The Ladies Man (1961) on 35mm

Jerry Lewis, the actor/writer/director famed for his outrageous physical comedy, divisive baby voice, annual charity telethon, and popularity with the French, celebrates his centenary this year. In celebration of Lewis and his inimitable screen presence, the Film Studies Center is proud to present The Ladies Man, in which Lewis both directs and stars.Herbert Herbert Heebert, shell-shocked after being two-timed by his college sweetheart on the day of his graduation, swears off women for life. Heartbroken and disillusioned with monogamy, he heads out west in search of a houseboy position; once in California, he quickly secures employment at a candy-colored, multi-tiered boarding house owned and operated by an aging former opera diva, Miss Welenmelon. To his chagrin, the boarding house is populated entirely by gorgeous young babes, and they all, for one reason or another, want a piece of him desperately. Trapped in this Barbie Dream House of horrors, Herbert begrudgingly indulges the women in their various assignments: delivering the mail, acting as half-witted concierge to the women’s visiting beaux, and feeding the monstrous house pet, Baby.In The Ladies Man, Lewis, uninterested in plot or character development, is largely concerned with how the body can tell a story, how slapstick comedy and clownery can be propulsive and energizing as their own discrete cinematic devices. He succeeds in abstracting Hollywood form into something totally surreal – fundamentally recognizable in its general shape as a sex comedy, but entirely uncanny in its delivery. Dreamlike, balletic, and utterly absurd, The Ladies Man is Jerry Lewis at his visionary best. (Jerry Lewis, USA, 1961, 106 minutes, 35mm from the Chicago Film Society) All Film Studies Center events are free and open to the public. Doors open thirty minutes prior to showtime.