Several folks have written me to say that they heard (in one case, from one of Jerry's sons) that when Dean walked out onto the telethon in '76, Jerry knew about it in advance. That's possible, I suppose…but I tend to believe not. Two people who worked on the telethon that year told me Jerry didn't know. Moreover, it seems to me that if Jerry knew, he'd have been a lot better prepared with clever things to say. He comes across kinda stunned and out of control of his own show. I just think that if he'd known, he would have ready with something wittier…maybe hand Dean money and say, "Here's the five bucks I owe you." Or something.
And I suspect the staging of the whole thing would have been neater. It's all so clumsy — with Frank not knowing where to stand and all that weird stuff with the microphones. Frank and Jerry are standing there. Each has a microphone. Dean enters. Frank takes Jerry's microphone away from him. This is apparently so Jerry's hands are free to hug Dean, which is fine.
But then Frank hands Jerry's mike to the bandleader so we have this moment where Martin and Lewis are standing there…reunited but neither one has a microphone. Frank, whose utterances matter the least of the three, has the only mike and he keeps babbling, trying to be a part of a moment that is about two other guys. Finally, they hand Dean and Jerry each a microphone so they can talk a little — interrupted needlessly by Frank, I might add — and then Frank comes in and takes Jerry's mike so he and Dean can perform the medley.
That's not how you stage things if you've had thirty seconds of planning with the host involved. First off, you tell Jerry to turn more towards the camera so they can get a decent shot of his face when he sees Dean. Secondly, you have Frank hold Jerry's mike until the two men hug, then you have Frank give it back to him and hand the other mike he's holding to Dean.
Then when it comes time for Dean and Frank to sing, you have Jerry suggest it so he doesn't look like Sinatra just took his telethon away from him and kicked him off the stage. And then when the medley is over, you have Jerry come over to personally thank Dean and give him another hug…and you don't have that awkward staging of the exit.
Jerry is way over on the other side of the stage, looking like he's afraid to go near his former partner. Frank is trying to drag Dean off. But Dean is the only one there with enough show biz savvy to realize that the historic Martin-Lewis reunion needs a closing and that he can't exit without saying something to Jerry. So he has to yell across the studio and fight Sinatra trying to get him off stage.
Dean goes for a joke. He says, "All you got is $733 and nineteen-sixteen cents," and if there'd been any prep on all this, any rehearsal with Jerry, Jerry would have known enough to say, "That's the phone number." But Jerry doesn't know what to say and he's on the other side of the room so Dean has to button the joke himself.
I just think Jerry comes across as dazed and clueless and not sure where to stand or what to say…and this is a guy who goes to every possible length to be in command of every situation. A few years after the telethon reunion, he was a guest star on a show I wrote. He arrived with a huge entourage of employees who had to make sure everything was to Mr. Lewis's liking…even (and I am not making this up) the toilet paper in his dressing room.
The tissue had to come off the roll from the front as in the left-hand picture. It could not come off the back as in the right-hand picture. Before Jerry arrived, someone had to check because, we were told, it could affect Jerry's performance. As it turned out, our stage manager had already gone in to make sure it was right. He'd worked with Jerry before and knew all about the toilet paper thing. That's the level of control that the man exerts.
It's possible Jerry knew and he said, "Sure…just send Dean out and we'll wing it." But watch the clip again and show me one moment when anyone seems to know where to stand or how to get to the next item. That's what makes me think it was a genuine surprise for Mr. Lewis.