The Geisha Boy (1958) or, Lewis in Japan

4/29/2021

The Geisha Boy (1958) or, Lewis in Japan

♥♥♥

Jerry Lewis looks his trademark loony self on this bright and colorful poster for Frank Tashlin's The Geisha Boy

An American magician without much traction in his career flies to Japan to help entertain US troops there, but soon a local orphan boy clings to him...

The Geisha Boy is written and directed by Frank Tashlin (The First Time (1952)), based on a story by Rudy Makoul (Teenage Thunder (1957)).

As often the case in Jerry Lewis' (Boeing, Boeing (1965))/Tashlin films, the level is unsteady: Lewis is too much, and a bit later he is funny, and then a bit later too much again and ...

The story is somewhat bizarre: Lewis ridicules Japanese in some sequences, but the boy simply loves him regardless. (Still, the bizarro factor is surely higher in Lewis' infamous lost Holocaust clown movie, The Day the Clown Cried (1972).) Little Robert Hirano as the orphan boy is unbeatably cute.

Frank Tashlin: The Disorderly Orderly (1964) or, Lewis in a Hospital

The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - Fabulous Mansfield and colossal rock 'n' roll push in Tashlin classic

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 3.2 mil. $ - North-American rentals estimate (Variety, 1960)

= Uncertain

[The Geisha Boy premiered 3 December (Chicago) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place from June - August 1958 in California, including Los Angeles. The film recorded 1.3 mil. admissions in France but other release details are regrettably scarce online. Tashlin returned with Say One for Me (1959). Lewis returned in Don't Give Up the Ship (1959). 1,807 IMDb users have given The Geisha Boy a 6.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Geisha Boy?

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4/29/2021

The Geisha Boy (1958) or, Lewis in Japan

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