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The Nutty Professor
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The Nutty Professor (1963) is a Paramount Pictures feature film produced, directed, co-written (with Bill Richmond) and starring Jerry Lewis. The original music score was composed by Walter Scharf.
In 2004, The Nutty Professor was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
essor Julius Kelp (Lewis), is a nerdy, unkempt, buck-toothed, introverted, socially inept university professor who always incurs the wrath of the university administration by continually destroying the classroom laboratory.
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Encyclopedia
The Nutty Professor (1963) is a Paramount Pictures feature film produced, directed, co-written (with Bill Richmond) and starring Jerry Lewis. The original music score was composed by Walter Scharf.
In 2004, The Nutty Professor was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Professor Julius Kelp (Lewis), is a nerdy, unkempt, buck-toothed, introverted, socially inept university professor who always incurs the wrath of the university administration by continually destroying the classroom laboratory. When a football-playing bully humiliates him, Kelp invents a serum that turns him into the extremely smooth, cool, and somewhat obnoxious girl-chasing hipster, Buddy Love.
This newfound persona gives him the confidence to pursue one of his students, Stella Purdy (Stella Stevens). At first she despises Love, but she finds herself strangely attracted to him. Buddy wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy delivery and cool demeanor at the Purple Pit, a nightclub where the students hang out. He also mixes it up with the bartender, who is instructed on how to mix the latest drinks for the enigmatic entertainer.
The formula wears off at inopportune times, often to Kelp's embarrassment. He must rush back to his laboratory in the hopes that no one will discover his secret. Although Kelp knows that his alternate persona is an arrogant person, he cannot prevent himself from continually taking the formula as he enjoys the newfound attention that Love receives. Buddy performs at the annual student dance, and while on the dais, the formula starts to wear off.
In the end, his real identity is revealed during the prom, as the Love persona transforms to Kelp during a speech. He gives an impassioned plea that people must learn to like themselves before others can like them in return. He admits that he has learned a valuable lesson, and Purdy admits that she likes Kelp better than Love and they get married. Prompted by his formerly henpecked father's marketing of the formula, Kelp and Purdy decide to license the product and benefit from the profits.
Production notes
The Nutty Professor was filmed from October 9-December 17, 1962 and is a loose parody of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
- The character of Buddy Love is often interpreted as a lampoon of Lewis' former show business partner Dean Martin; however, Lewis has denied this in his 1982 autobiography, and also denied this in a special documentary produced for the DVD release of the film, entitled The Nutty Professor, Making The Formula. Film Critic Danny Peary has made the claim in his 1981 book Cult Movies that the character of Love is actually the real Jerry Lewis.
- Les Brown and his Band of Renown play themselves in the extended senior prom scenes.
- Stella Stevens' colorful, often form-fitting, costumes (and the rest of the casts costumes as well) were designed by Hollywood legend Edith Head.
- Kelp has the initials "JFK" on his attache case and Howard Morris makes a remark about the ransom paid to Cuba for the Bay of Pigs Invasion survivors.
- The Professor Johnathan I. Q. Frink, Jr. character from the animated television series The Simpsons loosely borrows much of his mannerisms and technique from Lewis's delivery of the Julius Kelp character. In one episode, the character of Frink's father appears, and was voiced by guest star Lewis.
- Lewis was credited as a producer of the 1996 remake with Eddie Murphy playing the role of Sherman Klump.
- Walter Scharf's score makes extensive use of the Victor Young jazz standard Stella By Starlight including an upbeat version over the film's main titles. Paramount was the copyright holder of the theme from its original appearance in The Uninvited (1944).
Alaskan Polar Bear Heater
The Alaskan Polar Bear Heater is a cocktail featured in the film. Buddy Love instructs the bartender (Buddy Lester) on how to make it: 2 shots of vodka, a little rum, some bitters, a smidgen of vinegar, a shot of vermouth, a shot of gin, a shot of scotch, a little brandy, a lemon peel, orange peel, cherry, some more scotch. At one point during the instructions, the bartender quips "You going to drink this here, or are you going to take it home and rub it on your chest?"
Love instructs the bartender to "mix it nice" and pour it into a tall glass. The bartender asks if he can take a sip; after doing so, he completely freezes like a statue.
While the drink started as a fictional beverage in name, it has made the list of many real mixed drinks.
Filming locations
The Nutty Professor was filmed mostly on the campus of Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) in 1962 with the prom portion filmed in the newly completed Gammage Auditorium Hall (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and named for former University president Grady Gammage).
Awards and honors
American Film Institute recognition
Home Release
The Nutty Professor was released on DVD in October 2000, and in a 'Special Edition' in October 2004 which included deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
Sequel
An animated direct-to-video sequel, The Nutty Professor starring Jerry Lewis and Drake Bell was released November 25, 2008. Directed by Paul Taylor, the film involves Julius Kelp's teenage grandson Harold Kelp discovering his grandfather's secret formula and unleashing his alter-ego. Lewis has for decades talked about doing a sequel and until now had to settle for the remake starring Eddie Murphy. Murphy also did a sequel called Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
External links
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