February 1, 2008

Jerry Lewis in Cinderfella

I'm beginning to understand why Jerry Lewis was considered to be a genius in France, at least back in the '60s. Here's a segment from Cinderfella (1960) in which Lewis does his old, pre-Dino nightclub act to the tune of Count Basie's version of "Cute." What a radio!!


According to the Cinderfella trivia section at IMDb:

Lewis' musical entrance down the grand staircase was done in one take, a Lewis trademark. But his seven-second rush up the same 63 steps put too much of a strain on his heart and landed him in the hospital.

Confirmed by the Wikipedia entry:

In the Ball scene where Lewis arrives it was one take going down the stairs and one take going up. He ran the stairs in 7 seconds and collapsed at the top, where he was taken to hospital and ended up in an oxygen tent for 4 days. This delayed filming for 2 weeks.

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