Steven Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zuben Mehta, Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson.

Ok, Smokey Robinson and Dolly Parton have had more of an effect on American entertainment and culture than Jerry Lewis? This is getting ridiculous. I expect that they will give their award to Don Rickles before they give it to Jerry.

They have been really reaching the last couple of years to have to NOT give it to Jerry at this point.What about the Mark Twain award, ar ethey doing that one this year? Mike

It just makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

Obviously the Kennedy Center Awards AIN'T what they used to be! Screw 'em!

How are the Kennedy Center Honorees chosen? Is it by committee? Or does the public have a voice in it (I'm guessing NOT)?

It does seem kinda screwy!!

It's REALLY gonna p*** me off if this is gonna be another one of those cases where, AFTER the person passes, then everybody comes out of the woodwork to sing their praises to high Heaven!!!

Jerry is AT LEAST as deserving as anyone on that list, MORE than most!!

JEEZ!!! Where's my blood pressure medication!!??

Wayne

I don't know much about this award you talk about, but I am clear that no one wants to give Jerry Lewis anything in the United States. Why? Well we all have our own ideas. But there is no getting away from the fact that he thoroughly deserves significant recognition. But where will it com from? My suggestion is that it will take a website such....er...this one, with all its members getting together having a nice "Award" made and have this website present it to Jerry Lewis. Before you all say (He's as mad as King George the third) think about it. A pre-planned publicity campaign in say Las Vegas, informing Jerry that we are wanting to give him an award, and you never know.......he may accept it, even personally! At least he will know that it is being given "From the Heart", by genuine supporters of his art, and with loads of love too.
OK so now shoot me down in flames. Gerry.

I agree with you! He deserves anything he can get. I won't shoot you down with flames. :) You should get an award yourself for the idea!

Award givers are going to be sorry if they don't give him these awards while he's around. One, to give it to him personally. And two, from his fans, who will shoot them down with flames!

Well said Stella! I suppose most of the people on this site will have heard Jerry say quite often, in various ways "Don't wait until I'm dead tell me what you think now". I'm old enough to remember the forties and the fifties and the old Hollywood, with the old heads of Studios. I just get the feeling that they wouldn't have let this STAR go away empty handed, but today it's a different type of person in charge, he is a young person, who looks at Jerry's career through different eyes. They percieve (wrongly) that he is taking the micky out of less fortunate people with his crazy movements, his mugging, his words.....they have all had the fun sucked out of them at birth! They cannot laugh, and see things as Jerry Lewis does, through the eyes of a child! What is FUNNY IS FUNNY!, but no, they have to discect it all, analyse it and then it just ain't funny anymore! Personally, I just feel that Hollywood, TODAY'S Hollywood will never give from its heart an award they truly mean to give. It will be up to us, THE SUPPORTERS, the admirers of his craft, the people who laugh out loud at Mr. Jerry Lewis. Phew! Bet you thought I'd never stop. Gerry. He's stopped, He's stopped Hooray!

While I agree with what everyone is saying and have said some of the same things, myself, I must say that all of our outrage, frustration, telling it like it is, complaining, big plans, and letter-writing is not going to change things one bit.

For the newer members who don't know, a lot of us who were members of JL.info took part in a letter-writing campaign to try to get an award for JL - an Oscar as I recall. We sent e-mails, in addition to the letters, to everyone we could think of - the president of the academy, Scorsese, DeNiro, Larry King, Bogdanovich, Oprah, Barbara Walters, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and others. We had a list of about 30, and all of us sent our letters within a couple of weeks.

The only responses we had were when we'd get a letter returned because the address was no longer valid (I received 5-6 of those.) or when we'd get an automated e-mail response saying Mr./Ms. Whoever did not respond to e-mails (I got 3 of those.). We got absolutely no real acknowledgment of any kind from anybody. As much as I admire JL, I am tired of banging my head against the brick wall of indifference. Public opinion means naught to the powers that be in Hollywoodenheadville. After all, we are only the ones who made them rich and famous by going to their movies and watching them on television. Why should they pay any attention to us?

José, I know you don't like negativity ::Ducks and runs for cover. :: , so I apologize to you and hope you will not be too angry with me, but I only speak the truth. Our energy is better directed toward other activities - donating to the Telethon, reading an hour a week to a kindergarten class, donating a book to your local "A Book for Every Child" program, taking a sack of canned goods to your local food pantry, etc. - which might one day actually make a difference. I just needed to vent, and I hope you'll forgive me for throwing a bucket of cold water. I wish I had not become so weary of the struggle. It was a lot more fun to think we could actually influence the decisions of the powers that be.

That's just my opinion, and in case I'm wrong - full speed ahead!

i agree that emails and writing wont do any good because there are not enough of us, but if we could get our case heard on a program like entertainment tonight for example, jan carl is a friend of jerrys, maybe that would help get others involved

its just a matter of numbers, if enough people voice their opinion, then something is likely to happen

If there aren't enough of us for letter-writing to do any good, then how can there be enough of us to get on ET? Just curious.

I can't believe I'm doing this again (Le sigh), but Mary Hart got her start on television with Danny Williams in Okie City a very long time ago. He's is now on an early-morning radio show on my favorite station. Maybe he's still in touch with her. I'll try to contact him. A local person would be more likely to respond, and if we can get word to Mary Hart, then she'd probably pass it on to Jann Carl.

