I watched this show yesterday and I was blown away by it. It would not be on TV these days for several reasons. Joan Rivers is interviewing a child psychologist and Jerry Lewis. Lewis is in favor of spanking his kids. I found an interesting snippet while watching this . Jerry Lewis who grew up performing in the Catskills and attending orthodox shuls says on live TV in 1968 that he prefers to wear a yamulke in shul while davening because he grew up going to orthdox shuls. He says this 4 minutes into this clip. This is all quite curious when one looks at the secular Jewish life that Lewis has lived. It just goes to show you that there always is that spark of a Jew within a person no matter how much one has strayed.
Showing posts with label Jerry Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerry Lewis. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2015
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Jerry Lewis and The Jazz Singer
I have been looking for this version of The Jazz Singer for years. I should have looked at you tube sooner. Dov Bear posted this on his blog, so I had to post it here. Its post Yom Kippur, so its quasi appropriate. I still think that the original version with Al Jolson was the best version of The Jazz Singer.
Monday, August 5, 2013
When Comedy Went to School
I saw this movie last night at the JCC in Manhattan. It was a lovely homage to the birth of stand up comedy and the Catskills. Afterward there was a Q& A afterward
with the filmmakers and Jerry Stiller.
The film explained to the average person who is not familiar with the Catskills and the borscht belt that the the beginnings of stand up comedy started there. A lot of frum Jews still go to the Catskills every summer, but the true heyday were the 1930's to the 1960's .
Robert Klein is the main narrator . Jerry Lewis, Larry King, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller, Mort Sahl , Jackie Mason, Buddy Hackett's son, and a few other comedians whose names I am not familiar with were interviewed. Buddy Hackett, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks, Alan King , Don Rickles , Carl Reiner, Totie Fields and Eddie Canter were also featured.
The 1930's - 1960's was a time when Jewish people went to the Catskills with their single children and tried to find them a Jewish spouse there. Jerry Stiller said that he and his wife were actually not so welcome to perform there at that time because they were an intermarried couple.
Though the stomping ground of comedians today is not the Catskills, there still are a lot of Jewish comedians. Comedy is about words and putting words together and timing. Jewish people have a knack for just that. Also as the film suggests , with one of our forefathers named Yitzchak whose name means he will laugh, why wouldn't Jews be good at comedy?
The film explained to the average person who is not familiar with the Catskills and the borscht belt that the the beginnings of stand up comedy started there. A lot of frum Jews still go to the Catskills every summer, but the true heyday were the 1930's to the 1960's .
Robert Klein is the main narrator . Jerry Lewis, Larry King, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller, Mort Sahl , Jackie Mason, Buddy Hackett's son, and a few other comedians whose names I am not familiar with were interviewed. Buddy Hackett, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks, Alan King , Don Rickles , Carl Reiner, Totie Fields and Eddie Canter were also featured.
The 1930's - 1960's was a time when Jewish people went to the Catskills with their single children and tried to find them a Jewish spouse there. Jerry Stiller said that he and his wife were actually not so welcome to perform there at that time because they were an intermarried couple.
Though the stomping ground of comedians today is not the Catskills, there still are a lot of Jewish comedians. Comedy is about words and putting words together and timing. Jewish people have a knack for just that. Also as the film suggests , with one of our forefathers named Yitzchak whose name means he will laugh, why wouldn't Jews be good at comedy?
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