AL LEWIS: 1923-2006
By Chris Flash
Like countless others who loved him, we were
extremely saddened when we heard that Al Lewis passed away on February
3. Al had been in bad shape after a second heart operation in 2003, but
he had persevered, in spite of it.
For some reason, a week after his death, the New York Times decided to
dig into Al Lewis' past in an attempt to dispel some of the stories he
told about his life. This rare investigative journalistic effort,
coming from "the paper of record" that parroted the falsehoods used by
the Bush Administration as justification for the US invasion of Iraq in
2003, that later admitted they were wrong and that they should have
done some fact checking first, was laughable.
Does it really matter that Al Lewis gave his year of birth as 1910 when
he was actually born in 1923, as his son revealed? Does it matter that
he may or may not have had his merchant marine ship blown up during
WW2, as he told the SHADOW? Did Charles Manson really babysit his kids?
Does it matter that he told a few tall tales? Who really cares?
What does matter is that Al Lewis was a man with a genuine personality
who made a positive difference in the lives of others. Al Lewis the
entertainer gave us joy and laughter in every venue, from the circus,
burlesque and vaudeville, Broadway, radio, television and movies, to
personal appearances at clubs and memorabilia shows. But much more
importantly, Al Lewis, the strong-willed tough-as-nails astute activist
who accepted no bullshit and suffered no fools, acted on his political
beliefs.
Some of Al Lewis' long life of activism (that we can mention here)
included re-opening the houses of evicted families in the 1940s and
moving them back in, working on behalf of Black leader WB Dubois in the
50s, hosting gatherings for Black Panthers at his home in the 60s, and
confronting FCC censorship on behalf of shock jock Howard Stern in the
90s. Al also made a point of knowing and hanging out with interesting
and diverse people, from comedian Fred Allen and humorist Bennett Cerf,
to mafioso John Gotti and porn star Ron Jeremy.
In 1995, Al Lewis, with his wife Karen and fellow activist-entertainer
Randy Credico, used his radio show Al Lewis Live on
WBAI-FM in New York on Saturday afternoons to push for prisoners'
rights, protest the death penalty, expose corrupt politicians,
interview activists, promote books, and turn us on to great jazz
(especially King Curtis)!
With Karen and Randy, Al Lewis was on the forefront of the movement to
get New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws
repealed, calling for the retroactive release of those imprisoned under
those laws. (The Rockefeller Drug Laws, enacted in 1973 at the behest
of then New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, require harsh prison
terms for possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs.)
This effort included traveling with bus loads of activists to the state
legislature in Albany to directly confront New York state lawmakers. On
Fridays, Al Lewis would maintain a vigil with families of prisoners at
Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Running for governor of
New York on the Green Party ticket in 1998, Al Lewis got the Greens
on ballots across the state by garnering more than 50,000 votes. He
also used his campaign to publicly pressure Governor Pataki and other
state politicians into softening the Rockefeller laws somewhat,
enabling many prisoners to be released.
Al Lewis interviewed by the SHADOW at WBAI studios on October 21,
1997 [SHADOW Photo By Chris Flash]
Al Lewis was an avid reader of everything he
could get his hands on, including the SHADOW. Imagine our delight when
he agreed to an interview with us!! When we met with him at WBAI in
1997, I was surprised to see that he was a big man, contrary to the
short image he portrayed as Grandpa on the Munsters tv show. As we interviewed
him, he gave quite a performance, at times intimidating, encouraging,
his voice rising, falling, rising again, with lots of laughter.
At the very end, I asked Al his secret for success and a long, healthy,
happy life. At first, he laughed off the question, but then he got
serious. He told us: "I'll tell you what my secret is. It took me a
long time to find this out. Find something that you absolutely love to
do. Not you like it, or it's pleasant -- something that you absolutely
love to do. And along the way, if you're lucky, get to love the way you
do it. Then you're home free. And you're looking at a man right now. I
got a spine made out of stainless steel. Nothing shrinks it, nothing,
nothing. Because I know who I am. I don't have to brag. I know what I
contributed. I know what I did. You think you can do it better? Hey, go
right ahead. The stage is yours. But find something that you absolutely
love doing. And then get to love the way you do it. That's the
uniqueness of all of us. That's it. Albert Einstein, one of my
favorites, said: ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.' And if
that cat can say it, it's good enough for me."
Two things from that interview have stayed with me ever since. First,
that you must enjoy what you're doing if you really want to be happy in
life. That sounds simple and obvious, but it's amazing how many people
are unhappy and even miserable, locked into a job or lifestyle they
don't really like, and it shows. Second, no matter what adversities we
are facing now or in the future, Al Lewis' legacy should inspire us all
to stand up for something and make a difference, even if we don't get
the quick results we want. (It seems to me that one great way to honor
the memory of Al Lewis is to force politicians in New York state to
completely repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws and release all those
imprisoned since 1973 under those laws!!)
In the final analysis, what will you be able to say about what you did
with your life? Can you look back and see that you did something
meaningful? Do you just watch all the bullshit going on around you,
knowing that something needs to be done, or do you at least try to do
something about it, even if it seems hopeless? Al Lewis did something,
without fear and without hesitation.
As Al told us in 1997: "The struggle goes on. The victory is in the
struggle."
[You can read the entire SHADOW interview with Al Lewis from Issue #43
at:
http://mediafilter.org/shadow/S43/S43grand.html]