Evening star., 1942-05-05

n
who will eventually surround as
many as 10 enemy soldiers.
There isn't any certainty that
Jerry will get abroad even, but in
his spirit, his willingness to serve.
his willingness to get IN there and
pitch, is to be found the answer TO
why this country must eventually
finish on top.
I've known Jerry for five years.
He is strictly a member Of the So
called soft generation. For the last
five years Jerry has been what is
know as a Broadway playboy." He
was born in Manhattan and until
the bugle blew always called cab
to get to the movie around the
corner. He made the night spot
rounds as steadily and as faithfully
as an animal seeks the salt-lick.
You could find him any night in the
places where the rumba was con-
sidered hard work, the conga too
much for a man, and the war cry
was, waiter" whenever there was
finger to be lifted.
r r.
Before Pearl Harbor Jerry was q
writer. A sports writer. The places
like Toots Shor's. the Tavern, Dawes
Blue Room and Jack Whites were
the places where he got as much
mail as he did at his home.
He thought he was roughing it
when he didn't get his Al sauce
right along with his steak. and he
was known as fellow who had to
have his sour cream served at room
temperature unless the waiter
wanted to get balling out.
He was overweight by Is pounds.
He could tell you the year of any
Scotch by the time the waiter was
within 10 PAGES, and he never
lighted three matches In a row
lest 1t wear him out.
Then, all of a sudden, Jerry, who
was 3-A, told the mob he was going
in the Army. The announcement
was good for laughs from the Para
mount Building at Times Square
to Mike Jacobs Office near Colum-
bus Circle.
They gave him a going-away
party at his adopted home, Shor's
Restaurant, Broadway gathered to
send away fellow It loved, but one
it thought sure would be the worst
soldier since Hector. was a pup. 1-
"MacArthur's gotta be good to
stand this shock" Comic Joe E.
Lewis said as Jerry left at dawn
for Camp Upton.
That was weeks ago.
The other day in Louisville, Pvt.
Jerry Lewis showed up at the Ken
lucky Hotel. He was making the
most of few hours leave from
Fort Knox, where he Is a member
Of the armored forces training CEN
ter. He was thin. He had a hard
look in his eyes. His conversation
dealt exclusively with half-tracks,
machine guns, tanks, jeeps and the
joys of getting in there and serving
our mutual Uncle.
He was running over with bars
and stripes. He, who used to try
to get to bed by dawn, was full Of
the delights of getting up at such
an hour. He-well, Jerry Lewis
was a soldier. The dancing pump
had made way for the brogan. The
Martini had been displaced by a
slug of coffee, black. The friends
he talked about were boys from
Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, California
and Florida.
He didn't say so. but he gave his
old writing pals-Corum, Williams,
Rice, Brown, O'Keefe and the
others-the feeling that while it
was all right, you know, to sit be-
hind typewriter and turn phrases,
1t was whole lot more fun to be in
a mans army doing a mans work.
Jerry made us a little uncomfort-
able. in fact. But we liked it. II
there is one Jerry Lewis, there must
be a million all over the country.
Guys who chucked the easy thing,
the soft thing, and said to them
selves, IF the old man with the
whiskers needs me, I might as well
get in there and start helping
him"
Like Jerry said as he played 50
on a Derby favorite: That's the
smallest dough I have ever laid
out on a horse T liked, but it's the
most honest dough those machines
ever took from me-"
Nobody's ever going to tell me
that the United States is going to
lose when the Jerry Lewises answer
reveille. No mani
distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Incl