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Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy by Samuel Johnson Woolf. 1940.

#edgar bergen #charlie mccarthy #samuel johnson woolf #portrait #old time radio #otr #old hollywood

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With a big cock on it.

#martin and lewis #dean martin #jerry lewis

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In Defense of Jerry Lewis — by Mark Simpson for Out Magazine, 2009

Forget hair whorls, genomes, amniotic fluid, older brothers, domineering mothers, or disco. I can reveal with absolute certainty the cause of my homosexuality in just two words. Jerry. Lewis. As a kid in the 1970s, I watched reruns of his movies—especially the ones from the early 50s with his on-screen boyfriend Dean Martin—with a level of breathless excitement that nothing else came close to until I discovered buggery in the 1980s. Films like Money From Home (1953), where he pins Martin to the bed wearing a pair of polka-dot shorts campier than Christmas in West Hollywood, and Sailor Beware (1952), where he is pricked by several burly Navy medics wielding ever-bigger needles until he squirts liquid in all directions and faints, made me the man I am today.

In February, after a lifetime of being ignored by a cross-armed Academy Awards committee that never gave him so much as a nomination when he was making movies, Lewis finally got an Oscar. But not for his charming films with Dean Martin or his solo classics such as The Disorderly Orderly—in which, memorably, he happily Hoovers with the appliance plugged up his own ass—but for his fund-raising for muscular dystrophy. Its a charity Oscar in every sense. Lewis is 83 and has been unwell for some time. The Hollywood gays, though, are Not Happy. They have a Hoover up their ass about Lewis. Some tried to block his Oscar because this ill old man, born in 1926, almost used the word faggot last year after hosting a 12-hour telethon. In effect, the gays are running down the street screaming Ma-a-a! Likewise, because he isn’t gay himself and because his nerdy, sissy persona has been deemed exploitative.

Lewis has been almost completely spurned by queer studies, when really he should have his own department. Certainly, though, his films should be set texts. But it was in his anarchic, early-50s TV shows with Martin that the 20-something Lewis was at his queerest and giddiest. Their heads were so close together in those tiny 50s cathode-ray tubes—gazing into each others eyes, rubbing noses, occasionally stealing kisses or licking each others neck to shrieks of scandalized pleasure from the audience. They were a prime-time study in same-sex love. And they were adored for it—literally chased down the street by crowds of screaming women and not a few men.

Their very first TV show opens with our boys arriving at a posh ball, full of Waspy straight couples being announced: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cordney! Mr. and Mrs. Walter Christiandom! And then: Mr. Dean Martin and Mr. Jerry Lewis! The Dago and the Jew same-sex couple. Setting the tone for their series, Lewis promptly trashes the place. The Martin and Lewis partnership was queer punk rock before even rock n roll had been invented. It trashed normality right in the living rooms of 1950s America, courtesy of Colgate. No wonder they’ve almost been forgotten. They should never have existed. True, the explicitness of their pairing depended on the official innocence of the times and perhaps a nostalgia for buddydom in postwar America, which allowed the audience to enjoy the outrageous queerness of what was going on without having to think too much about it. Literally, to laugh it off. But official innocence is a mischievous comedians gift horse.

A skit depicting the (fictional) meeting of Martin and Lewis—or Ethel and Shirley, as they called each other—climaxes with them being trapped in the closet together: pushed together mouth to mouth, crotch to crotch. In another skit our boys end up sharing a bed with Burt Lancaster, playing an escaped homicidal maniac. Boy, Dean, these one-night stands are moider! says Lewis. Moider was exactly what they got away with. In a skit set in prison, Jerry’s bunk collapses on Martin below. What are you doing? asks Martin. I felt lonesome, replies Lewis.

Lewis’ on-screen queerness may have been just a phase, but what a phase! It was so unruly, so indefinable, so crazy, so ticklish, so exhilarating that gays—and probably most people today—don’t really know what to do with it. It’s a bit scary, really. But that—in addition to the fact that it’s still piss-your-pants funny—is precisely what is so great about it. [And] why I still think Jerry Lewis is at least as much fun as sodomy.

#martin and lewis #dean martin #jerry lewis

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#drunk girls

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Martin and Lewis ❤

#martin and lewis #dean martin #jerry lewis

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You guys just have to trust me on this one and click here okay?

