In my mind, Labor Day belongs to Jerry Lewis. His annual Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon saw to that.
So today seems like the perfect time to highlight Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in Pardners (1956), their next-to-last film together.
Jerry Lewis (from his book Dean And Me: A Love Story): “The best thing about Pardners, for Dean, was — after having been in love with Westerns all his life — he was actually starring in one. If he had known then that in only four years he’d be making Rio Bravo with John Wayne, he would have been in heaven.”
Lewis: “The best thing for me was learning, from a man named Arvo Ojala, to quick-draw and twirl a pistol…”
Lewis: “The hardest thing about the picture was the crushing irony of Dean and me singing the film’s title number, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn:
You and me, we’ll always be pardners,
You and me, we’ll always be friends…”
You can support the MDA and their Show Of Strength Telethon here.
Toby, great to see you highlighting one of our Dino’s big screen efforts with Mr. Lewis. Cool mix of pixs and prose from Lewis’ amore to his partner. Know that your efforts are being shared this day with all the pallies gathered round ilovedinomartin.