Tweet New Jerry Lewis releases in February

Coming next February on both DVD and blu-ray are Jerry's "Rock-a-Bye Baby," "The Geisha Boy," "Boeing Boeing" and his dramatic turn in "The Jazz Singer," a live 1959 television program which has never been issued before (DVD only for this one, which is understandble, since there's no point a high-res release). None of these has been released in the U.S. on DVD before.

Good news on GEISHA BOY, which I don't believe has ever been re-issued since its initial release.

Does this mean that we might also get to see CINDERFELLA and VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET sometime in the near future? SETH

[Christopher Jacobs]

These Paramount titles aren't coming from Paramount, but have been licensed by Olive Films, which is also planning to release the 1958 version of THE BUCCANEER to Blu-ray in February, and has already released SANDS OF THE KALAHARI, CRACK IN THE WORLD, and HANNIE CAULDER to Blu-ray. I haven't heard what other Paramounts are in the works from them or others in HD, although I vaguely recall seeing a list of titles they licensed for DVD or Blu-ray, not mentioning which would be in which format. It may be a good sign that Paramount is willing to let other, actually interested, companies release their older product instead of sitting on it. Legend Video has put out some older Paramounts like HOUDINI and a few British horror films they distributed in the US. Fox and Columbia have also licensed selected obscure older titles to other companies (like the limited-run niche company Twilight Time) and both VCI and MPI have put out some nice less-marketable titles from major studios to Blu-ray. If the transfers are good, it doesn't really matter who releases the Blu-rays, but the original studios would have more resources and easier access to potential bonus features than the smaller independent distributors (although Criterion usually does an admirable job with almost every title they do).

Geisha Boy was released in Australia just over 4 years ago for A$8.83 but it was a department store "exclusive" for a very major Kmart-style chain and initially they under-estimated the demand and held too few stocks in their individual stores and had to readvertise and stock-up. They had other Paramount Jerry Lewis at the same time "Exclusive" also.

Good news on GEISHA BOY, which I don't believe has ever been re-issued since its initial release.

Does this mean that we might also get to see CINDERFELLA and VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET sometime in the near future? SETH

Cinderfella is available in the Lewis box set released several years ago. There is a thread somewhere in NitrateVille in which someone reported that Lewis refuses to do a follow-up set because he considered sales to have been disappointing for the first set.

Jim

I bought a DVD of Rock-a-Bye Baby while in Australia, it was nice to see this Frank Tashlin-directed title in widescreen for the first time. The idea of a remake of Miracle of Morgan's Creek staring Lewis is an odd one, but it's one of his more enjoyable solo outings. I guess I should have waited, but I didn't expect to see it released so soon, certainly not on blu-ray.

I'd gladly trade Boeing Boeing for Who's Minding the Store though, it's only ever been released on VHS, as far as I know. And I don't know if I've ever seen a copy of his 1962 collaboration with Tashlin, It's Only Money, with turns by Zachary Scott, Jack Weston, Jesse White and Mae Questel.

These Paramount titles aren't coming from Paramount, but have been licensed by Olive Films, which is also planning to release the 1958 version of THE BUCCANEER to Blu-ray in February, . . . .

They licensed the original De Mille-directed version starring Fredric March, too. Don't know when that's coming out.

It's Only Money is coming this spring.

Yawn. Let me know when they release The Day The Clown Cried.

I'm very interested in The Jazz Singer. Has anyone seen this? I imagine it is a TV kinescope?

I'm very interested in The Jazz Singer. Has anyone seen this? I imagine it is a TV kinescope?

As I read the write up it is a Kinescope for the b&w & off a TV video for the color. The copies are said to be from Lewis' own personal archive. It is, indeed, rare for color video from this period to be seen.

I have never seen an official release of the once ultra rare Fred Astaire TV specials. I have two of them from a private source but no commercial releases ever done. The story of how they were restored to viewable copies is interesting. They were on the original 2inch videotapes.

It's Only Money is coming this spring.

Along with Who's Minding the Store, and the Dean Martin and Lana Turner comedy Who's Got the Action? with Eddie Albert and Walter Matthau. Also two Sinatra titles, Come Blow Your Horn and Assault On A Queen.

[b] I have never seen an official release of the once ultra rare Fred Astaire TV specials. I have two of them from a private source but no commercial releases ever done. The story of how they were restored to viewable copies is interesting. They were on the original 2inch videotapes.

