If you're a fan of old showbiz, old comedy or "celebrities at their worst" style out takes then you might very well be familiar with this session of profane bliss. But regardless, if you've heard it before or not, it really never gets old. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were in the recording studio taping radio spots to advertise their latest Martin & Lewis picture for Paramount, The Caddy (1953), when they let their true feelings show.As far as the film is concerned it is a weaker-than-usual vehicle for the comedy duo. One of the film's great problems is its length. At ninety-five minutes the picture is a good twenty minutes longer than most Martin & Lewis films. Even the greatest fan of Jerry's mugging does not have that kind of stamina. However, the film debuted the song "That's Amore" for Dino and won an Oscar for Best Original Song. We also see Martin & Lewis recreate their nightclub act for the film, but under the name of their fictional film characters.
The Caddy is best viewed as a showcase for annonymous character actors - almost as a game for the viewer to determine where they have seen each familiar face before. The hilarious Nancy Kulp who would find fame as the deadpan secretary with the hots for Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies, has a very early role in the film. Today the movie is best known as the film promoted in this classic out take reel.
>>One of the film's great problems is its length. At ninety-five minutes the picture is a good twenty minutes longer than most Martin & Lewis films. Even the greatest fan of Jerry's mugging does not have that kind of stamina.<<
ReplyDeleteYour statements are factually incorrect. At 95 minutes, only four of the 16 Martin and Lewis films are shorter than "The Caddy."
"Pardners" - 90 mins.
"My Friend Irma Goes West" - 91 mins.
"At War With the Army" - 93 mins.
"The Stooge" - 92 mins.
Those tiny differences are inconsequential.
Two others are 95 mins. in length: "Living It Up" and "Hollywood or Bust." Their longest -- and the one many consider the team's best -- "Artists and Models" runs 109 mins.
Furthermore, to imply the fans didn't care for Jerry's extended mugging is to not understand the motion picture industry during the 1950s and '60s. Jerry Lewis was not only the backbone of Paramount's success in the era, he reigned as the number one commercially successful star in Hollywood for another full decade and then some after "The Caddy." Not one of his 33 starring pictures at Paramount lost money. They kept the studio's doors open through grim economic periods, thanks to those fans.
Hey pallie, thnnks so much for sharin' these great outakes by our Dino and the jer. Never was, never will be anyone as cool as our King of Cool, Oh, to return to the days when Dino walked the earth!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBack in the 70s, Steve Martin asked, "Would Jerry Lewis still be funny if he'd discovered the dry look?" (Referring to Lewis's greasy hair.) It's interesting to speculate how we'd all feel about Lewis if we hadn't been exposed to decades of his telethon-hosting.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Lewis's recent memoir of his partnership with Martin is some of the most compelling reading around at the moment. Like with the Three Stooges, Martin & Lewis are somehow exponentially more fascinating to read about than actually watch.
I always thought 90 minutes was too short for a movie until I saw the new "Fantastic Four" film the other day: it felt like three hours, although it wasn't a bad movie (a Colin Powell-style villain tortures the Silver Surfer Gitmo-style). I love whiling away the day in a theatre watching back-to-back movies and savored the Museum of Modern Art's quintuple-feature(!) of Isabel Huppert films one Saturday a couple of years ago.
dead link! I really want to see that first video.
ReplyDeleteLink fixed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video! Want a different take on our duo... go and read Sam Moffie's The Organ Grinder and the Monkey... it's set in Steubenville and Dino and Jerry are always around the story.
ReplyDeletelink BROKE!
ReplyDelete