#that was fun

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“the most KISSABLE GIRL we know

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis took one look at Audrey Hepburn and decided she was just too kissable to resist….so this is the way they went about not resisting her…with sanction, of course, from her bridegroom, Mel Ferrer…”

from an unknown publication circa 1953/54. 

#i’d kiss her too #audrey hepburn #dean martin #jerry lewis #martin and lewis

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Windswept James

Sand Job (2024.)

#the grand tour #james may

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Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis salt and pepper shakers.

#ok i kept my composure in the actual post #i HATE these #they are so cursed #they look so wrong 😭 #barely even look like them #martin and lewis #jerry lewis #dean martin #salt and pepper shakers #ceramics #1950s

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Why is the official Dean Martin merch so bad? They could make so much cooler stuff, and yet, it still sucks. And there isn’t even any official Jerry Lewis merch as far as I know.

It wouldn’t even take that much effort. You could have pins and patches and stickers of the classic Martin & Lewis caricature logo. Maybe earrings if they want to get a bit more out there, or even making cufflinks like they made back in the day. This wouldn’t require making a whole new design at all.

I have considered getting a pin custom made for my backpack because I really want one but there are no options other than custom because the official merch is so bad.

#dean martin #jerry lewis #martin and lewis

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Never forget Dean Martin nap time

#dean martin

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#the man from uncle #napoleon solo #illya kuryakin #alexander waverly

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the man from u.n.c.l.e. | season i, theme.

#the man from uncle

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I'm confused about what happened to Jerry Lewis in January 1953 during the filming of The Caddy. I know that he got into an accident with a motor scooter at that time that took around three weeks to recover. However, the Wikipedia page for The Caddy said that he got a fever, also taking around three weeks to recover. I know Wikipedia isn't always reliable, so I looked at the source it cited (Elvis' Favorite Director: The Amazing 52-Film Career of Norman Taurog by Michael A. Hoey) and this is what it said:

Does anyone have any idea where the concept of Jerry having a fever in January 1953 could have come from? Searching online, I have found no evidence of this other than things that seem to be referencing the Wikipedia page, which in turn references this book. Hoey also does not use in-line citations, only including a bibliography at the end. I suspect this came from some sort of newspaper of magazine article, but Hoey does not provide article titles, only magazine and newspaper publication titles. We know for certain that Jerry had the motor scooter accident, so I don't know why this information about a fever exists. If anyone has seen the article this information is from, let me know! I am just a bit confused as to where this information could have come from and why it's being circulated when there isn't the evidence for it that the motor scooter accident has. In my opinion, it's much more likely that filming on The Caddy was suspended because of the motor scooter accident and not a fever.

#martin and lewis #jerry lewis

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So there have been a few comments on facebook lately on my posts (in the past on tumblr) saying that Dean did not like/love Jerry at all. For anyone who think that Dean Martin did not love/like Jerry Lewis, here are a few facts for you.

1. Dean didn’t have to stay with Jerry at Jerry’s home for 2 months, when he left Jeanne  for a short time in 1953, but he did.  

2. Dean didn’t have to be in Jerry’s home movie parodies, but he did. 

3. Dean didn’t have to stay with Jerry in Carmel at a place together, on yet another occasion where he left Jeanne, but he did. Jerry left his own wife at home, to be with Dean when he left Jeanne! 

4. They took vacations together that had nothing to do with touring! 

5. No matter what, whenever Dean or Jerry referred to each other after the split up they still called each other “my partner.”

6: There were instances of people saying derogatory remarks about Jerry, where Dean punched them in the face or shot back at them with sarcastic remarks at them depending on the situation. Dean always defended Jerry.

7. When Dean signed with Capitol records, he specified that they sign Jerry too, or they wouldn’t have him. (I have an article confirming this)

8. When Jerry had an accident and fell off the stage hurting his spine in 1952. Dean rushed to his side and wouldn’t let anyone touch Jerry. He carried him off the stage and into the ambulance. Dean actually cried and couldn’t go back on to complete the show. When the theatre manager demanded that Dean complete the show because of their contract, he told him off.