The Astaire Specials aired quite often on the Disney Channel back before they became an outlet for annoying pre-teen sitcoms. They also aired Lewis's TV work in a series of Lewis-sponsored specials. I used to have all of those programs taped on VHS. Not sure where they are now.....I also can't find my hat.

I have never seen an official release of the once ultra rare Fred Astaire TV specials. I have two of them from a private source but no commercial releases ever done. The story of how they were restored to viewable copies is interesting. They were on the original 2inch videotapes.

I forgot where I read about it, but I believe they had to rebuild and restore one of the original Ampex tape players, using the original factory plans, in order to play back the tapes and make a new master. This was because the 2" tapes were obsolete, and although they were in excellent condition, there were no 2" tape machines to play them on. A cautionary technology tale if there ever was one!! SETH

MONEY and STORE (both Tashlins) are two of Jer's very best; I was surprised they weren't in the initial group of ten released by Paramount, but even in these no-extras releases are overdue and very welcome.

Mike S.

"So what are we pushing?"
"Myself off a cliff."

I forgot where I read about it, but I believe they had to rebuild and restore one of the original Ampex tape players, using the original factory plans, in order to play back the tapes and make a new master. This was because the 2" tapes were obsolete, and although they were in excellent condition, there were no 2" tape machines to play them on. A cautionary technology tale if there ever was one!! SETH

This is half-right. With the few 2" recorders that are out there (there weren't all that many to begin with, and there were several different recording format changes within the 2" years), the archives that still have the ability to run these tapes generally cannibalize old machines for one "good" machine that is re-built. Because so many of the parts that went into these machines were precision made, and making new parts would cost more than any project is worth to justify it, once all of these old machines break down, it is OVER.

IT'$ ONLY MONEY and WHO'S MINDING THE STORE? two of my absolute favorite Lewis pictures, and the apex of his collaboration with Tashlin, with excellent supporting casts.

For those who are interested, here is an article that appeared this weekend in The New York Post, covering the restoration of Lewis' 1959 TV adaptation of The Jazz Singer. It's accompanied by a photo of Jerry in clown makeup, with a caption reading "Jerry Lee Lewis." Good ol' N.Y. Post, they never let me down!

Anyway, here it is:

Jerry’s Vids

After 53 years, Jerry Lewis opens his film vault to release his take on ‘The Jazz Singer’
By REED TUCKER for The New York Post

Posted: 8:59 PM, February 4, 2012

It was discovered at an NBC warehouse in New Jersey back in the 1980s. There, on a pile of tapes waiting to be erased, researcher Bob Furmanek uncovered a little piece of television history. The two-inch color videotape contained one of the few known copies of “The Jazz Singer,” a television special featuring Jerry Lewis in his first dramatic role.

It aired once, on Oct. 13, 1959, and has never been broadcast or publicly showcased since. On Tuesday, the hour-long curiosity arrives on DVD. Lewis plays a nightclub comedian and singer who clashes with his religious father after choosing to pursue a career in show business instead of becoming a cantor at the synagogue.

The production is based on the 1927 film starring Al Jolson, one of Lewis’ earliest heroes (though Lewis’ version does not include the controversial blackface performances of the original). “My grandfather was a vaudeville singer and used to sing Jolson’s songs. My dad heard Jolson from the time he was old enough to realize what singing was,” says Chris Lewis, Jerry’s son, who serves as his archivist.

Jerry Lewis met Jolson in the late 1940s, and the singer gave the comedian song charts that Lewis still keeps in his Las Vegas office. Years later, NBC launched “Startime,” an ill-fated anthology series designed to showcase the day’s biggest names, including Dean Martin, Ronald Reagan and Alfred Hitchcock. “My dad was starting to get into writing and producing and directing. Drama seemed like something he wanted to try,” Lewis says. “I think he thought Jolson might be a good source for his first dramatic role.”

Audiences were apparently lukewarm about Lewis playing it straight. “Not everyone thought seeing Jerry Lewis in a dramatic role was such a great thing,” his son says. “He was the top comedian in the world, and they were going, ‘What is he doing that for?’ ”

Lewis himself wasn’t too impressed either.

“I’d always heard growing up that it wasn’t very good,” Lewis says. “He’d always say, ‘Ah, yeah. I wasn’t very good. I was too young for the part.’ ”

For years, Chris Lewis tried to get his father to re-release the show. His father’s response: “Shut up and go away.” Two years ago, the older Lewis finally consented. The only problem was, the aging tape of the show was incomplete. It was missing chunks of audio. Lewis ultimately found a black-and-white kinescope (basically a copy of the show filmed off a TV monitor) and a quarter-inch audio tape of the second half in his father’s vaults.

