Sex and slapstick: the Martin and Lewis phenomenon

Described by Canadian film director David Cronenberg as a witty, provocative and necessary re-evaluation of the phenomenon known as Jerry Lewis, "Enfant Terrible: Jerry Lewis in American Film" brings together new critical assessments of the work of this entertainer-actor-director by such distinguished scholars as Leslie A Fiedler, Marcia Landy, Andrew Horton, Krin Gabbard, Dana Polan, Lucy Fischer, David Desser, Peter Lehman and Frank Krutnik. The contributors address topics ranging from Lewiss on- and off-screen performances, the representations of disability in his films, the European obsession with Lewis, and the unusual representations of masculinity across his films. The chapter, Sex and Slapstick: The Martin and Lewis phenomenon was specially commissioned for this volume by editor Murray Pomerance, owing to the significance of Krutniks book "Inventing Jerry Lewis" (2000). This is the only chapter in the book to consider in depth Lewiss crucial 10-year partnership with crooner Dean Martin. Scrutinizing the teams work across a range of media (films, television, cabaret), the chapter explores their professional relationship in terms of a continuing instantiation of liveness that went far beyond the conventional opposition of comic and straight man to offer a complexly nuanced take on male homosocial relations. The chapter argues that beyond its intensively personal nature, this relationship permitted the articulation of a dizzying array of emotional and covertly erotic intensities between men that also performed a highly public, cultural function Locating the examination of Martin & Lewiss work and significance within scholarly debates on film stardom and screen comedy, the chapter also makes use of contemporaneous critical responses to the team within the mainstream press, the trade press and screen journals. It teases out the dynamics of the male partnership by examining in detail specific examples from their films and television shows