ET has been good to Jerry, so thanks for mentioning that, Helene. I'd never have thought of Danny Williams, otherwise. I'll let you folks know if I hear from him. Heck, I could even telephone him and will do that if he doesn't answer an e-mail.

jan carl is involved with the telethon and likes jerry. maybe they could do a piece where ordinary people are interviewed and asked their opinion as to whether jerry deserves to be so honored

I sent Mr. Williams an e-mail and included a link to this thread. He probably won't see it until tomorrow since his program starts about 5:00 AM. He may not be able to help, but I bet we'll at least get a response from him.

Thank you Boo for trying and I hope this works

I didn't mean to start something off, honestly. I know most things have been tried in the past, and when your sort of new, you tend to suggest things that can be quite annoying to the regulars...Sorry. I just wondered, that's all.

Oh, no, Gerry! You aren't annoying anyone. Sorry if my post came off that way. I guess I was thinking the newer members should be aware of our past attempts so they wouldn't think we older members hadn't done anything or didn't give a rat's (_!_), and also so they wouldn't get their hopes up, only to be disappointed. It's so frustrating to get excited about a worthwhile project and then be completely ignored.

By the way, no word from Mr. Williams, yet, but I'm still hoping to hear from him.

By the way, again, you're one of the "regulars," too. We really don't make a distinction between newbies and oldbies.

Thanks Boo. Gerry. X

Hi Everyone, its me again in the middle of your night. Remember me mentioning our film comedian of the forties and fifties Norman Wisdom? Well, this the way this funnyman was awarded for his years of entertaining the world in his films.
Here he is, actually being KNIGHTED by H M QUEEN ELIZABETH II.
(I hope this comes out, as it is a small picture.) Gerry.

Photo looks fine, Gerry. Thanks. Maybe our President could take pointers from your Queen!

I mentioned the Mark Twain Award earlier, as that is also a function of the Kennedy Center, sort of like their comedy wing. They also only give it to people who are alive and are willing to show up and get it. This year they are giving it to Neil Simon, who I think is, for once, at least as deserving as Jerry for getting an award celebrating American comedy. Plus he is older (79) and has had recent health problems (kidney transplant, though I think he's OK now).

But the weird thing is, he has ALREADY been given the Kennedy Center Honor, so instead of giving him yet another award, (and he one of the most recognized playwrights in the history of American theatre), why not give the award to our Jerry, who is as deserving, if not more so, older, and has had a lot more recent (and worse) health problems?

Again, like I said above, you now really have to be going so far out of your way to NOT give something menaingful to Jerry at this point. And if they all hate Jerry so much, how about Rickles as a second choice?

My guess is that they will give it to Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyle and Sid Caeser (if they all live long enough, they are all in their 80's as well) before Jerry. But looks like they have already delved into the next generation: (see below), Lorne Michaels and Steve Martin were born in the mid-40's, some 20 years before all the above mentioned gentlemen.

Previous Mark Twain award winners:

1998 - Richard Pryor
1999 - Carl Reiner
2000 - Jonathan Winters
2001 - Whoopi Goldberg
2002 - Bob Newhart
2003 - Lily Tomlin
2004 - Lorne Michaels
2005 - Steve Martin

MIKE

Hey Boo, any word from Mr. Williams?

Not one word. I must say I'm disappointed. Oh well, that's about par for the course when it comes to trying to do something for JL. Le sigh.

We just keep trying don't we Boo. Sometimes it's soul destroying, and then something happens, a reply or something and your up again! Keep right on Boo.

Here here!!!

This is an article I came across....



Choose and Lose
Last year, I wrote an impassioned plea to “The Kennedy Center Honors”: Give Jerry Lewis his due. With its annual ceremony (Tuesday, 8 p.m., CBS), the Kennedy Center claims to honor “extraordinary American artists whose unique and abundant contributions to our culture have transformed our lives.” The fact that they’ve snubbed Lewis all these years suggests either ignorance or spite.

Lewis is, simply, a colossus in American culture. With his partner Dean Martin, he dominated TV and movies in the late ’40s and ’50s. He created a persona — spontaneous, explosive, endlessly inventive — that influences comedians to this day. (Jim Carrey, for one, owes him royalties.) After his split with Martin, Lewis evolved into a “total filmmaker,” as the New York Times recently put it. He wrote, directed and starred in a string of films that, according to scholar David Thomson, “are essential to any study of American comedy.”

Nor is Lewis a figure from the distant past. He still acts in TV series. He still keeps vaudeville alive with his annual telethon ($61 million raised this year). He recently wrote a charming, best-selling memoir called Dean and Me. Lewis does all this at age 80, in spite of severe health problems. The man is a trouper.

So what does the Kennedy Center have against Jerry Lewis? Is it the old American penchant for honoring artists who smack of high culture, rather than those whose genius is accessible to everyone? No, that can’t be it — not with Dolly Parton and Andrew Lloyd Webber on this year’s list.

Anyone who thinks Parton and Lloyd Webber have contributed more to American culture than Jerry Lewis should be locked in a small room for all eternity, with a soundtrack endlessly playing Jesus Christ Superstar and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Is that where you want to end up, Kennedy Center judges?

I was thinking the Oscars would honor Lewis this year, but I just read they are giving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Shari Lansing, former head of Paramount Studios. I'm sure she has done many charitable things in her life. Although Lewis has raised more money for charity than any human being in history, I guess that doesn't count.