My piece on Jerry Lewis when he died aroused some controversy, especially among folks who believe that when someone dies, you must only say nice things about them for 24 hours or 48 or the first month…or in some extreme cases, forever. I would suggest that there's a sliding scale and it has something to do with how nice and civil the deceased was in life. If an ax murderer who killed twenty people dies on Saturday, I shouldn't have to wait until Monday to mention that thing he used to do with the axes.
Paul Fitzpatrick, who I really only know through e-mail correspondence, wrote a much nicer piece about Jerry on his blog. Perhaps if I hadn't seen the nasty side of Jerry in person, I would have written something more like Paul did.
Several folks wrote to ask me why, in my piece on Jerry, I didn't mention the first time I encountered him back when I was a toddler. Answer: I wrote the piece on Jerry's passing in a hurry and to tell that tale would have made it too much about me. I also didn't want anyone to think I held that against him because I honestly didn't. But if you want to read it, it's here.
And if you do read it, this may interest you. I mention seeing Jerry's movie Don't Give Up The Ship at the Paradise Theater in Westchester, on Sepulveda right near where LAX wasn't then but is now. The Paradise is now an office building and a few months ago, my friend Roger sent me then-and-now photos of it. Here they are. I'll let you figure out which is which…
