Jerry Lewis

Instruction Book For... "Being a Person" or (Just Feeling Better) Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis on Being A Person
It was 1962. I was at Paramount filming The Nutty Professor, a labor of love that transcended everything else I had ever done. One day I felt instinctively that there were minor rumblings among my crew. Backbiting and envy are two of the most destructive forces I know of. So I went home that night, sat down and wrote a tome -- a small one, but a tome, on the benefits of being a person. I wrote down the words in a matter of two hours and had my sketch artist interpret what I wrote in sketches. Within one week I had the little book printed and bound and made up only 200 copies (my crew was a total of 185). I distributed the book to every member of that crew and it made a difference... and I created a small, worthwhile message to all who read it.