Yankees don't 'get' Norman Wisdom....

[julian_craster]

Yankees don't 'get' Norman Wisdom [but Albanians do....], and this is one of Sir Norman's better films !



Seen on the www, a film review from THE NEW YORK TIMES

dated April 26, 1961



Screen: British Slapstick:Norman Wisdom Seen in 'Follow a Star' By BOSLEY CROWTHER





BRITAIN'S Norman Wisdom D is a bandy-legged low comedian whose style is a cross between Stan Laurel's and the one of the Three Stooges with the bowl-cut head of hair. If you want to know what this comes out to and why it is we seldom see Mr. Wisdom's little films in this country, you might take a look at "Follow a Star," a sticky lot of vaudeville horseplay with him in it, which was put on at the Embassy Forty-sixth Street yesterday.

In this slow torturing of slapstick, Mr. Wisdom plays a genial Cockney dunce who allows himself to be shamelessly exploited by a fading music-hall star. It seems (though it isn't made convincing) he has an attractive singing voice that the music-hall star nefariously manages to get onto tape recordings and then presents through loudspeakers as his own.

Obviously, this situation allows for the sort of cruel abuse by supposedly superior persons that low comedians invariably have to take. Mr. Wisdom is made to wash dishes (which he dumps into a clothes-washing machine) and take baths as an inducement to singing. (The joke here is: "Why should I take a bath? It's not Saturday night.")

Eventually he is discovered (by the plot, not by us) as the rightful performer with the voice.

In the interest of international goodwill, it would be nice if we could appreciate what it is in Mr. Wisdom's quaint delivery that makes him the darling of London's East End and the British provinces. But by every criterion of our judgment, he looks to us like a clumsy, slack-jawed clown, bouncing around among a lot of heavy dullards without wit or comic subtlety.

Once it appears he may get somewhere when he is taken to a swanky gentleman's club by a psychiatrist who has him under hypnotism in hopes of giving him confidence. But the satire dissolves with Mr. Wisdom's eating caviar with a spoon and bawling Billingsgate at the head waiter, which any buffoon could do.

Abetting him in this workout are Jerry Desmonde as the music-hall star, Hattie Jacques as his massive voice instructor and June Laverick as his little lame girl friend.

It has been five years since Mr. Wisdom was last seen here in "Trouble in Store." If fortune smiles upon us, it will be at least five years before we see him again.





FOLLOW A STAR, screen play by Jack Davies, Henry Blyth and Norman Wisdom; directed by Robert Asher; a J. Arthur Rank Production, presented by Zenith International. At the Embassy Theatre, Broadway and Forty-sixth Street. Running time: 102 minutes.



The Cast



Norman Truscott . . . . . Norman Wisdom

Judy . . . . . June Laverick

Vernon Carew . . . . . Jerry Desmonde

Dymphna Dobson . . . . . Hattie Jacques

Dr. Chatterway . . . . . Richard Wattis

Harold Franklin . . . . . Eddie Leslie

Birkett . . . . . John Le Mesurier

Pendlebury . . . . . Sydney Tafler

Lady Finchington . . . . . Fenella Fielding

The General . . . . . Charles Heslop

Stage Manager . . . . . Joe Melia

Violinist . . . . . Ron Moody

[Moor Larkin]

name='julian_craster']Yankees don't 'get' Norman Wisdom

But they did get Jerry Lewis........ and the difference was...........



what exactly?

[NappieB]

name='Moor Larkin']But they did get Jerry Lewis........ and the difference was...........



what exactly?

Did the French ever "get" Norman Wisdom? Because they sure are big fans of Jerry Lewis!

[marker]

name='Moor Larkin']But they did get Jerry Lewis........ and the difference was...........



what exactly?

I just cant stand Jerry Lewis not now not ever, but I quite like Norman Wisdom in fact I would say that I like Norman more now than when I was younger.

[kelp]

name='Moor Larkin']But they did get Jerry Lewis........ and the difference was...........



what exactly?

