Hoyvin, glayvin! In the 1970's Jerry Lewis' career had hit the skids. He might have been revered in France, but he was box office poison in the United States. How could he parlay his previous fame into cash? Why not try his hand at promoting a chain of family-friendly cinemas?
You kids and your glayvin, hoyvin cinemas!
Jerry Lewis Cinemas was a chain of franchised theaters that foresaw the current trend of multi-plex theaters. Investors could build their theater from a pre-designed plan and show family-friendly second run films. Jerry Lewis' team provided an operational plan that would minimize overhead and maximize profits for the franchisees. How could they go wrong?
Jerry Lewis in person? Is that a threat?
Well, opening up a theater that wouldn't show more adult fare right when some of the greatest cinematic achievements were being made was a bad idea. That was one of the first changes Jerry made, allowing the franchisees more freedom in choosing what they exhibited. One of the biggest stumbling blocks, however, was the name. Meant to bring Hollywood glamour to the sticks, the name instead dragged them down. Jerry Lewis was seen as a hokey, schlocky also-ran who was no longer relevant. Plus, potential customers were confused. Did this theater only show those old, creaky Jerry Lewis films? By the end of the decade, some of these theaters resorted to showing porn, while the others slowly but surely shut down. Mr. Lewis was forced to declare this enterprise as dead as his career was.