(The elder Lewis is a stickler for keeping copies of almost everything he ever did. He has kinescopes of early TV performances — the only copies in existence — and even color films of him teaching a class at USC in the late 1960s and early 1970s.)

Using the three sources, technicians were able to construct a complete version of “The Jazz Singer” exactly as it originally aired. For historians, the broadcast is notable in that it was one of the first in color. The show wasn’t aired live, as many thought, but was filmed earlier and broadcast using color tape. Lewis estimates the warehouse find is one of the earliest 20 or 30 color videos ever. A lab restored the faded color to its original form, but no steps were taken to modernize it, because Lewis wanted to keep the show’s look historically accurate.

If the DVD is a hit, Chris Lewis says more treasures from his father’s vaults may be released. Is it too much to hope that “The Day the Clown Cried,” the infamous 1972 unfinished movie about a circus clown imprisoned in a concentration camp, will ever see the light of day?

It was discovered at an NBC warehouse in New Jersey back in the 1980s. There, on a pile of tapes waiting to be erased, researcher Bob Furmanek uncovered a little piece of television history. The two-inch color videotape contained one of the few known copies of “The Jazz Singer,” a television special featuring Jerry Lewis in his first dramatic role.

I might point out that while the article doesn't go into it, if it weren't for Bob Furmanek, a LOT of films and video shows would not be preserved, particularly in as good condition and quality as they are today.

Review of "THE JAZZ SINGER" from DVD Talk here:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54293/je ... zz-singer/

Oohhh...!

Now "Who's Minding The Store," "It's Only Money" and Dean's "Who's Got The Action" are coming on DVD and blu-ray in March.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/53383/boeing-boeing/

A review of Boeing, Boeing. It received 5 stars!!
I saw it a long time ago and didn't think it was
THAT funny.

Also:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54293/je ... zz-singer/

Yawn. Let me know when they release The Day The Clown Cried.

Oh, I don't know...given what I've heard about that one, it could utterly destroy Jerry's legacy.
Even the French might stop liking him.

I've watched all three of the blu-rays now.

1. Rock-a-Bye-Baby - The best movie of the three, IMHO. Lots of detail in the image, and pleasing colors... BUT also about 139,000 white specks (I stopped counting after the first 10 minutes) which I found very distracting. I'm not a big fan of DNR, but would it have been THAT hard / expensive to run the thing through some kind of filter to clean this up? It would have looked GREAT if it wasn't for that (strange that DVDBeaver doesn't even MENTION this...!).

2. The Geisha Boy - I enjoyed this one, too, but there are some gaping plot holes (Jerry meets boy... instantly falls in love with him within 10 seconds... huh?). Far less debris than "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" (though occasional specks), somewhat offset by some major color shifts during the "River Kwai" parody. Overall, though, the film looked great in hi-def.

3. Boeing Boeing - 5 Stars? Snort. I thought this movie pretty much defined the word "tiresome." Here's the premise... Tony Curtis has three air stewardess girlfriends sharing his apartment in Paris. He tries to keep them from meeting each other. That's IT. One joke.. and not a funny one, at that. Maybe if Dean had played the role, you might have found something to like about the character (it's hard not to like Dean)... but not Tony. He's a complete creep. Jerry, who doesn't even show up in the first reel of the film, plays a wanna-be creep and proved he could do something new by being completely unfunny (now THERE'S a big opening for non-Jerry Lewis fans!). Makes "What? No Beer!" seem like "Citizen Kane" (no specks, though. This one looked great. Too bad it's nothing I can't imagine anyone sitting through twice).

[Christopher Jacobs]

I've just watched BOEING, BOEING so far out of the three and should get to the others by the end of this month (just got a big stack of student papers today that need grading).