Moor, not true exactly. The American public enjoy JLs movies, the American critics do not. Especially Bos Crowther, the very same so called critic that slammed Norman, wrote some atrocious stuff about Jerry Lewis in the early days from 1949 through until the early sixties. Bos Crowther was known for his vitriolic outpourings about Jerry, and for that matter, Dean too. So that was not unusual, and in fact par for the course. Both Norman and Jerry were/are aquired tastes, I agree, both are unique in what they do. I, as you know, worked for Jerry Lewis, and still retain a connection with him, so am a little biased I suppose in my feelings toward him and his career, and am also a big fan of Norman Wisdoms work too. But they are different in so many ways; too many to go into here and now. As a tailpiece, they were to have worked together many years ago, but it never came off.

kelp.

[ChristineCB]

If Wisdom wasn't liked, it was because his good works weren't on display.

[Merton Park]

Shame really, I always liked Follow A Star, and I am a Jerry Lewis fan as well. Why is it so difficult to enjoy both of them?

[batman]

name='NappieB']Did the French ever "get" Norman Wisdom? Because they sure are big fans of Jerry Lewis!

And how big is Jerry Lewis in Albania?



Bats.

[Moor Larkin]

name='kelp']The American public enjoy JLs movies, the American critics do not. Especially Bos Crowther, the very same so called critic that slammed Norman, wrote some atrocious stuff about Jerry Lewis in the early days from 1949 through until the early sixties.

I think I was cryptically agreeing with you....



History is evidently sometimes written by the Critics rather than the Victors.



It's a shame 'Box Office' figures aren't more easily available, then we'd be better placed to 'judge' these guys in a more balanced way. Seems to me that the Americans were too savvy to be releasing movies into their theaters that nobody wanted to go and watch.

[ChristineCB]

name='Moor Larkin']History is evidently sometimes written by the Critics rather than the Victors.

Truer words, ne'er spoken.

[lordtednfs]

The only thing the French "got" or ever understood was "I surrender".



Norman is and always will be a legend in the hearts of those that saw his movies and saw a comic genius at his craft. A true British Legend. Loved not just by the ordinary folk but by everyone, even by the Royal family.



What would the Americans have made of dear old Spike, Sellers, Secombe as The Goons?



Lewis is good but is just so loud.



Who really cares what the american critics think, we have our legends that are loved throughout the western world and are gaining wide interest in many third world nations, unforunately they may never see their idols in person, but will remember the laughter they experienced and hopefully their movies will be played from generation to generation so they can experience real entertainment from geniuses. Laughter makes the world a much happier place. The people vote with their backsides on seats in the east, not by listening to criticising idiots who don't like this or that. How nice it would be to have a Norman Wisdom evening here for all to enjoy. Many successful films were slated by the critics, but loved by the audiences. Word of mouth is better than anything printed in a paper. God bless British cinema.



________________

Hooked off the line

[NappieB]

name='Merton Park']Shame really, I always liked Follow A Star, and I am a Jerry Lewis fan as well. Why is it so difficult to enjoy both of them?

I've always enjoyed both of them immensely!



I had the great pleasure to see Norman Wisdom live in 1969...but from a great distance (at the time I could only afford the cheapest seats in the very back row of a huge theatre where he was appearing.)



I've also been fortunate enough to see almost every movie each of them ever made at the time of release.

[julian_craster]

For a more balanced review of FOLLOW A STAR, see Screenonline, at:



screenonline: Follow a Star (1959)

[Matthew Hopkins]

name='marker']I just cant stand Jerry Lewis not now not ever, but I quite like Norman Wisdom in fact I would say that I like Norman more now than when I was younger.

I've never really liked Lewis that much, but I picked up a copy of the Special Edition DVD of The Nutty Professor which contains extensive background material including outtakes of Lewis at work. Fascinating to see, though he's never been particularly modest about his own work.

[Aaryk Noctivagus]

name='Moor Larkin']But they did get Jerry Lewis........ and the difference was...........

Actually I see a lot of difference between Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis.



