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Post by Classickat on Sept 20, 2018 4:43:17 GMT
The Unknown Jerry: Home Movies and More from the Jerry Lewis Collection at the Library of Congress October 2–11, 2018 The Museum of Modern Art www.moma.org/calendar/film/5019?locale=enAlthough his official debut as a filmmaker wouldn’t occur until The Bellboy in 1960, Jerry Lewis actually began directing movies soon after his arrival in Hollywood in 1949. Working with a group of close industry friends, Lewis wrote, photographed, and directed a series of 16mm films that pushed the definition of “home movies” to its limits, featuring synchronized sound, professional acting, and fully developed storylines. Presented as “Gar-Ron Productions”—the name came from Jerry and Patti Lewis’s two oldest sons, Gary and Ron—these fledgling efforts featured the Lewis’s close friends Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jerry’s screen partner Dean Martin, writers Harry Crane and Danny Arnold (later of Barney Miller fame), and a rotating cast of family members and Pacific Palisades neighbors. Made between 1951 and 1955, these neophyte works reveal an intuitive understanding of framing and cutting that would blossom with Lewis’s great feature films of the 1960s (a sampling of which are included here). Newly preserved by the Library of Congress, these films are being shown here for the first time in their entirety. Organized by Dave Kehr, Curator, Department of Film. Special thanks to Rob Stone, Moving Image Curator, The Library of Congress; Chris Lewis, American Wheelchair Mission; and Jamie Lee Curtis. Rob Stone has told me they are trying to get the film showings to LA and Paris. I really hope so, so I can at least see them in LA. I wouldn't be able to see them in NYC on such short notice.
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Post by anarchistemma on Sept 20, 2018 15:22:12 GMT
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Post by denise on Sept 21, 2018 11:39:26 GMT
Well, I've always wanted to go to Paris.... Classickat, since you seem to have contact with Rob Stone, suggest to him (and/or Chris Lewis) to put these gems on DVD and sell 'em. I'm sure MANY fans who can't make it to NY, LA or Paris or the Library of Congress would love to see these films and would pay to do so. Maybe the profits, after expenses are paid, could go towards Patti's care.
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Post by anarchistemma on Sept 23, 2018 15:53:26 GMT
totally agree. i hope they become available ....
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Post by LadyItaly on Sept 24, 2018 20:35:05 GMT
If anyone lives close to LA (I live in San Diego) and if they decide to show the films there, we could try to go together. Just an idea
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Post by aajjgg on Sept 26, 2018 15:12:39 GMT
Weren't these the same films he said he was embaressed for anyone to see since they were amateurish? They have a few on you tube
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Post by anarchistemma on Sept 26, 2018 16:20:45 GMT
aajjgg: yes i think they are the same. clips of them also show up in various documentaries. i’m sure they’re being presented full-length and probably originally as shot. i don’t recall JL saying he didn’t want people to see them but i do remember him saying they were amateur efforts. then again, if he was holding premiers, how embarassed could he be?😉 janet leigh, in a youtube interview video, gives them high praise....
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Post by Classickat on Sept 26, 2018 21:44:31 GMT
Yes, each have been in clips in docs before. I'm sure if Jerry didn't want them seen, he wouldn't have allowed them to be in the docs. I do remember him saying that he didn't want them seen because they were amateurish, in one of his contradictory days when he was older.
Parts of Fairfax Avenue and Come Back Little Shiksa are on YouTube on private only because I put them there.
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