Jerry Lewis turns 90 on March 16, 2016. That provides Museum of Modern Art film curator Dave Kehr with a solid reason to honor this most American of cinema artists with a career retrospective. Lewis’s best movies, all presented in rare 35mm prints, will be amped by special features: outtakes, screen tests, home movies, and behind-the-scenes footage.
Kehr and independent curator Robert Furmanek (Lewis’s personal archivist) are throwing this kiddie party for grown-ups. Having just wrapped up All That Jack (Cole), which illuminates the cinematic invention of an under-appreciated Hollywood choreographer, Kehr moves from strength to strength, stretching the boundaries of the heady movie-making assignation, the auteur.
Film roster here:
Artists and Models. 1955. USA. dir Frank Tashlin
Smorgasbord (aka Cracking Up) 1983. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
Hollywood or Bust. 1956. USA. dir Frank Tashlin
The Ladies Man. 1961. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
Rock-a-Bye Baby. 1958. USA. dir Frank Tashlin
That’s My Boy. 1951. USA. dir Hal Walker
The Bellboy. 1960. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
The Disorderly Orderly. 1964. USA. dir Frank Tashlin
The Errand Boy. 1961. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
The Geisha Boy. 1958. USA. dir Frank Tashlin
The King of Comedy. 1982. USA. dir Martin Scorsese
The Nutty Professor. 1963. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
The Patsy. 1964. USA. dir Jerry Lewis
The Caddy. 1953. USA. dir Norman Taurog
Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90 | The Museum of Modern Art | Mar 1 – 15
See “Method To The Madness Of Jerry Lewis” on StarzOnDemand or iTunes. It screened at Cannes in 2012 and is an overview of his career as a creative person, starting from his vaudeville days.