Comic legend Lewis shows his varied personalities

Friday, Sept. 1, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

Who: Jerry Lewis.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Where: Orleans Showroom.

Ticket: $59.95-$69.95.

Information: Call 365-7075.

Jerry Lewis is like a hologram -- a three-dimensional picture with several images that changes when the angle at which the light strikes the surface is altered.

How you perceive the 74-year-old comedian depends upon the angle that you hold him to your light.

The images are conflicting. Some see a figure who is arrogant, others see one who is humble. Some see a kind man, others one who is harsh and rude. Is he sensitive or insensitive, secure or insecure? Is he a beauty or a beast?

Lewis' hologram may contain all those perceptions, and more, but there is at least one image that everyone can see clearly -- that of a workaholic, a tireless performer and dedicated fund-raiser who pushes himself to his physical limits in pursuit of what he believes.

Those limits will be severely tested next week, beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday with the 35th annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon, broadcast live from Los Angeles, followed by a four-night engagement at the Orleans, which will be the first time he will perform under a 20-year contract he recently signed with the property.

Lewis will have three days to rest between the two events, both of which are physically and emotionally draining in and of themselves, but combined may be one of the most exacting ordeals of his 67 years in show business.

"I'm very interested to see what that's going to feel like," Lewis, a Las Vegas resident for 20 years, said during a recent interview at his home in one of the city's older, more elegant neighborhoods.

He doesn't sleep during the 21-hour telethon, nor during more than 24 hours preceding the fund drive that last year raised $53.1 million in pledges.

"There is so much to do. The adrenaline is going. I want everything to be right," he said. "We're constantly changing things, taking care of last-minute screw ups ... the toughest part of the telethon is last-minute fixings, putting everything right ... but it's a labor of love, so you never tire -- and when it's over, you crash and burn."

Thursday the light will capture the image of performer in the hologram. The question is, will he have risen from the ashes of the telethon with enough strength to give his usual energetic, 2 1/2-hour show?

Perhaps it is that kind of personal challenge that has kept the desire to entertain burning so intensely in Lewis since age 5. He is never bored in front of an audience.

"As calmly as I sit here right now, if you told me it was necessary to do a show at 8 o'clock tonight, I would start getting the trembles and an uneasy stomach," he said. "I would go from this kind of relaxed, laid-back attitude to a kind of aggressive attitude to go to work. The thrill of going out there never leaves -- it never leaves.

"I've never allowed myself to get jaded. I've never allowed myself to (be) 'Mr. Big Shot.' I walk out there very humbly. It's a humbling experience to be able to make a thousand people laugh and to see the faces and to see what you're giving them."

Media beware

Lewis has another universal image -- that of a man who says what's on his mind, which often may be controversial.

"(Newspaper columnist) Drew Pearson once said to me, 'Can you explain to me why you are so damned controversial?' " Lewis recalled. "I looked at him and said, 'It's because I have an opinion. I have a point of view and I love the fact that I have the right to express it.' "

Lewis has been warring with reporters most of his life.

He cursed a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist who wrote about the recent press conference during which Lewis announced his deal with the Orleans.

"Did you see what that (expletive deleted) wrote?! Who is he?" Lewis groused about the negative column. "He wasn't there (at the press conference). He got his facts wrong. And he said I didn't do too well with customers the last time (he performed at the Orleans) and therefore this must be a publicity ploy.

"People want to know why I have had this thing with the press. I've had it for 50 years -- 50 years! But understand something -- what's never been written is, I've got 15 or 16 (members) of the press in my life who have been there for 50 years. Great journalists, great newspapermen ... they are going to get information from you and print it.

"Now, the thing that I get so (expletive deleted) upset about is the ones who take a tape recorder and stenographer into the interview and still get it wrong. I can't let it go by. I call a man when he writes something good and say, 'Bravo, that was terrific.' I like to do that. If I believe what I'm saying, I'm going to get on the phone and say so ... so it's not OK that I challenge them? Not enough people in my business do it."**

Lewis says he doesn't feel compelled to rein in his emotions -- whether good or bad -- just because he might be in public.

"I will not change what I am because of the scenery," he said. "It's like, one day (many years ago) I reprimanded my older son in the presence of some people and sent him to his room.

"My press agent, who had been with me 35 years, said, 'Did you have to reprimand him in front of people?' and I said, 'I love him in front of people. What's the difference?' "

Medicine and comedy

The interview with Lewis took place in his office, where the walls are covered with framed drawings and photographs. Several of the pictures are of legendary heart surgeon Dr. Michael Debakey, who at 91 continues to practice in Houston and keep a schedule of seminars and other activities that almost makes Lewis look like a slacker.

One of the photographs is a close-up of Debakey's hands inside a patient's chest, working on his heart. Lewis took the picture and several others that appeared in a medical magazine.

Lewis often stands beside Debakey during heart surgery.

"If I was in Houston this morning, I would have been with Michael at a quarter to 6 having coffee and (then) walking in and watching him clean up (for an operation) and I would wash and put the outfit on and go in there," Lewis said.

He may be Debakey's biggest fan.