What does this all mean??? Dean loved Jerry, and was his friend! That is why he stuck with him. Also why would Dean in 1966 at the height of his solo career, even entertain the idea of getting back together with Jerry after they reunited at Sy Devore’s funeral. They literally discussed getting back together. Obviously Dean didn’t need the money at that point, so why would he want to get back with the person “who caused him so much aggravation.” Could it be that maybe he missed Jerry???? Here are some quotes that make my point.

“In the beginning of our relationship, Jerry was just wonderful, and I was doing all the funny things that I had always wanted to do. I love to hear laughter, but I couldn’t get laughter just singing. Hearing a whole audience laugh is like getting drunk.“ - Dean Martin

“Oh, God, we had such fun, it was ridiculous. He’s (Dean) doing a number one night and he calls me up. He said, I hope I didn’t interrupt you when you’re busy.” I said “No, I was just standing around listening to you.’ He said, ‘In the middle of the song I thought to myself, I miss him.’ I said ‘That’s why you called me up, because you missed me?’ He said ‘Yeah–now we’re together–isn’t that wonderful?” - Jerry Lewis, Dean and Me

“One of their stage bits calls for Dean to catch Jerry. In Minneapolis on their last tour, Jerry missed a small movement, landed on his back with a sickening crunch and passed out. They rushed him to the hospital, with Dean beside him in the ambulance, racked by the dread that his boy’s back was broken. The doctor couldn’t say until they made a series of tests and had taken some X-rays.Meantime the audience waited. ‘What’ll I do? asked the manager. ‘Refund their money?’ ‘I’ll go back ,’ said Dean. ‘At least I can sing a few songs.’ He stepped out to a tremendous ovation. Halfway through his song, emotion strangled him. He couldn’t choke out so much as a word of apology. He could only turn on his heel and get out of there fast. The manager apologized for him, while he fled back to the hospital and Jerry. Not til dawn did the doctors bring re-assurance. ‘It’s alright. The back isn’t broken. Just some badly torn ligaments that will heal.’ Dean’s face started to crumple, but he controlled it. The tears that misted his vision, he couldn’t control.“— “Behind That Riot Act” by Ida Zeitlin Photoplay Magazine, September, 1952

"Our partnership in many ways is a marriage…. I dare say we’ve spent more time together than most married couples do.” - Dean Martin

“I don’t know where he is, but wherever he is, he must be doing just fine, because he has bundles of talent and he’s a wonderful guy.” Dean Martin’s comeback to a heckler saying ‘Where’s Jerry?’

“I’ve said we’ve been together almost a decade. Sometimes as a gag I say it seems more like 15 years. Actually it’s more like five. I trust him implicitly” - Dean Martin

“On the road for six years, while we were mainly doing nightclubs, we roomed together much of the time. We never had a difference of opinion we couldn’t resolve by ourselves and quickly. Indeed, until a bunch of outsiders got into the act, we never had an argument which wasn’t settled by sundown.” - Dean Martin

"When we shook hands on our partnership, I said in my heart, this is forever, ‘til death do us part. It still goes! Sometimes he makes mistakes. Sometimes I make mistakes. But as long as people let us alone, the team of Martin & Lewis will go on.” - Dean Martin

“It was Dean’s 72nd birthday and Jerry surprised him with a cake. It was a touching moment. Jerry walked out singing ‘Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. It’s me, the old Jew, happy birthday to you.’ The crowd went wild and Dean was clearly surprised and didn’t know what to say. In a turnabout from their 1976 reunion, he looked at Jerry and said ‘You’re all dressed up. You working?’ Jerry looked at the cake ‘We would have had 72 candles but with your breath, we’d have had another frickin’ fire.’

Dean said ‘You’re still the best in the whole world.“ Before the curtain closed, they embraced and Dean said "I love you, and I mean it."’

“Maria Lauren Alberici-Riccio (Golddigger, 1973 – 1991): Before the telethon reunion, Dean let us in on the private messages and jokes written with our lipstick that he had been leaving for Jerry Lewis via his dressing room mirror. Jerry played the MGM Grand and had left Dean some razzing but good humored remarks on the mirror prior to our engagement. Dean was like a little boy bragging about it to us, ‘Look at what I wrote to Jerry; look what ‘Crazy’ wrote to me. I answered him real good…’ He was so cute!”

#dean martin #jerry lewis #martin and lewis

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#in an upstairs hallway area #but it also is kinda a room??? idk #rooms branch off of it like a hallway but it isn’t all that narrow