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Article: Jerry Lewis: The Boy and the Man
- Article from:
- Israel Faxx
- Article date:
- March 19, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Electronic World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Chuck Rich (VOA-Washington)
When American movie audiences met Jerry Lewis in the 1949 comedy "My Friend Irma," he was 23 years old... and had already been in show business for 18 years: "I had my first tux on at the age of five, performed with my mom and dad. I was as mischievous then as I am now."
Back then his name was Joseph Levitch. He was born in Newark, NJ, on March 16, 1926. Much of Joseph's childhood was lonely; his parents were traveling entertainers who often left him with relatives. He quit high school to concentrate on performing. One of his early specialties was a "record act," in which he matched his own comic gestures and facial expressions ...