# RIP Jerry Lewis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200 "2017-08-20T18:03:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/1 "2017-08-20T18:03:40Z")
Just got a notification from BBC News. He was a controversial figure and hard to work with but he sacrificed decades working to help find a cure for muscular dystrophy. He made some funny films and raised millions. This complicated man will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/2 "2017-08-20T18:09:41Z")
I mourn with the people of France. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/3 "2017-08-20T18:11:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I mourn with the people of France. ☹ He was considered a genius in France. RIP, Mr. Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/4 "2017-08-20T18:17:20Z")
He was very funny in his day. Martin & Lewis were #1 for a while. I believe he did more good than bad with his Telethon. He was a part of my childhood, whether watching his silly movies on the local stations or the Labor Day Telethon in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/5 "2017-08-20T18:18:53Z")
Another childhood icon gone. We always eagerly anticipated his next goofy movie when I was a kid and laughed our asses off at his antics. Along with the Three Stooges, his slapstick was loved by boys and hated by girls. I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who liked his movies. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/6 "2017-08-20T18:39:44Z")
I’m a woman and my sister and I both adored Jerry Lewis when we were growing up. Couldn’t wait for his movies. I raised a tidy some one year for his telethon and I was shown on our local Miami station turning the money in. I felt like I was famous! 🙂 I grew to not like him as much, but certainly never wished him ill. Rest in Peace Jerry. You made a lot of people laugh. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/7 "2017-08-20T19:17:50Z")
I wonder - what will happen now with his “cursed” movie? “The day the clown cried”? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/8 "2017-08-20T19:17:56Z")
Wow - I guess I’m getting old. I thought a Jerry Lewis posting would be filled with responses (both good and bad) - instead there are only six. I was no big fan of his but it’s sad that he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/9 "2017-08-20T19:32:32Z")
Jerry’s Telethon was a part of my Labor Day weekend for most of my life. He was already doing them when I was born. It’s sad that Jerry couldn’t live long enough to see a cure. That’s probably decades away. But the research he helped fund has certainly made a cure a possibility. I’ve seen old footage of his act with Dean. It was funny. I didn’t watch many of Jerry’s movies. The Nutty Professor is the only one I remember seeing. I enjoyed it. RIP ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/10 "2017-08-20T19:34:00Z")
Well, damn. I always liked Martin better and felt Lewis’ antics were more embarrassing than funny but always had a soft spot for him anyway. RIP, Jerry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/11 "2017-08-20T19:38:11Z")
Jerry and Dean, together again! Gonna be some mighty big yucks and hefty mitts in that great club in the sky tonight! RIP, Jer! :o ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/12 "2017-08-20T19:59:14Z")
I don’t think I have seen any of his famous comedies, at least as an adult, but he was terrific in Martin Scorcese’s King of Comedy one of the great films about media and celebrity. I was just reading his NYTimes obituary and was intrigued to read that he was deeply interested in film technique: he apparently invented a device called the video assist and taught at the film school at USC. I think I have to watch the Nutty Professor some time. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/13 "2017-08-20T20:16:50Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > I wonder - what will happen now with his “cursed” movie? “The day the clown cried”? I’m guessing it will still sit until some future date(I can’t recall yet) when it is supposed to be able to go public. There are 30 minutes of it out there from last year, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/14 "2017-08-20T20:29:20Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Wow - I guess I’m getting old. I thought a Jerry Lewis posting would be filled with responses (both good and bad) - instead there are only six. You’re getting old :). Jerry Lewis basically lived just long enough to kinda slip out of the public eye. I strongly suspect that neither his acting nor even his interminable telethons are all that familiar to modern( young )audiences. Granted the telethons technically lasted nearly as long as he did, but they had long ceased to draw that many eyeballs. A talented, complicated man. But as noted above he surely did more good than ill in this world. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/15 "2017-08-20T20:34:46Z")
If interested you can find most of the Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin Movies on Youtube, for example: https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLva_EZSYKpoIwFDHAKrWKeergHPgmlzpC&wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=1&enablejsapi=1 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/16 "2017-08-20T20:51:01Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > You’re getting old :). Jerry Lewis basically lived just long enough to kinda slip out of the public eye. I strongly suspect that neither his acting nor even his interminable telethons are all that familiar to modern( young )audiences. Just out of curiosity, what are the median and average ages of SDMB members? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/17 "2017-08-20T21:05:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Just out of curiosity, what are the median and average ages of SDMB members? :dubious: 😕 OLD :p. Here’s a poll from [2010](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=554352) with a few hundred responses and I’ve doubt we’ve gotten much younger. ETA: And here is one from [2015](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770417). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/18 "2017-08-20T21:08:07Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He was considered a genius in France. That is a myth, like the Yeti, or his North American cousin, the Sasquatch. Jerry Lewis. One of a kind. RIP, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/19 "2017-08-20T21:24:14Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > I don’t think I have seen any of his famous comedies, at least as an adult, but he was terrific in Martin Scorcese’s King of Comedy one of the great films about media and celebrity. … Yes, he was good in _The King of Comedy_. Clearly he could have had a decent career as a straight actor, had he wanted it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of some of his remarks in recent years, but he undeniably was a giant on the American entertainment scene, and as mentioned, he did raise a lot of money for charity. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200/20 "2017-08-20T21:33:15Z")
Oh shit. That’s bad news. Martin and Lewis in combination were incredible, although it’s said by those who saw them in the Copa and other night-clubs in the late 40s and 50s that they never captured the same magic in their movies. It was still enough for me to love them when I was young. When they split up I was really unhappy. Martin went on to become a pretty good actor, Lewis made movies solo, some of which were good, most of which weren’t. Now he and Dino can re-unite and start knocking them dead in the heavenly Copacabana. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-jerry-lewis/794200.md?page=2)