Jerry Lewis as The Jazz Singer, from the personal archives of Jerry Lewis...Not seen since its original 1959 Broadcast.  Signed "Jerry 2/12" in silver marker.

Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch;^[a] March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, dubbed as "The King of Comedy" and "The Total Filmmaker". He gained his career breakthrough together with singer Dean Martin, becoming Martin & Lewis in 1946 and for ten years, would both perform on stage and in film and television until their acrimonious breakup in 1956.

Lewis pursued a solo career, starring in several theatrical movies, worked behind-the-scenes as director, producer and screenwriter, performed comedy routines on stage, released many albums as a singer and raised awareness for muscular dystrophy, while as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, most notably The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon he hosted, which raised $2.6 billion for the cause.

Lewis was born on March 16, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey, to Daniel "Danny" Levitch (1902–80), a master of ceremonies and vaudevillian, who performed under the stage name Danny Lewis, from New York whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire, and Rachael "Rae" Levitch (née Brodsky; 1903–83), a WOR pianist and Danny's music director from Warsaw.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} Reports as to his birth name are conflicting; in Lewis' 1982 autobiography, he claimed his birth name was Joseph, after his maternal grandfather, but his birth certificate,^[11][12] the 1930 U. S. Census, and the 1940 U. S. Census all name him as Jerome.^{[13][4][14][15]}

Lewis said that he ceased using the names Joseph and Joey as an adult to avoid being confused with Joe E. Lewis and Joe Louis.^[8] Reports as to the hospital in which he was born conflict as well, with biographer Shawn Levy claiming he was born at Clinton Private Hospital and others claiming Newark Beth Israel Hospital.^{[16][17][18][19]} Other claims of his early life also conflict with accounts made by family members, burial records, and vital records.

He was a "character" even in his teenage years, pulling pranks in his neighborhood including sneaking into kitchens to steal fried chicken and pies. He dropped out of Irvington High School in the tenth grade. By age 15, he had developed his "Record Act" miming lyrics to songs while a phonograph played offstage. He landed a gig at a burlesque house in Buffalo, but his performance fell flat and was unable to book any more shows. Lewis worked as a soda jerk and a theater usher for Suzanne Pleshette's father Gene at the Paramount Theatre^{[20][21][22][23][24]} as well as at Loew's Capitol Theatre, both in New York City,^[25] to make ends meet.

A veteran burlesque comedian, Max Coleman, who had worked with Lewis' father years before, persuaded him to try again. Irving Kaye,^{[26][27][28][29]} a Borscht Belt comedian, saw Lewis' mime act at Brown's Hotel in Loch Sheldrake, New York, the following summer, and the audience was so enthusiastic that Kaye became Lewis' manager and guardian for Borscht Belt appearances.^[30] During World War II, he was rejected for military service because of a heart murmur.^[31]

Career

Performing with Dean Martin

Lewis with Dean Martin in 1950

Lewis initially gained attention as part of a double act with singer Dean Martin, who served as straight man to Lewis' zany antics as the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They were different from other duo acts of the time because they played to each other and had ad-libbed improvisational segments within their planned routines.

After forming in 1946, they quickly rose to national prominence, first with their popular nightclub act, then as stars of their NBC radio program The Martin and Lewis Show.^[32] The two made appearances on early live television on their June 20, 1948 debut broadcast on Toast of the Town (later renamed as The Ed Sullivan Show on September 25, 1955) on CBS.^[33] This was followed by a guest stint on The Milton Berle Show, then their appearance on NBC's Welcome Aboard on October 3, 1948.

In 1950, Martin and Lewis signed with NBC to be one of a series of weekly rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour, a live Sunday evening broadcast. Lewis, writer for the team's nightclub act, hired Norman Lear and Ed Simmons as regular writers for their Comedy Hour material.^[34][35] Their Comedy Hour shows consisted of stand-up dialogue, song and dance from their nightclub act and movies, backed by Dick Stabile's big band, slapstick and satirical sketch comedy, Martin's solo songs, and Lewis' solo pantomimes or physical numbers.

Martin and Lewis often broke character, ad-libbing and breaking the fourth wall. While not completely capturing the orchestrated mayhem of their nightclub act, the Comedy Hour displayed charismatic energy between the team and established their popularity nationwide. By 1951, with an appearance at the Paramount Theater, they were a cultural phenomenon, attracting crowds rivaled only by Frank Sinatra earlier and later by Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The duo began their film careers at Paramount Pictures as ensemble players, in a 1949 film adaptation of the radio series My Friend Irma and its sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).

Soon after, Martin and Lewis starred in their own vehicles in 14 new movies, At War with the Army (1950), That's My Boy (1951), Sailor Beware (1952), Jumping Jacks (1952), The Stooge (1952), Scared Stiff (1953), The Caddy (1953), Money from Home (1953), Living It Up (1954), 3 Ring Circus (1954), You're Never Too Young (1955), Artists and Models (1955), Pardners (1956) and Hollywood or Bust (1956), all produced by Hal B. Wallis.

In 1952, Martin and Lewis appeared on Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's Olympic Fund Telethon, cameoed in their film Road to Bali (1952) and then Hope and Crosby would do the same thing in Lewis and Martin's Scared Stiff a year later. Attesting to the duo's popularity, DC Comics published The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis from 1952 to 1957. In 1954, the team appeared on episode 191 of What's My Line? as mystery guests, appeared on the 27th annual Academy Awards in 1955 and appeared on The Steve Allen Show and The Today Show in 1956.

Their films were reliable financial successes for Paramount and hugely popular with audiences, in later years, both Lewis and Martin admitted frustration, and were critical of Wallis for his formulaic and trite film choices, restricting them to narrow, repetitive roles. As Martin's roles in their films became less important over time and Lewis receiving the majority of critical acclaim, the partnership came under strain. Martin's participation became an embarrassment in 1954 when Look magazine published a publicity photo of the team for the magazine cover but cropped Martin out.^[36]

After their partnership ended with their final nightclub act on July 24, 1956, both Martin and Lewis went on to highly successful solo careers and neither would comment on the split nor consider a reunion. However, they would occasionally be seen at the same public events, though never together. On two occasions, Martin invited Lewis on stage, in 1958 and 1961, but the split was too serious for them to reconcile. Sinatra surprised Lewis by bringing Martin on stage on the MDA telethon in September 1976^[37] and in 1989, Lewis attended Martin's 72nd birthday.