Ted Lewis (musician)
Theodore Leopold Friedman (June 6, 1890 – August 25, 1971), known as Ted Lewis, was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He fronted a band and touring stage show that presented a combination of jazz, comedy, and nostalgia that was a hit with the American public before and after World War II. He was known by the moniker "Mr. Entertainment" or Ted "Is Everybody Happy?" Lewis. He died of lung failure in August 1971.
Ted Lewis
Theodore Leopold Friedman
June 6, 1890
Circleville, Ohio, U.S.
August 25, 1971 (aged 81)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Musician, bandleader, singer, entertainer
1913–1971
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band
Films[edit]
Lewis and his band appeared in a few early talkie movie musicals in 1929, notably the Warner Brothers revue The Show of Shows. The first of several films titled with Lewis' catchphrase, Is Everybody Happy? also premiered in 1929, while 1935 saw Lewis and his band performing several numbers in the film Here Comes the Band.
In 1941 the band was recruited at the last minute, along with the Andrews Sisters, to furnish musical numbers for the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost (1941), released by Universal Studios on August 6, 1941. Musical numbers cut from the feature were released by Universal separately on September 3, 1941, in a short subject entitled Is Everybody Happy?
In 1943 Columbia Pictures mounted a feature-length biographical film of Lewis—yet again titled Is Everybody Happy?—with actor Michael Duane portraying the bandleader and lip synching to Lewis's recordings.
There is an extended caricature of Lewis in the Warner Brothers short Speaking of the Weather (Tashlin, 1937), playing Plenty of Money and You, and a briefer one (performed by Daffy Duck) in Person to Bunny (1960).
Ted Lewis Park in Circleville, Ohio.
Ted Lewis Museum at 133 West Main Street in Circleville, Ohio.
Ted Lewis headstone at Forest Cemetery in Circleville, Ohio.
Ted Lewis gravemarker.
Adah Becker Lewis gravemarker.
Lewis married Adah Becker (1897 – May 31, 1981) in 1915. She was a ballerina when Ted met her that same year in Rochester New York. Only six weeks later they were married in three separate ceremonies on the same day, first by a justice of the peace, next by a rabbi and finally on stage that night. They remained married for 56 years until the death of Ted. Adah gave up her dancing career to become his secretary, business manager and loving wife throughout her husband's long career. Once married, Ted and Adah lived in a 15-room apartment overlooking New York City's Central Park for the remainder of their lives.
Lewis died in his sleep in New York on August 25, 1971, of lung failure at the age of 81. Following a Jewish funeral service in New York City, his body was brought to Circleville where thousands walked past his coffin. Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman who officiated remarked, "The song has ended, but the memory lingers on." The burial was held at the local Forest Cemetery. Lewis's stone, in the family plot, has his hat and cane incised upon it. His wife Adah, who died on May 31, 1981, rests beside him.
Upon his death, the City of New York, Yale and Harvard Universities and the Smithsonian Institution asked Adah for his memorabilia. She politely declined, saying Ted wanted everything to come back to the "Capital of the World", Circleville, Ohio. The Ted Lewis Museum, located across the street from where he was born, was dedicated on June 5, 1977. Adah, who had dreamed of a museum in the hometown that Ted loved so much, was present for the museum's opening ceremonies. Large numbers of celebrities, relatives, friends and Ted Lewis admirers from everywhere attended the dedication. The Ted Lewis Theater within the museum provides an opportunity for visitors to see Ted Lewis in performance by means of early TV and movie clips.[6]