blackbellmont

[blackbellmont]

Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Polly Bergen, and Marion Marshall in a promotional photo for That’s My Boy (1951).

[blackbellmont]

Dean Martin, Marion Marshall, Polly Bergen, and Jerry Lewis in a promotional picture for That’s My Boy (1951). 

[blackbellmont]

Dean Martin, Marion Marshall, Polly Bergen, and Jerry Lewis in a promotional photo for That’s My Boy (1951).

[blackbellmont]

Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marion Marshall, and Polly Bergen in a promotional photo for That’s My Boy (1951). 

[blackbellmont]

Chick Allen (Dean Martin) and Hap Smith (Jerry Lewis) get tangled up in a parachute in Jumping Jacks (1952). 

[blackbellmont]

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on the set of Jumping Jacks, December 11, 1951.

[blackbellmont]

Jerry Lewis’ FBI File

I’m so used to seeing this text with redactions, it’s very weird seeing it without! This is from Jerry’s FBI file, which seems to have gone online on the 3rd of December 2020. The whole thing is here: https://vault.fbi.gov/jerry-lewis

The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s massively long, waaaay longer than Dean’s. That’s because out of the 517 pages, the first 458 are concerned with Jerry being stalked, and the various investigations into that. Mostly it’s one man doing the stalking but there are others (one is particularly viciously antisemitic, just to warn you). Jerry went through years of it, I feel so sorry for him.

Dean is mentioned a lot, and many of the incidents found here are the same as those in his file. There are even whole pages on Dean in the file; why they’re still associated together as late as 1972 I’m not sure, unless they just included Dean’s pages because the incidents largely concern Jerry. Here’s an example:

I did enjoy this bit, from an August 1957 memo sent by L.B. Nichols to Clyde Tolson, wherein Nichols counters the argument that Jerry’s reputation as a ‘chaser’ negates the homosexuality claims by saying Jerry ‘always boasted of his versatility’. I’ll never read ‘versatile entertainer’ the same way again.

There’s lots more info on the legendary ‘obscene phonograph recording’ from the Caddy sessions, including a transcript (pp.478-9). It’s pretty much what we’re already familiar with, except with a rude song from Dean at the start (to the tune of It’s Magic, I reckon) and one from Jerry at the end.

There’s some fascinating stuff about Jerry attempting to make a TV show in 1957 through York Productions about the Department of Justice and, after initially making some progress, being stymied when the contents of his FBI file were examined. I wonder if he ever knew that a sweary recording session and the suggestion that he might be a bit gay cost him that project.

One of the most surprising things is what’s not in the file: unless I’ve missed it, there’s not a single mention of the Mob (except in the bits about Dean and his ‘known hoodlums’). Kind of surprising considering the places he worked in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and some of the people he mentions in his memoirs.

Anyway, I’ll shut up now. It’s worth a read. Some of it is so censored it’s hard to figure out the story, but there’s definitely stuff I’ve never seen before. I’d love to know what others think of it. 

[blackbellmont]

Vincent Price

[blackbellmont]

Deathtrap (Sidney Lumet, 1982)

[blackbellmont]

Frank Sinatra .

[blackbellmont]

Eartha Kitt and orchestra leader Frank Weir at Churchill’s Club in London, 1951.

Photos by Russell Westwood   

[blackbellmont]

Jason Momoa and Taika Waititi at the 2020 Golden Globes

[blackbellmont]

RED DEAD REDEMPTION II  • scenery [40/?] — A Day in Tall Trees 

[blackbellmont]

Evening breeze

edit: I added the drawing without animation as the gif is not so well rendered :)

[blackbellmont]

[full experience]

[blackbellmont]

[blackbellmont]

why are they hating on him