Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Monday, August 11, 2014

Jerry Scores A Paramount Bullseye


His Best May Be The Patsy (1964) ... Or Not

Jerry Lewis' masterpiece, if I may use the word. It followed The Nutty Professor in terms of Jerry directing and writing (with Bill Richmond). If you want inside Jerry's skull, here's the entrance. He was still potent enough at Paramount to spend free on lush setting --- there are doozies here --- and JL's camera is always up to interesting things. The bloom was coming off the rose, however, The Patsy at two million in domestic rentals being way down from Professor's $3.3 million, and in-between Who's Minding The Store with $2.5. Rentals were thus dipping as Lewis profligacy increased. Was The Patsy too sophisticated for Jerry's increasingly youthful crowd?


There's leisure (plenty) in an opener reel all but labeled "Place Exposition Here" before JL even enters, but who's complaining when it's rogue gallery of Everett Sloane, John Carradine, Keenan Wynn, Phil Harris, and Peter Lorre (just prior to his death, and looking it). The girl is Ina Balin; she's supposed to find Jerry adorable, which calls for acting a Garbo or Gish couldn't manage, what with JL in spastic mode intermitting with suave offscreen Lewis, a weird parlay increasingly woven into his act after Buddy Love parted curtains. There are "star" cameos --- George Raft, with whom Hollywood was long done, though not Vegas (greeter) --- did Jerry buddy up with needy George at casinos? Then there's Rhonda Fleming being asked how her "new picture" is going. What new picture? She hadn't done a US feature since 1960's The Crowded Sky. But that's The Patsy's charm, Jerry operating as if it's still the 40's with show business in a twenty-year ago groove.

Maurice Chevalier Is A Guest To The Patsy Set

But go back even further to the barber trimming "Stanley Bolt's" (Lewis) hair ... Griffith veteran Neil Hamilton from silent days. Then there's Gavin Gordon on a golf course, he of earliest talkies and, I'm sure, thrilled for a day's work back at Paramount. Plus comes Mantan Moreland, Billy Bletcher, Fritz Feld, Benny Rubin --- I should follow each of these names with exclamation marks, as that's how pleased we are at seeing them. Lewis would make a great Cinecon guest just to talk about all of survivor greats to whom he gave work. Jerry's stock company is also in evidence: Buddy Lester, Del Moore, my favorite Dave Willock. So what of the comedy --- indeed, so what? Well, I think it's Jerry's best, whatever one thinks that amounts to. An extended routine with Hans Conried is certifiably a howl. Lewis obviously took dim-view of rock and roll, his thing being swing, so he sends up the big beat mercilessly (having done that before). This time it's I Lost My Heart In A Drive-In Movie, which Jerry lip-syncs to insult of recording pretenders I'd bet he loathed. Memo to 1964 Jerry: The music war was over, and your side lost.

6 Comments:

Blogger Kevin K. said...

Your comment about Jerry being in some kind of a time warp is quite true. The last time he hosted the Telethon, he was making references to Vic Tanny and telling Helen Keller jokes. To me, it seems like time stopped for Jerry in 1957, when he and Dean broke up.

But anyone who'd round up a cast like that in The Patsy is cool in my book.

3:09 PM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Donald Benson considers Jerry the Self-Aware Genius in "The Patsy":


For me, "The Patsy" is the most emphatic of Jerry's "I'm-a-natural-genius" tales.

The setup is that a famous comic/singer/actor is dead and his handlers decide they can drop anybody into his shoes and fabricate a star (the old studio thinking). They grab Jerry and put him through the mill. But he only becomes a real star when an improbably placed camera catches him in an elaborate (and unintentional) pantomime. After all, who needs directors, writers, producers, etc. when you have unspoiled Jerry not even trying to be funny? Once the character figures this out, he becomes the assured "real" Jerry -- a self-aware comic genius.

It's basically the ending of "The Errand Boy" writ larger. In that one, he's an incompetent working undercover to spot inefficiency; a plot point seemingly abandoned the moment it's introduced. After spot gags and profound moments with hand puppets, he ruins a studio party. The footage is seen by an Acclaimed Genius New York Stage Director -- presented as the real article, not a pretentious joke -- who lectures the studio chief on what a miraculous talent is seen here. End with Jerry a big movie star, reveling in the attention and teaching a dim billboard-poster -- himself -- how to be comically incompetent.

The theme goes back to "The Stooge", where Jerry is unaware that he's the big laugh-getter in Dino's act. And before Jerry, Chaplin wrestled with it in "The Circus."

5:32 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just watched this on MoviePlex HD. Definitely some interesting bits though much of it seems extended... trimming might have made it sharper. Certainly the show biz world he portrays here was already gone in 1964. Interesting that when Ed Sullivan makes his cameo he mentions the Beatles---who had only been on his show months before. I still prefer THE NUTTY PROFESSOR.

8:43 PM  
Blogger Randy Jepsen said...

I was 11 when this came out. So I went because I did like Lewis. And, boy-o-boy, I hated this movie. Lorre died two weeks after finishing this film.

9:21 PM  
Blogger Mike Cline said...

I prefer THE LADIES MAN.

11:16 AM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Joe Dante sends along the following link to his outstanding site, Trailers From Hell, where "The Bellboy" is the featured preview, with Joe's insightful commentary. I really enjoyed seeing, and listening to this:

http://trailersfromhell.com/patsy/#.U-wELs_BHXe

9:33 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024