Lewis. Jerry may not even know that it happened. Since the 70's Mr. Lewis became better known for his temper, his feud with Mr. Martin and medical problems. From what I have heard Mr. Martin and Mr. Lewis made up before Mr. Martin passed away. I am happy that so far it seems that his medical problems are a thing of the past or at least are on their way to his past. Now while I may not agree with how he expresses his anger I am sure in some ways his anger is justified. So here is to you Jerry. Happy Birthday. Thanks for the good times. Thanks for surviving life and have a piece of birthday cake for me.
The above movie poster I got from this auction site.
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