I notice that this year's Jerry Lewis Telethon was directed by Artie Forrest, who I mentioned here earlier. Someone ought to do a big, high-profile article on this man who may hold the current record for directing the most talk shows, game shows, variety shows, awards shows and telethons of any man alive. (He's lately been directing alternate episodes of Whose Line Is It, Anyway?) When I worked with Artie, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to direct a six-camera live show while simultaneously telling bawdy jokes to everyone in the booth.
Once upon a time, he was Jackie Gleason's favorite cameraman. This was back on the Dumont network. Every week on his program, Gleason would do a five minute pantomime routine in his character of The Poor Soul, and he would never rehearse it. Shortly before the broadcast — and remember, this is live television — Gleason would take Artie onto the set and tell him, "Okay, I'm going to enter on the left and then I'll move over here, and then I'll do some crap and then run over to the right. Then I'll either come downstage or go back out to the left and then run back in. And after that, I don't know what I'll do but whatever it is, keep it all on camera and in focus."
And that was it. Artie would have to cover Gleason running all over the stage with no real idea where he might move next. Amazingly, he usually managed it…but he developed nerves of titanium. Directing Jerry has got to be a comparative cinch.