I adore Norman Wisdom and I loathe Jerry Lewis and here is why...



Norman Wisdom has a reality about his performance which I feel sympathetic towards. He is a down on his luck cheeky chappie who makes good at the end against life's bullies.



Jerry Lewis never seemed real... He played an idiot... no a bully making fun at an idiot nerd (nerds in reality are often very intelligent).



To me, Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis are completely different. The first is the down-trodden in life but not in spirit succeeding against bullies. The second is a mockery of nerdism playing for cheap laughs at the expense of others.

[Aaryk Noctivagus]

name='Moor Larkin']It's a shame 'Box Office' figures aren't more easily available, then we'd be better placed to 'judge' these guys...

In light of the success of the 'American Pie' series... I cannot agree with you there, Moor.



Many fine movies and actors have been shunned by audiences and had their genius only appreciated afterwards.

[marker]

name='Aaryk Noctivagus']Actually I see a lot of difference between Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis.



I adore Norman Wisdom and I loathe Jerry Lewis and here is why...



Norman Wisdom has a reality about his performance which I feel sympathetic towards. He is a down on his luck cheeky chappie who makes good at the end against life's bullies.



Jerry Lewis never seemed real... He played an idiot... no a bully making fun at an idiot nerd (nerds in reality are often very intelligent).



To me, Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis are completely different. The first is the down-trodden in life but not in spirit succeeding against bullies. The second is a mockery of nerdism playing for cheap laughs at the expense of others.

quite agree with you on this one arky lewis always seemed big headed to me something Norman never was.

[Moor Larkin]

name='Aaryk Noctivagus']Many fine movies and actors have been shunned by audiences and had their genius only appreciated afterwards.

Quite so. As time goes by however those same 'Shunned' become deified and the popular stars of 'the day' become forgotten or even vilified. There does seem a danger of a re-writing of history by the critical elite.

[NappieB]

name='Aaryk Noctivagus']Actually I see a lot of difference between Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis.



I adore Norman Wisdom and I loathe Jerry Lewis and here is why...



Norman Wisdom has a reality about his performance which I feel sympathetic towards. He is a down on his luck cheeky chappie who makes good at the end against life's bullies.



Jerry Lewis never seemed real... He played an idiot... no a bully making fun at an idiot nerd (nerds in reality are often very intelligent).



To me, Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis are completely different. The first is the down-trodden in life but not in spirit succeeding against bullies. The second is a mockery of nerdism playing for cheap laughs at the expense of others.

I generally agree with this analysis... as usual Aaryk has hit the nail on the head.



It seems to me, however, that (returning to the original post), Norman Wisdom appeals to the Victorian parochialism inherent in the British psyche (in a good way!!)



Jerry Lewis, however, is pure American slapstick.... it is certainly a mystery how and why the French embraced this erstwhile 50s icon!



Let me say right now that I enjoyed all of Jerry Lewis' films (even those that I wasn't dragged to by my mother in the early 1950s !) When Jerry Lewis broke the incredibly successful partnership with Dean Martin in the mid 50s (1955?) most pundits foresaw the "kiss of death" for Lewis - in reality it was Dean Martin who had to rescue his (Dean's) career. An impressive endorsement for Lewis in the heyday of competitive US TV ratings in-fighting, no matter how you view it!!



The Americans champion a "local-boy-made-good" - Norman was never that...he started and ended most of his films as a "regular guy" (US jargon) with no elevation in material wealth or social standing resulting from his filmatic adventure.



I never knew how to take his famous song (lost now, I'm sure): "Don't Laugh at Me Because I'm a Fool".

[stevie boy]

When I was a small lad, my Dad took me to see a double bill of The Bulldog Breed and the Sqare Peg. My old man laughed so much that the whole cinema looked at him rather than the screen for a couple of minutes.



Fast forward 35 years my two children were watching dear old Norman in the one where he gets nearly throttled in the phone booth by Jerry Desmond they were in absolute stitches and I have that particular memory on video.



The story is that good humour is timeless.