The Jazz Singer (Jerry Lewis)

A must for Jerry Lewis fans!
Just moments ago watched my DVD of Jerry Lewis' JAZZ SINGER. Fantastic! Great music, and lots of Jerry schtick. Would've been nice to see the Lincoln-Mercury commercials, because they're not here, but the NBC Peacock, show and car logos remain intact. There's even Jerry's angular face logo at the end. Ken Carpenter ( of longtime association with Bing Crosby and the Kraft Music Hall ) does the announcing. Paramount's Walter Scharf arranges and conducts the music. Lewis movie co-star and pal Del Moore has a small role. NOTE: the black and white kinescope adds some stuff not on the color video: a preview of the following week's show, "The Turn of the Screw" starring Ingrid Bergman, plus an NBC camera at the beginning and the NBC chimes at the end. Jerry Lewis fans, GET THIS NOW, before it's impossible to find any longer! You won't regret it. Amazing that we can now watch these rarities, direct from Jerry's personal archives! Thank you, Mr. Lewis. - William Carroll, Denham Springs,...

First time it's been seen in color in over 50 years. Lewis' ego at it biggest.
Jerry Lewis is a control freak and - per his son (Chris) on the 111 minute "featurette) about the "restoration" - from his second self-directed film he always had a video made. For his TV shows he had kinescopes. He has 1500 reels of film in his own collection.

The Jazz Singer aired on TV in October 1959 on the Lincoln-Mercury Startime Theater show. It was pre-recorded on COLOR VIDEO TAPE (an RCA product since NBC was promoting color). It was then aired. This color version is from JL's collection and has NEVER been shown since the original televised date. It looks gorgeous, and it's not even a first generation tape. When Chris Lewis found it they found that there were parts where sound was missing. But they found an AUDIO tape of the sound track and using that, and the B&W kinescope, they restored the sound. The Color version is crisp and sharp and BRIGHT. The DVD includes the B&W kinescope too but there's no reason to watch that! (Really- it's also worn and...

GRAB THIS TREASURE!
Jerry Lewis' 1959 TV special of "The Jazz Singer" is a must-have for those who are either Lewis fans, early TV historians, or just curious about this remake of Al Jolson's 1927 superb film. It is quite a surprise, far better than I'd imagined. As Lewis' son says on the featurette, the show was done as an homage to Jolson,, one of Lewis'idols. Jerry's acting is unusually good- subtle and moving. The DVD was remastered from a second generation color copy of an NBC color tape in Lewis' private archive--a rarity in 1959.
Well worth the price!

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