Hey, here's another Martin and Lewis film and it also has Eddie Mayehoff in it. This is The Stooge, a film Dean and Jerry made in early 1951 though it wasn't released until December 31, 1952. In-between, they made two other movies — Sailor Beware and Jumping Jacks — which were released ahead of The Stooge.
Why the delay? Reportedly, it had to do with the plot which cast Dean as an egomaniacal entertainer who splits up with his partner, who was played by Richard Erdman. (Richard Erdman, by the way, made his first movie in 1944 and he's still a working actor. How's that for a long career?) Dino's character doesn't do so well as a solo partner so he takes on a stooge in his act — a kid played by Jerry who is a lovable screw-up and comic foil and his participation in the act catapults it to great success. Dean's character doesn't appreciate what Jerry's character is contributing and treats him like dirt…but Jerry's character is so good-natured and sweet that he puts up with it.
Finally — SPOILER ALERT! — Dean's character — still determined to be thought of as a solo performer — dump's Jerry's character and, of course, the act bombs and Jerry's character comes to his rescue.
Jerry Lewis later said on many occasions that this was his favorite Martin-Lewis movie. Gee, I wonder why.
Anyway, when the film was completed, Paramount execs got worried that having Dean treat Jerry like that on the screen would harm the team's popularity so they shelved the film. There is some dispute among historians as to whether there was a real chance it would never be released or if they always decided to just hold it until the team got better established. (It would have been their third starring vehicle instead of their fifth. This is not counting the two My Friend Irma films in which they had supporting roles.)
It was pretty successful and a lot of folks agreed with Jerry. Here it is if you want to see how you feel about it…