Martin and Lewis
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- This article is about the American comedy duo Martin & Lewis. For the British-born humorist, writer, producer and TV/radio host - see Martin Lewis. For other uses of the name - see Martin Lewis (disambiguation).
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin (as the "straight man") and comedian Jerry Lewis (as his funny man). The pair first met in 1944; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24, 1946.[citation needed]
They worked together in nightclubs, on radio (starting in 1949) and in television and films. In the team's later years, it was no longer billed by the two men's surnames alone, as in their early radio work, but by their full names: "Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis." These separate identities helped them launch successful solo careers after the team's dissolution.
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[edit] Nightclubs
In 1944, Martin met a young comic named Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both men were performing.[citation needed] Martin and Lewis' official debut together occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24, 1946, and they were not a hit. The owner, Skinny D'Amato, warned them that if they didn't come up with a better act for their second show later that same night, they would be fired. Huddling together out in the alley behind the club, Lewis and Martin agreed to go for broke, to throw out the pre-scripted gags that hadn't worked and to basically just improvise their way through the act. Dean sang some songs, and Jerry came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and more or less making a shambles of both Martin's performance and the club's sense of decorum. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter.
Their success at the 500 led to a series of well-paying engagements up and down the Eastern seaboard, culminating with a triumphant run at New York's Copacabana.[citation needed] Club patrons were convulsed by the act, which consisted primarily of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, and ultimately the two of them chasing each other around the stage and having as much fun as possible. The secret, they have both said[citation needed], is that they essentially ignored the audience and played to one another.
[edit] Radio, television and films
A radio series commenced in 1949, the same year that Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount producer Hal Wallis as comedy relief for the film My Friend Irma.
Martin was thrilled to be out of New York City, a place he had developed a lifelong hatred for.[who?] He liked it that California, because of its earthquakes, had few tall buildings. Suffering as he did from claustrophobia, Martin almost never used elevators, and having to climb multiple flights of stairs in Manhattan's skyscrapers was not his idea of fun.
Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of Hollywood's best deals: although they received only a modest $75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, Martin and Lewis were free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions. They also had complete control of their club, record, radio and television appearances, and it was through these endeavors that Martin and Lewis earned millions of dollars. They made regular appearances on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour during the 1950s.
Although there had been a number of hugely successful film teams before, Martin and Lewis were a new kind of team. The fun they had together set them apart from everything else being done at the time. Both were talented entertainers, but the fact that they were such good friends on and off stage took their act to a new level.
Martin and Lewis were the hottest act in America during the early '50s, but the pace and the pressure took their toll. Dean usually had the thankless job of the straight man, and his singing had yet to develop into his unique style of his later years. The critics praised Lewis, and while they admitted that Martin was the best partner he could have, most of them claimed that Lewis was the real talent of the team and could succeed with anyone. It is worth noting that Lewis always praised his partner, and while he appreciated the attention he was getting, he has always said with complete conviction that the act would never have worked without Martin.[citation needed] In the book Dean & Me Lewis calls Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time.
After five years at Paramount Pictures, Dean Martin was tiring of scripts limiting him to colorless romantic leads while the stories centered on the antics of Jerry Lewis. Martin also noticed that Lewis was being more ambitious, playing comedy scenes for pathos and staging more of the action himself. The last straw came when Look Magazine gave Martin and Lewis a cover photo -- and cropped Martin out of the picture. Martin dutifully fulfilled the rest of his movie contract, but put less and less enthusiasm into his work, leading to escalating arguments with Lewis. The two finally couldn't possibly work together, especially when Martin told his partner that he was "nothing to me but a fucking dollar sign."[1] Martin left the act at his first opportunity, on July 24, 1956 (10 years to the day after the first official teaming).
[edit] After the split
Martin's career arguably reached new heights after the team split up, as a movie actor (Rio Bravo, The Young Lions and the Matt Helm series), as a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack (Ocean's Eleven, Sergeants 3, Robin and the Seven Hoods), and with his own hugely successful 1960s television variety series. Lewis made a succession of commercially successful films on his own (The Nutty Professor, The Bellboy) before his own film career declined in the early-1970s.
Apart from a surprise appearance by Martin on one of Lewis's annual telethons for muscular dystrophy 20 years later in 1976 (orchestrated by mutual friend Frank Sinatra) they reconciled privately in the later years of Martin's life.
Another source[who?] claims that contrary to belief, the 1976 MDA telethon was not the first reconciliation of the legendary comedy team. In 1960, four years after they split, Martin & Lewis briefly reunited. Both were performing their own separate acts at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, a club they frequently played while they were together. Lewis caught Martin's closing act and Martin introduced his former partner to the audience, bringing him on stage. For about 15 minutes, they joked a bit and sang a duet of "Come Back to Me". Unfortunately, the reunion was only a one-time thing. Later in 1960, when Lewis was rushing to finish The Bellboy and too exhausted to perform his stage act, Martin generously replaced him.
In 1987, when Dean's son Dino Martin Jr. was killed in a plane crash, Jerry attended the funeral unannounced. He did not walk up to Dean, for he did not want any reporters to catch them together. Later when Dean found out about it, he called Jerry and talked to him for about an hour. Finally in 1989, the two reunited for the last time together at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas where Dean was doing a week of shows (what would be his last concert appearances). The occasion was Dean's 72nd birthday. Lewis presented him with a birthday cake, thanked him for all the years he gave joy to the world, and finally joked "Why we broke up, I'll never know".
The animosity between Martin and Lewis after the split was legendary, but Lewis published an affectionate memoir of his partnership with Martin called "Dean and Me - A Love Story" in 2006.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Movie | Jerry Lewis Role | Dean Martin Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | My Friend Irma | Seymour | Steve Laird | Film Debut |
| 1950 | My Friend Irma Goes West | Seymour | Steve Laird | |
| 1950 | At War with the Army | PFC Alvin Korwin | Sgt Victor Puccinelli | |
| 1951 | That's My Boy | 'Junior' Jackson | Bill Baker | |
| 1952 | Sailor Beware | Melvin Jones | Al Crowthers | |
| 1952 | Jumping Jacks | Hap Smith | Chick Allen | |
| 1952 | Road to Bali | 'Woman' in Lala's Dream | Man in Lala's Dream | Cameo; first appearance in Technicolor |
| 1953 | The Stooge | Theodore Rogers | Bill Miller | |
| 1953 | Scared Stiff | Myron Mertz | Larry Todd | |
| 1953 | The Caddy | Harvey Miller, Jr. | Joe Anthony | |
| 1953 | Money from Home | Virgil Yokum | Herman "Honey Talk" Nelson | Filmed in 3-D. |
| 1954 | Living It Up | Homer Flagg | Dr. Steve Harris | |
| 1954 | 3 Ring Circus | Jerome F. Hotchkiss | Pete Nelson | Re-released in 1978 as 'Jerrico The Wonder Clown' |
| 1955 | You're Never Too Young | Wilbur Hoolick | Bob Miles | |
| 1955 | Artists and Models | Eugene Fullstack | Rick Todd | |
| 1956 | Pardners | Wade Kingsley Sr/Wade Kingsley Jr | Slim Mosley Sr/Slim Mosley Jr | |
| 1956 | Hollywood or Bust | Malcolm Smith | Steve Wiley | Last film together |
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis, Jerry: "Dean & Me: A Love Story", page 277. Pan Books, 2007
[edit] Further reading
- The Jerry Lewis Films by James L. Neibaur and Ted Okuda (Lewis is quoted throughout, including his account of the Martin and Lewis years). Jefferson, SC: McFarland, 1994, ISBN 0-8995-0961-4
