Saturday, September 7, 2002
For his kids - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- This past Labour Day, Jerry Lewis, for the umpteenth time, appeared on television sets across America. He was asking for money for his kids. Jerry’s kids, are those youngsters who’ve been felled by Muscular Dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases. Lewis is the septuagenarian zany comic who made film viewers (especially the French) guffaw for decades. Actually Lewis was famous for teaming up with Dean Martin, and as Martin and Lewis they made numbers of films and did television and other work. When they broke up, Lewis made a ton of comedies from The Nutty Professor to The Family Jewels. (My favourite Lewis performance is his understated turn in the brilliant Martin Scorsese dark comedy, The King of Comedy. Hands down this is Robert De Niro’s performance, but Lewis is as good playing against his type.)
Jerry Lewis has his own star quality. That reflects the look of the telethon. Year in and year out, he appears in a way that spells out he was born and bred in that swank era of show business. He appears each year, singing, dancing and introducing acts that remind us of the old Tonight Show that starred Johnny Carson, or even Ed Sullivan’s old show. He’s even got Carson’s old sidekick Ed McMahon as his sidekick, and the stage’s talent includes: Norm Crosby, Chicago, Charo to Savion Glover. Stars like these and more fill out the 21-hour telecast entertaining us for our money. Television comic Wayne Brady, of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, filled in for Lewis during portions of the program.
Lewis is a shadow of his former self. He’s no longer as wacky, nor as physically crazy as before. Old age has caught up to him and in recent years he has been unwell. A couple of years ago his appearances on his telethon were scaled back because he’d just suffered from encephalitis. Now, because of a bad lung, he’s on steroids and thus ballooned to a most massive size. He’s in the league of Marlon Brando, and as homely as a sofa. But he claims to be pain free and feeling better than he has in years.
As per usual when it came time to sing that hopeful and moving ballad “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Jerry lost it and nearly couldn’t finish the song. Unlike past years, Lewis did the song on stage, whilst 12-year old Mattie Stepanek was on stage in his wheelchair. Stepanek, was this year’s featured ‘kid’, who suffers from something called mitochondrial myopathy. He’s wheelchair bound, and hooked up to a ventilator, but he’s one of the most articulate individuals around. He’s been Oprah and on Larry King where his poetry has been duly featured. His books are top-sellers, seen on the New York Times best seller list.
Some $58 million dollars was raised this year. All the money will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association which Jerry has been patronising for over five decades. Why muscular dystrophy and not something like cancer or athlete’s foot, is something private Jerry has yet to divulge. Suffice to say, for over 30 years on national television Jerry has been raising money each Labour Day without much giving even his wife and kids the reason why he chose to raise dough for MD.
Jerry Lewis has raised millions and though that’s on par (perhaps exceeding) the charitable activities of other celebs like Paul Newman or Frank Sinatra, he’s never gotten recognised by the Motion Picture Academy. Seems the Oscar people would rather honour less controversial fund and awareness raisers like Quincy Jones or Charlton Heston rather than the lunatic and elastic Lewis. With that greasy hairdo and that flamboyant, if not bullying tone he takes, I’m sure it is easy to confuse his compassion with arrogance and ego. However, he does remarkable work and though it’s become a painful spectacle (for him and us) he’s doing so much work for a cure. Sure Jerry Lewis is arrogant and an egomaniac (and often forcefully opinionated), but he’s doing so much. He’s not only a comic genius, but a good guy in my book.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .