Okay, Mark is confused again. It's the top of Hour 4 where I am and Jerry's getting emotional. He's paying tribute to a woman who used to work for him…Lil Mattis. He describes her as "one of the best lyricists that I had ever heard in our business." It's not clear if she passed away or just left his employ, though his manner would suggest the former. To honor her, he sings "Even Now," a song made famous by Barry Manilow. At the end, he shouts, "Lil Mattis…she wrote that!"
Did she? Really?
I mean absolutely no disrespect to Ms. Mattis but the official songwriter credits for "Even Now," as listed on the sheet music and in the BMI Database, say it was written by Marty Panzer and Barry Manilow. Ms. Mattis was a member of ASCAP and a search of their listing for Lillian Mattis lists only eight songs, including a couple of Jerry Lewis movies and TV shows, along with the lyrics to the title song of the Jack Lemmon movie, How to Murder Your Wife. "Even Now" is not listed among her credits.
So what's the deal here? Did Jerry just pay tribute to Lil Mattis by singing a tune she had nothing to do with and giving her credit for it? Or did he just reveal that she ghost wrote that song and others took credit for it? [UPDATE, years later: Mystery solved.]
Changing subjects slightly: It's hard not to notice that Jerry Lewis has two modes for introducing performers. When he's introducing a pal, he's smiling and loose and urging everyone to go see them and obviously not paying a lot of attention to what's on the TelePrompter. But then along comes an act that's just an act to him, if that. He introduces The Village People with an unenthusiastic reading of the prepared text with no personal Lewis recommendation or plug…and then at the end of a performance pre-taped elsewhere, he doesn't thank them, doesn't say anything at all about them. It's off to the tote board.
Then again, the guys in the once-outrageous costumes who just sang "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A." are The Village People in the same sense that Steve Martin is Inspector Clouseau. I'm guessing one original member…two at most.
Okay, here comes Lance Burton. I'm going to watch one of the best magicians in the world, then go to bed. TiVo's getting it all down and I'll resume Jerry watching/blogging tomorrow. Nighty-night.