The Patsy

• Directed by Jerry Lewis
• August 12, 1964

When a famous comedian perishes in a plane crash, members of his management team worrying that they will be unemployed find someone to take his place.

The Patsy is quite possibly my first Jerry Lewis movie in decades-if ever. I remember Lewis more from his MDA marathons than I do from any feature film. This was originally to have been a sequel to The Bellboy with the title Son of Bellboy but for reasons the connection was never made.

This film comes off as if it was intended to be a parody of achieving overnight stardom while being filled with many familiar faces of the time. George Raft, Hedda Hopper, Ed Sullivan, Ed Wynn, Mel Tormé, Scatman Crothers, Hans ‘Captain Hook’ Conried, Richard Deacon, Nancy Kulp, Norman Alden, Jack Albertson, and many others that have faded from the minds of modern audiences to reside only in the minds of the entertainment connoisseur. For those you recognize it lends a level of realism to this sendup.

I found the supporting cast of Everett Sloane as Caryl Fergusson, Phil Harris as Chic Wymore, Keenan Wynn as Harry Silver, Peter Lorre as Morgan Heywood, John Carradine as Bruce Alden, and Ina Balin as secretary Ellen Betz excellent. Thinking back the only one that got to do really a joke was Scatman Crothers. Beyond that the jokes in the movie were carried entirely by Jerry Lewis as bellboy Stanley Belt.

I understand his humor was largely mugging and voices and maybe that’s why I avoided his movies for so long. On some level, I knew it would become like an ice pick to the brain though one can see much of what he did is still used (largely in animation) today. TBH, animation is where it works best. Or maybe it is because it is ALL Lewis uses here that I found it so grating.

And of course Stanley gets the attractive (and only) girl in the movie. That is almost a given. The issue is Ellen’s whole view of him was more one of pity of like finding a dirty puppy along the road that needed a bath. She liked him but love him? I just didn’t see it. At least not genuine love. There was no work by Lewis put into giving them a connection.

The movie waffles between light drama and mugging slapstick creating an uneven tone. Though I feel it should have been a light drama, pick one and just stick with it. Spread the jokes around to some of the cast rather than let it all be carried by Lewis. He had some power in Hollywood at this time so his ego probably told him this was a good way to go. Many of his antics go on for far too long. Sometimes you can run a bad joke too long until it becomes funny, but nothing done here ever gets there.

By the end of The Patsy, Stanley’s support staff comes to feel sympathy or even like Stanley. They picked some random guy to make into a star and apparently his niceness won them over? I’m not sure how they interacted with him to get those feelings. The character was at arm’s length for the whole time. It’s a good ending especially how it’s handled bud. The meat that’s in between the two halves of the bun just doesn’t make for a logical sandwich. I like the ending of the movie. It’s a little play on reality and acknowledges that it is just all a movie. But it also acknowledges that there was no way that they could come up with to sell an ending involving the character directly.

The issues of the story center around Stanley having no discernable talent with his people trying any number of random things to make him an entertainment sensation. Each time he shows he is a disaster though by the end he is a hit. We just never get an indication he could be one.

There is a moment which could’ve easily been crafted into a hint to the audience that Stanley knew a little something or enough to handle a crowd. He’s on some television music show lip-synch his new song from his new record. The lip-synching goes poorly and he just occasionally strums the lines on this tie like a guitar. Lean into that. Give a positive reaction from the audience to both things and follow that with his handler’s not getting it. There is never a hint he is ever doing anything right making his success implausible.

This is a example of a movie made by a someone that those in charge of the money and so much else felt afraid tell “No.” No is a good thing. It forces you to consider if what you want to do is worthwhile and then you need to convince others that it is. Or “No” can force you to come up with a better way to do something or a new way to do something. Jerry Lewis was at a point people would not tell him that. 

With gags that go on far too long and an extremely uneven tone, The Patsy was a complete disappointment. I only paid a dollar for it and I want my money back.