Who knew comedian Jerry Lewis was a gun collector?
- Thread starter cjwils
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Master Blaster
Member
Col. Charles Baron, 0383316. U.S. Army. is engraved on a couple of the firearms including those given to Jerry. A little googling and apparently he was a colonel in the Army and eventually a Brigader in the National Guard. But also he was a Mob enforcer and a partner in the Tropicana. And a friend of Jerry Lewis.
FL-NC
Member
Interesting. I know someone who has a Ruger Single 6 that belonged to Sammy Davis Junior- authenticated and engraved with his name.
That was an interesting peek behind the curtain at the private life of a public persona. I browsed through items offered and have to say I admire his taste. It's easy to see he had certain strong preferences and he had the resources to indulge them. Quite a life.
I have admired and respected Lewis for a very long time. Remarkable talent.
That stated , I believe that his personality had a very hard edge. I do not have great insight , having seen him just one time in public (early 70's) , otherwise following him as any other fan or interested party would. When I chanced upon Lewis long ago he radiated "STAY AWAY" . The late interview I linked shows the same demeanor , nearly 50 years later.
Gifted , accomplished beyond description , and , as it turns out , a collector of firearms. Raised a fortune for charity. No rule says that a person has to be a Teddy Bear as part of that mix.
The old adage of "They broke the mold..." certainly applies to Jerry Lewis.
ApacheCoTodd
member
I'll tell ya... I watch, attend, participate and consign in a LOT of auctions over the years. I smell some schilling in this one given the prices and "Lewis" provenance not withstanding.
Todd.
Todd.
AirForceShooter
Member
All the actors form the 50's and 60's were gun guys.
It was part of the persona .
AFS
It was part of the persona .
AFS
He was clearly not impressed with the interviewer.
Sistema1927
Member
It appears that the interviewer was too impressed with himself, and treated Jerry Lewis like a dottering old fool. Glad that he turned the tables on him.
Mn Fats
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Not surprising. Back in the day when you could bring your .22 to school in certain areas, guns were less "evil" and more common place. The modern day hollywood gun collectors are more surprising to me. Chris Pratt. Angelina Jolie. Brad Pritt. And the obvious Uncle Ted.
cjwils
Member
Hammer prices on the guns are now available on the web site. Every gun that I had an interest in sold for way more than the estimated range.
Legionnaire
Contributing Member
Hammer price - top of estimated range = collector value.
Pretty good equation.
Pretty good equation.
cjwils
Member
I was interested in the S&W revolver that is inscribed with something like "to Jerry, love Mel." It sold for thousands more than the estimate. Jerry was friendly with both Mel Brooks and Mel Torme, but the auction house told me in an email that they don't know who this Mel was.
RON in PA
Member
Mel Torme was a gun guy if memory serves correctly.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Yep. As stated above, he was accomplished at fast draw. Somewhere on YouTube there's a video of him twirling a Colt SAA on stage.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Another Colt collector.
Yes, he had an extensive collection of SAAs, some of which featured in the 'Study' by Graham, Kopec & Moore
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