The Bellboy *** (1960, Jerry Lewis, Alex Gerry, Bob Clayton) – Classic Movie Review 5949

Writer-producer-director Jerry Lewis’s 1960 comedy The Bellboy also sees him starring as mute bungling bellboy Stanley, who is up to his madcap, pratfall tricks at a famous posh Florida hotel – the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach.

The movie is basically just a series of sight gags in a script that mostly dispenses with a plot and any lines for the star to speak. Lewis also plays himself, the big star who looks like Stanley and arrives at the hotel and has trouble with his entourage.

The results are sporadically funny for those who relish Lewis’s broad crazy antics, relentless mugging, silly sequences and soppy schmaltzy comedy. It is shot in arty black and white by Haskell Boggs in the style of a silent-movie-type comedy.

It is the first film that Lewis directed and it is noticeably brief at 72 minutes, which may come as a relief for some non-fans. But both he and the movie have an enormous number of loyal, satisfied fans.

Lewis’s regular co-writer Bill Richmond walks on in a cameo as Stan Laurel, one of Lewis’ idols.

Also in the cast are Alex Gerry, Bob Clayton, Herkie Styles, Milton Berle, Sonny Sands, Eddie Shaeffer, David Landfield, Larry Best, Jack Durant and Maxie Rosenbloom, B S Pully, Joe E Ross and Sammy Shore in his film debut as Hotel Guest.

Sammy Shore died on 8 May 2019 in Las Vegas, aged 92.

RIP Sammy Shore, who died on 18 May 2019 in Las Vegas, aged 92. He co-founded the World Famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles with his writing partner Rudy De Luca in 1972.

 © Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5949

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