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Tuesday August 22, 2017 16 ENtertainment

JERRY LEWIS, the brilliant, sometimes divisive giant of comedy, died at his Las Vegas home Sunday morning at age 91. The news was fi rst reported by the Las Vegas Review-Jour-nal and then confi rmed by Lewis’s agent.

Tributes came in from all corners of the showbiz world, including those who worked alongside Lewis and who were inspired by him.

In a career that spanned nearly his entire life, Lewis played funnyman to Dean Martin; starred in, wrote, and directed the original “Nutty Professor” and served as long-time host of TV’s most famous telethon.

Once Hollywood’s most bankable star, Lewis fronted more than 50 movies, from the light Martin-and-Lewis fare of “Artists and Models” to Martin Scorsese’s darkly funny “The King of Comedy.”

Born Joseph Levitch (or, per biographer Shawn Levy, Jerome Levitch) on March 16, 1926, in Newark, N.J., the future star was, like his idol, Charlie Chaplin, born into a show-business family. Lewis’s father was a Catskills enter-

tainer; his mother, a pianist.Lewis rated his fi rst applause

at 5. By the time he was a teen-ager, he had a full-fl edged act, pantomiming his way through the popular songs of the day.

In 1946, Lewis, then 20, was playing an Atlantic City club when another act on the bill canceled. For a replacement, Lewis suggested a singer. His name: Dean Martin.

Onstage, Martin exuded slickness; Lewis acted like a monkey boy. Together they were were a hit. For a time, Martin and Lewis, as they were billed, were everywhere — TV, records, radio and the movies. The duo cranked out 16 fi lms in seven years.

After a red-hot decade together, the relationship cooled. Lewis became bent on becoming an auteur like Chap-lin; Martin balked at being bossed around by the budding multihyphenate.

“I like the co-star but not the director, writer and producer,” Martin sniped at the time.

After their 1956 split, the pair would reunite onstage just once, in 1976 at Lewis’s Mus-cular Dystrophy Association telethon. Mutual pal Frank

Sinatra brokered the summit. Martin died in 1995.

“We loved one another more than any two men ever loved one another in their lives — period,” Lewis told the Toronto Sun.

Per conventional wisdom of the day, Lewis was the star of Martin and Lewis. And just as the pundits expected, Lewis was an immediate smash on his own, starring in and producing the 1957 hit “The Delicate Delinquent.”

The movie’s opening sequence was classic Lewis, depicting a 30-year-old grown man mug-ging and jutting around like a kid on a sugar high.

“He’s 9 years old. He’s for-ever,” Lewis once said of his movie persona.

As silly as it all looked, Lewis was dead serious about the work. He wrote, he produced, he directed — fi lm after fi lm after fi lm, from “The Bellboy” to “The Ladies Man” to “The Errand Boy.” Behind the scenes, he was credited with improvis-ing a video-playback machine to monitor his performances — a now-standard procedure on the movie set.

(SD-Agencies)

Jerry Lewis died at 91

FOX SEARCHLIGHT has set an April 20, 2018, release date for “Super Troopers 2” — 17 years after the original.

Jay Chandrasekhar is direct-ing the comedy sequel, as he did on the original. Filmmak-ing team Broken Lizard raised US$4.4 million in a 30-day crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in 2015 that saw more than 50,000 contribu-tors. It was one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns for a movie along with the US$5.7 million raised by fans for the Veronica Mars movie starring Kristen Bell.

Donation incentives for “Super Tropers 2” on the fi rst day included a producer title for US$10,000, a speaking actor role for US$10,000, a trip to the ballpark with the main actors for US$15,000, and the patrol car to be used in the fi lming for US$35,000. “Super Troopers 2” met the initial goal of US$2 million (set by Fox Searchlight) in 26 hours.

“Super Troopers 2” reunites all fi ve troopers from the origi-nal fi lm — Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. The quintet play goofy Vermont state troopers with a penchant for pranks and feuding with other local law enforcement offi cers.

The comedy troupe began shooting in October 2015, and cast Rob Lowe as Guy Le Franc, a former hockey player and the current mayor of a Canadian town near Quebec.

The original “Super Troop-ers” was made for US$1.2 million and acquired by Fox Searchlight at the 2001 Sun-dance Film Festival. It grossed US$23 million worldwide.

“Super Troopers 2” will open against Warner Bros’ “Ram-page,” starring Dwayne Johs-non; Focus Features’ “Tully,” starring Charlize Theron; and Lionsgate’s remake of “Over-board.”

(SD-Agencies)

‘Super Troopers 2’ lands spring 2018 release date

A scene from “Super Troopers.” SD-Agencies

Jerry LewisJerry Lewis

EIGHTIES boy band Bros have returned to the stage for the fi rst time in nearly 30 years and thanked fans for supporting their comeback.

Twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss performed at a sold-out O2 Arena in London on Saturday.

They told fans they hoped their comeback show would be the “fi rst of many concerts.”

The band, who hit number one with “I Owe You Nothing,” last played live exactly 28 years earlier at Wembley Stadium.

And they ended their come-back show with an encore of their signature song “When Will I Be Famous?”

But the third member of the original Bros line-up, bassist Craig Logan, did not make an appearance as he announced last year that he had no interest in returning to the stage.

Addressing fans on stage, Matt said: “We’ve always had to push a little bit harder than everybody else in some ways but do you know why we’ve been able to continue to do that?

“It’s because of you guys and that’s the only reason.”

He added: “We would love for this to be the fi rst of many, many concerts.”

Singer Matt later performed a tribute to the late George Michael by singing his hit “Freedom” — and drummer Luke paid his own homage to Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, by wearing the grunge band’s T-shirt, three months after Cornell’s death.

Bros enjoyed major success during the 1980s and inspired teenage fans — famously dubbed Brosettes — to wear bottle caps on their bootlaces during the height of their fame.

But Logan left the band in 1989 and the twins called it a day in 1992 after a run of 12 Top 40 hits.

And many of the original Bro-settes were out in force at the O2, tweeting their appreciation for the comeback show, saying it was “incredible” and “worth the wait.”

Bros announced their comeback show in October. It sold out in seven seconds and prompted the band to expand to a full U.K. tour.

(SD-Agencies)

Bros thank fans for support at O2 comeback show