The King of Comedy Life of Jerry Lewis
"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not differ nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"(TOJLCMS, 5). For Jerry Lewis, this was a common outlook he had. Jerry has devoted his life to entertaining others and putting a smile on their faces. Although he did suffer numerous struggles, Jerry Lewis has still successfully made it to the top (Lewis, 3).
Joseph Levitch was born March 16, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. He was born to Danny and Rae Levitch (Levy, 1). "Jerry's folks were part time entertainers and because of this, he was left home a lot" (Lewis, 15). The only person in his life he felt belongingness with was with his grandmother. His grandmother was a person whom he felt secure and through her he received the love he longed for (Lewis, 15). "Jerry Lewis has always depicted his childhood as a desperate, neurotic struggle with abandonment, friendlessness, deprivation, and Nazis, turning his early life into a kind of explanation of the strange course of his career" (Levy, 1).
Lewis first performed at the age of five. "As a kid, he dreamed of growing up and become a clown" (Lewis, 15). At the age of 17 he quit school to enter into show business (Levy, 1). He chose the last name Lewis from his biological fathers stage name. He then changed his first name from Joseph to Jerry so he would not be confused with Joe E. Lewis (Levy, 1). "Jerry went around to different agents exploiting them with his fathers familiarity to get a foot in the door" (Levy, 34).
"The career of Jerry Lewis did not really begin until July 25,1946, when the 20-year old teamed up for the ...
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...his ranges from his work for MDA to his simple movie acting. Les Aspin (a congressman from Wisconsin) once said "Jerry Lewis is a man for all seasons, all people, all times. His name has, in the hearts of millions, become synonymous with peace, love, and brotherhood" (TOJLCMS, 2).
Bibliography:
Works Cited
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Lewis, Patti. I Laffed Till I Cried. Texas: WRS publishing, 1993.
Norky. The Jerry Lewis website. 1995 http://users.aol.com/norky1995/index.html.
Shaviro, Steven. The Jerry Lewis Page. 1999
http://dhalgren.english.washington.edu/~steve/Jerry/.
The Official Jerry Lewis Comedy Museum and Store. Jerry Lewis Comedy Classics
Online. Feb 1999 http://www.jerrylewiscomedy.com/bbiography.htm.
John L. Lewis was born on the 2nd of February in 1880 in Lucas, Iowa and he’s was born in to a family of immigrant welch parents which worked in coal mining and trade unionism. By the age of 15 John began working in coal mining and 2 years later he married his wife Myrta Bell, she influenced him to read many things which would later come in to his aid in his public speeches as flowery phrases, Shakespearean quotations, and mixed metaphors. He soon move to souther...
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performances. Jerry used a form of comedy that no one had ever seen before. He
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Lowe, John. "'Cast in Yo' Nets Right Here': Finding a Comic Voice." Jump at the Sun. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
For my paper I chose rock musician Lenny Kravitz. I will discuss in detail his rise to critical acclaim as well as show the individual influences towards his works. He is definitely one of my favorite musicians who's work I fondly enjoy.
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Muir, Kenneth. "Comedic Relief." Bloom's Guides. Ed. Jaynce Marson. Broomall: Chelsea House, 2004. 46-47. Print.
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