"Aside from surgery, I spend hours with Michael -- at the (country) club, having lunch, in his home -- and I get an education like most guys get at Yale. It's incredible what I've learned about people, about dedication, about determination, about tenacity," Lewis said. "He's an incredible human being. The man is 91 years old and I'll bet at 6 o'clock Houston time he was operating today and he'll do another later in the day and then will fly to Moscow tomorrow and talk to the Russian doctors about this new thing he's just invented. Then he'll come back and operate an hour after he gets off the plane."

The angle of the light has changed and the hologram reveals Jerry Lewis, the man with a passion for the medical profession.

"What I do all my life is maybe 50 percent performing, 20 percent private life and 30 percent medicine," he said. "I work with the finest doctors in the world all year long. I am national chairman (of the MDA), and it's not a gratuitous title ... I need to be able to confer with doctors on a variety of levels. I need the information. It's like an education.

"Right now I'm trying to put enough money into an operating facility at the Jerry Lewis Neuromuscular Research Center at UCLA, where they deal only with orthopedics for my (MDA) kids. There's never been anything like that, never been. Normally you can't get funding for one item, but I'm getting it. Hopefully, in a couple of years we will make it happen."

Lewis said he sincerely believes there soon will be a cure for Muscular Dystrophy, but is frustrated because it remains just out of reach.

"Genetic engineering is what we're into now," he said. "We just wrote a check for $100 million to cover all the gene therapy that's being done (for MD). We're going to get an answer. I was told if we didn't have gene therapy the answer could come in 60 years, but because of gene therapy it could come in six years. I love those numbers."

Lewis' fascination with the medical field may be the result of his 50-year relationship with the MDA. Or his past medical problems (including open-heart surgery and prostate cancer). Or it may be because he is in constant pain, to one degree or another.

"I busted up my spine on March 20, 1965 (doing a pratfall) at the Sands. I've never had a day without pain since," said Lewis, who had heart bypass surgery in 1982 (not by Debakey). "Some days the pain is OK, and some days the pain is devastating and I have to go and get injections into the spine to get me relief.

"But, hey, I'm alive. I'm breathing. I got up this morning and opened my eyes. I'm a hit. My philosophy is simple -- if you get up tomorrow morning God has given you another day, so stop bitching."

Staying healthy

Last year, during a tour in Australia, Lewis caught viral meningitis and almost died. He was still suffering during the 1999 telethon, but says he has fully recovered.

To stay healthy he uses a treadmill daily, watches his diet and doesn't dwell on things the negative.

"When the negative comes in I give it the smallest amount of time because I have decided at my age you don't have the luxury of time," he said. "If that's negative, go away. Let's stay with the positive, it's healthier. Whatever the philosophy is that works for me, I nurture it. When it doesn't work, I dispose of it.

"I try to be positive, never cynical. Like Michael Debakey told me, most heart attacks are from stress -- most. If you can do the negative things you have to do without stress, do it all day. The minute you feel stress, walk outside, spit, come back and start over. You must break that stress. I almost left here (died) in 1982. I was frightened at the thought that I almost didn't make it. Since the surgery I've had a much better philosophy."

There are many demands on Lewis' time. He is in the midst of preparing to direct a movie ("Truffles") and is producing three remakes of his classic films ("Bellboy," "Errand Boy" and "Cinderfella"). He regularly performs in Europe and Australia. And there is the contract with the Orleans.

One wonders how Lewis is able to stay focused.

"I asked the same question of Dr. Debakey. 'How do you stay focused? How do you save a man's life at 7 a.m. when you're being pulled from all directions?' His answer was simple, 'I must be focused. I am saving people's lives.'

"You can be distracted very easily. What you have to do is let people know they can go at you till 7 o'clock, but from 7 until show time I need to concentrate on whatever I do, so this ends before 7. That's over, we'll do that later and so on. I really try to make what I do theatrically so (expletive deleted) important that I don't let anything in."

Lewis said he believes entertaining people is a lot like medical treatment -- both have the objective of relieving pain and suffering.

"Laughter is so important," he said. "I've seen a crippled child walk because of laughter. Laughter is our safety valve. Too many people take themselves too (expletive deleted) seriously. If you don't lighten up, you're going to be a dirge in your own life."

Laughter, Lewis said, is a pain killer.

"You can't sit in pain when you're laughing. The pain goes away," Lewis said. "You can't cry when you're laughing, unless the tears come from laughter.

"I do the same things doctors do. If I can have a woman walk over to me and say, 'My son was killed in Vietnam and you're the first one that's made me laugh in 17 years,' that's really incredible."

As the interview ended, the light on the hologram shifted and captured a different image of Lewis -- that of the doting father.

Lewis had five sons during his first marriage, and now he and his second wife, SanDee, have an 8-year-old daughter, Danielle Sara ... whom he frequently calls the "light of my life and the air in my lungs."

"She's spoiled rotten," Lewis said. "I don't care. She's wonderful. My first son was born when I was 18. When I had my boys I was involved with me -- how can I do this, how can I get that and so on?

"At 66 years old I was given another shot at really doing it well."

Of all the images inside the Jerry Lewis hologram, the father is his obvious favorite.

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