BOEING, BOEING, after seeing its plot description and some scathing reviews, I was almost dreading watching, but was pleasantly surprised. That five-star review was certainly an eye-raiser, but it's not the mediocrity or disaster declared by some others. While certainly no Lubitsch it was still surprisingly easy to take. It's not hard to tell it was adapted from a bedroom farce written for the stage and would probably play much better in a live performance where the actors can adjust to (and milk) audience reaction. It's the kind of show that the cast can obviously have a lot of fun with, and like most comedies would come to life with a responsive crowd. The extremely un-PC sexist plot will put off many modern viewers, but looking at it in the context of the 1950s-60s reveals an amusing and perhaps reasonably accurate depiction of prevailing attitudes (perhaps I should have double-featured it with rather more sophisticated THE APARTMENT). Sex comedies are certainly far more crude these days, even when they attempt to be PC and/or have a "happy" romantic resolution. But despite the film's gleeful amorality it's not that far off from the classic precode sex comedies of the early 30s or even the 20s. I could easily imagine it as a silent with say Marie Prevost, Phyllis Haver, and Clara Bow (who would be great to see together in anything) and maybe Reginald Denny and Harrison Ford as the men. In fact immediately afterwards I watched BLONDE FOR A NIGHT (1928), which made a very appropriate double-feature!

Tony Curtis is fairly entertaining throughout, and Jerry Lewis is amazingly restrained, acting like a real actor playing a genuine character rather than like Jerry Lewis trying to be funny. Maybe that's why I rather liked the film. The female characters are also fun (as well as attractive) but very much underwritten except for Thelma Ritter's perfectly-played long-suffering housemaid.

Picture quality on this Blu-ray is mostly superb, with an extremely sharp, crisp image except during occasional opticals. Colors every now and then seem a bit on the magenta side, but are usually quite natural. The extreme clarity of the picture, especially seeing it six feet wide, adds immensely to the film's enjoyment, and it would seem far more routine on a standard TV set. The only "extra" is the fact that the disc has a main menu and chapter stops. The small-label niche release price point will likely keep this one from becoming an impulse purchase, but for anyone who enjoys the period, the genre, or the stars, it's certainly worth a look, probably a borderline ** 1/2 to *** rating.

BOEING, BOEING (1965) on Blu-ray --
Movie: B
Video: A+
Audio: A
Extras: F

[Christopher Jacobs]

I've now been able to watch all three of the new Jerry Lewis Blu-rays and should have a composite review of them posted on the "Old Movies in HD" thread in the "Talking About Talkies" forum soon. In short, though, picture quality is very good to excellent, and while I've never been a big Jerry Lewis fan I found them all reasonably entertaining, certainly great time-casules of their era. I actually barely noticed any presence of dust or white specks in ROCK-A-BYE BABY except during the opening credits sequence, and thought it looked extremely impressive overall, with a few more problems visible on THE GEISHA BOY due to optical effects and the frequent use of stock footage. Both ROCK-A-BYE BABY and THE GEISHA BOY are directed by Frank Tashlin and have a number of movie in-jokes that will appeal to film buffs. Two additional Lewis Blu-ray titles, IT'S ONLY MONEY and WHO'S MINDING THE STORE just came out and are currently on order, and I should be able to see those within the next month or so (probably around mid-May after final exams).

[Mike Gebert]

While certainly no Lubitsch it was still surprisingly easy to take. It's not hard to tell it was adapted from a bedroom farce written for the stage and would probably play much better in a live performance where the actors can adjust to (and milk) audience reaction.

A recent revival with Mark Rylance in the Lewis role was, by all accounts, a scream.

...and still The Day the Clown Cried languishes...

Harry Shearer, one of the few people who's actually seen The Day the Clown Cried, discusses the film with Howard Stern.

While certainly no Lubitsch it was still surprisingly easy to take. It's not hard to tell it was adapted from a bedroom farce written for the stage and would probably play much better in a live performance where the actors can adjust to (and milk) audience reaction.

A recent revival with Mark Rylance in the Lewis role was, by all accounts, a scream.

Indeed it was. Saw it on Broadway and was convulsed throughout. In fact, the sequel, DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER, is about to open there, albeit with a different cast.

Now I need to see BB the movie again.

Mike S.

I watched "Who's Minding The Store" last night. Like "Rock-a-Bye-Baby," it's filled with dust specks, particularly during the first couple of reels. The color is slightly faded and the image seems a little soft. Indeed, I couldn't help thinking this barely looked better than an up-converted DVD.

Now, if this was $10 or so, that wouldn't matter so much, but they're charging $20-25 each for these Lewis blu-rays. It's great to see these films being made available, but it would be even greater if the end product looked better.

The film itself was okay, though if you're not a Jerry Lewis fan this certainly isn't going to win you over. It was nice to see several staples of '60's television in the film (Agnes Moorehead, in particular, seemed to be having a great time chewing up the scenery). Ray Walston is quite good as well, and Nancy Kulp and Richard Deacon also make brief appearances.