Once upon a time, in the fifties, America’s original Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis, got it into his head to make the transition to serious roles. Late in the decade he tried, taking the lead role in a live broadcast of The Jazz Singer.
NBC aired the hour-long teleplay on October 13, 1959; Lewis didn’t wear the blackface makeup that makes Al Jolson’s 1927 film version such uncomfortable viewing today. There’s something brutal about Lewis’s performance—a side that wouldn’t surface again until Martin Scorsese cast him in The King of Comedy. And (as any respectable French person could tell you) Lewis did go on to become an auteur. But his Jazz Singer’s been all but forgotten: It aired just that one time, and—until now—it’s never been available on DVD. As you’d expect, it’s kitsch, not art. But it’s also a great curiosity, and a superb example of postwar Americana. (Out on DVD February 7.)
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