60 Years of "The Nutty Professor"

travsd

Jun 4

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the release date of Jerry Lewis's best movie, The Nutty Professor (1963).

As the great Gerald Mast wrote, all Jerry Lewis movies have problems. We discussed some of them here. Lewis may be an imperfect figure as a comedian, but I'm one of the few American critics who share the French P.O.V. on his brilliance as a director. I understand why it's easier for any sane and normal person to dismiss the whole thing out of hand, but it's not how I roll. I've given the matter serious thought and analysis, and, hell if you want me to take you shot by shot, I can tell you why he's brilliant, again not as a performer per se but as the guy BEHIND the camera. But I'm guessing you haven't got time for that! Yet stand warned: I'm doing something (don't know what yet) to observe his centennial birthday in 2026.

But to return to this film. Its genius conceit is to cross of the story of The Ugly Duckling and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- and it works as a story exceptionally well. Lewis had done a twist on a fairy tale before (Cinderfella), as well as a college story (The Ladies Man), two and three years previously respectively. In this one, co written with Bill Richmond, he plays Julius Kelp, a chemistry professor at a mid-sized college (in glasses and joke shop teeth) who is lonely due to his lack of social skills (and glasses and joke shop teeth). He cooks up a potion that transforms him into a suave, smooth-talking ladies man, who's also a jerk of the Oily Man type. The transformation scenes contain some of his greatest direction. Intended as a horror parody, I was genuinely frightened of the scene as a youngster. With the same gonzo color sensibility he inherited from Frank Tashlin, it's like both barber shop comic books merged into one: the funny book and tales of horror. It's all in pursuit of a beautiful student named Miss Purdy (Stella Stevens, pictured above to commemorate her death earlier this year). This was before anyone knew that student-teacher relationships were inappropriate, I guess. The film also features Lewis regulars Del Moore and Kathleen Freeman, as well as Howard Morris, Marvin Kaplan (who was in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Man World that same year, as was Lewis), a very young Henry Gibson, Milton Frome, Buddy Lester (in a memorable turn as a bartender), and Billy Bletcher.

Lewis never did do a proper sequel but he did revive the Kelp character in subsequent movies such The Family Jewels (1965) and others have paid it homage such as the character of Professor Frink on The Simpsons. When the long awaited "sequel" did finally emerge, it took the form of a remake:

As you can imagine, I walked into the 1996 Nutty Professor remake with a good bit of skepticism. But I was immediately won over, and I watched it several times subsequently. I reviewed it at the time, though I can't remember for whom, and it's not online. (As I pen this post, I'm out of town at my son's wedding! But when I return I may try to dig it out and add my contemporary thoughts to this piece). Mostly Eddie Murphy won me over with his performance -- it single-handedly convinced me that there should be a proper comic acting award given out, since comedy never gets its due at the Oscars, or in the industry itself, for that matter. Murphy's pathos in the role of the overweight Professor Klump itself would have clinched it, but then he went and played several other parts in the film (frankly showing both Lewis and Tyler Perry how its REALLY done. The man can ACT). It was directed by Tom Shadyac, who also did Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Patch Adams, and Bruce Almighty(needless to say, this is also HIS best movie. The cast includes Jada Pinkett, Larry Miller, Dave Chapelle (in hilarious parody of stand-up comic) and James Coburn, of all people.

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), however, was an exercise in diminishing returns, as of course it would be. There was also an animated movie The Nutty Professor 2 or The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear which came out in 2008. Lewis reprised his Kelp role in a voiceover, as the grandfather of the hero. It has nothing to do with the original and is a negligible excuse for an entertainment, even for children.

In 2012, an 86 year old Lewis directed a new Nutty Professor musical with (book lyrics by Rupert Holmes and music by Marvin Hamlisch -- the latter's last project. It opened in Nashville, which has a decent theatre scene and plenty of talent obviously (I checked it out for an American Theatre story I wrote 20+ years ago. That, too, has been taken offline). The musical must be okay -- they just produced in Ogunquit, Maine!

For more on classic comedy, please read Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.