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>I must echo Gene Stavis vis a vis Allen and Bob Hope.  I feel that this is
>a major lacunae in my section on Allen in AMERICAN-JEWISH FILMMAKERS.  I
>certainly mention Keaton, Chaplin, Bergman (!), Fellini, Chekhov, Ibsen,
>the Marx Bros.et. al., but Allen himself has acclaimed Bob Hope, and a
>recent viewing of CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT (1954; the film is absolutely
>hysterical, by the way!) was a revelation in terms of understanding the
>Allen persona, especially in films like SLEEPER and LOVE AND DEATH (which
>are probably Allen's most purely funny).
 
 
There's another Woody precursor that history has supressed, namely Jerry
Lewis, the first Jewish-American comedian to direct himself in Hollywood.
Allen approached Lewis to direct both "Take the Money and Run" and "Sleeper"
-- by both men's accounts -- and he expressed great appreciation of Lewis'
skill as a director of comedy (he'd seen "The Patsy" in Paris!) in an
interview in "The New York Times Magazine" in 1966.  As for the
on-the-screen influences, where Jerry is (obviously) the less-verbal of the
two, the schlemiel metier, the physical cowardice, the witherings by
authority figures, and the panting, twisted sexuality of Lewis' character is
the nearest thing to Woody's early nebbish character in the two decades
prior to Allen's emergence as a star.
 
But David -- tell me more about your chapter on Allen and this book on
American-Jewish filmmakers.  I've just completed a full-length biography of
Lewis for St. Martin's, and I'd be very curious as to what (if anything) the
book you've contributed to has to say about him.
 
Best,
 
     Shawn Levy       |   "In a far recess of summer
 [log in to unmask]  |    Monks are playing soccer."