As for Jerry Lewis, I never even knew he was Jewish nor did I ever think
about it. It also did not occur to me that he was acting the part of a
retarded person. I simply saw his stage personality and voice as a
rather silly comedic character. On his telethons he talked differently
and behaved differently, more like a normal person, and so I assumed
that to be the real person while the character in the movies was just a
character he assumed. I can't say that I was ever a fan of his nor a
detractor. I was pretty neutral. He was just another entertainer to me.
On 8/21/2017 1:42 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Carl,
I just finished listening to Democracy Now. Gregory's humor is very different
from Kosby's, I think, because it wasn't solely humor. At least in the material
I just heard, all of the humor included definite social messaging, most of it,
directed at black audiences. In a way, it was a kind of preaching. And in he
end, he was a social activist because his humor was scene as disruptive to the
social system. Amy said that he was not allowed any more entertainment
platforms because of his activism. Any messages that Kosby had for black
audiences, came straight from the white man, just as Obama's messages did.
As for Jerry Lewis, I don't remember any discussion about him at all. Perhaps
people in different parts of the country, perceived him very differently. This
reminds me of an interchange with a midwestern guy from the DB Review list,
that I had yesterday. It had to do with a podcast called, Just The Right Book.
The woman who hosts it, was an attorney doing some sort of financial stuff, but
she ended up owning a bookshop, or maybe it's a small chain of bookshops in
Connecticut. She's really very sophisticated and business savvy, but she's in
her sixties and has a very heavy New York, probably Brooklyn or Bronx accent,
and I'm sure her background is Jewish. My internet friend said that he listened
to the podcast a few times, but he was very put off by the way Roxanne talks,
so he stopped listening. Actually, I also find her manner of talking rather
irritating, but not so much that it would cause me to stop listening. I'll
listen to an episode if I'm interested in what she's talking about.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 11:30 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dick Gregory
My sense that Dick Gregory was not as entertaining as some of the later Black
Comics, like Bill Cosby, was not meant to detract from his central role in the
Fifties, Sixties and Seventies as a Civil Rights Advocate. Gregory, in my
opinion was far more of an influence through his daily life than was Bill
Cosby, over whom I absolutely fell off my chair laughing. But Cosby used his
enormous talent to satisfy his own greed, while Gregory used his talent to open
doors for all Blacks and people of Color. Amy Goodman had an hour with clips
out of past interviews with Dick Gregory on this morning. While my respect for
him grew, I still found his humor to be not so funny.
As for Jerry Lewis and my claim that many people saw in him a negative stereotype of a
NYC Jew, That was my recollection of years of hearing people talk about him. People who
"loved" the man, even as they made cutting remarks.
Maybe I read more into all of that, just because I never, ever liked anything
about Jerry Lewis.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I wanted to add to this conversation because there was a piece
regarding Dick Gregory on Unauthorized Disclosure that I heard this
morning. I do think that Carl's and Roger's posts have sold him short.
There was an amazing interview with Dick Gregory held in 1964 on a
public radio station in which he responded to the interviewer's rather
naïve questions, with excellent imply phrased explanations of what it
means to be black in America and also, some predictions about the
reactions of white people as they begin to comprehend that they are a
minority of the world's population with less power than they're
accustomed to. There was also an excellent little stand up comedy bit
about what it was like for a black person to order food in a
restaurant in the South. Additionally, Gregory has a history of
working for a variety of causes of which you would approve, starting
in the 70's.
Miriam