This book was acquired from the private collection of a national entertainment correspondent. The author inscribed and gifted it to her from his own collection during one of their interviews at his Las Vegas home. A rare gem of a collector's item.

(From back cover of 2005 reprint: "It was 1962. I was at Paramount filming The Nutty Professor, a labor of love that transcended everything else I had ever done. One day I felt instinctively that there were minor rumblings among my crew. Backbiting and envy are two of the most destructive forces I know of. So I went home that night, sat down and wrote a tome -- a small one, but a tome, on the benefits of being a person. I wrote the words in a matter of two hours and had my sketch artist interpret what I wrote in sketches. Within one week I had the little book printed and bound and made up only 200 copies (my crew was a total of 185). I distributed the book to every member of that crew and it made a difference... and I created a small, worthwhile message to all who read it.")

During the 1960 production of The Bellboy, Lewis pioneered the technique of using video cameras and multiple closed circuit monitors, which allowed him to review his performance instantly. This was necessary since he was acting as well as directing. Starting in 1967, Lewis taught a film directing class at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for a number of years. His students included George Lucas, whose friend Steven Spielberg sometimes sat in on classes

Through his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Lewis supported fundraising for muscular dystrophy research and hosted The Jerry Lewis Telethon. He starred in 60 movies (with worldwide box office receipts in excess of $800 million) and directed 13.