Book description
The No1 New York Times Bestseller Before the string of hit songs, the
Rat Pack, and the stellar movie career, Dean Martin spent ten years
partnering Jerry Lewis in one of the most successful double acts of show
business history. In this wise-cracking yet candid memoir, Lewis recalls
with crystal clarity the highs and lows of his relationship with Dean:
remembering their first meeting on a New York street corner one spring
afternoon, the early improvised performances in mob owned nightclubs,
and the giddy days of Hollywood super-stardom, when it seemed the
couples high-rolling lifestyle would last for ever. It didn't. On July
24th 1956, Dean and Jerry split and the two men weren't to speak to one
another for twenty years. Jerry Lewis is one of the few surviving
Hollywood legends from the period and he is a wonderful raconteur whose
tales reveal much about Dean Martin's craftsmanship and enigmatic charm.
In his own unique voice he evokes all the glamour of the era - the
casinos, the endless pranks, the cocktails, the mobsters, and the women.
He writes movingly too of the thrill of the youthful duo's sudden,
startling success, and the slow sad erosion of the fun that followed.
After the split with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis was the creator and
star of a series of hugely successful movie comedies, such as The Bell
Boy (1960) and his masterpiece The Nutty Professor (1963). He
has been widely hailed as one of the greatest director-comedians of
the twentieth century and has received numerous honours, including
appointment to the Legion D'Honneur.
James Kaplan has written novels, essays, and reviews, as well as
over a hundred major profiles for many magazines, including The New
Yorker , Vanity Fair, and Esquire. He lives in
Westchester, New York, with his wife and three sons.
