Lewis taunted Martin between takes by playfully punching his co-star, until Martin, a former bareknuckled boxer, got irritated and decked the comedian.

Hey pallies, likes with the passin' of Mr. Jerry Lewis, the world wide web continues to exponentially explode with powerful post after post with remarkable  reminisces of our most beloved Dino and his most beloved partner in comedy, Mr. Jerry Lewis.  Today we takes all youse Dino-holics to the online presence of "The Roanoke Times" of Roanoke, Va.  In his post tagged "Cornershot: Roanoke County man recalls screen time with Jerry Lewis," newpaper man Mr. Ralph Berrier, Jr. shared the sweet story of Mr. Darrell Branstetter and his close encounter with our Dino and Mr. Lewis.

Likes it was late in the year of our Dino 1951 that our Dino and Mr. Lewis were filmin' some scenes for their big screen epic "Jumping Jacks" at Amerian Army Base in Georgia.  As it would have it, Mr. Branstetter, as you will read below, was stationed at the base at the time and even was an extra in one of the scenes.  Mr. Branstetter shares his intriguin' insights of bein' in the powerful presence of our Dino and Mr. Lewis, and what a treat it is, 'cause we can never ever get 'nough retellin's of in-the-flesh encounters with our King of Cool!

We thanks Mr. Darrell Branstetter for sharin' his marvelous memories of bein' 'round Martin and Lewis and for scriber Mr. Ralph Merrier Jr. for puttin' pen to paper for all us Dino-philes to enjoys the Dino-pleasure of readin'.  To checks this out in it's original source, likes simply clicks on the tag of this here Dino-gram.

We remain,

Yours in Dino,

Dino Martin Peters



Cornershot: Roanoke County man recalls screen time with Jerry Lewis

Ralph Berrier Jr.

In late 1951, Darrell Branstetter was serving as an instructor at Fort Benning when he was given a new assignment: appear in a movie with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.

Branstetter, who’s 85 and lives in Roanoke County, talked about his brief film career earlier this week after Lewis died Sunday at age 91. Martin and Lewis filmed some scenes for their 1952 movie “Jumping Jacks” on the U.S. Army base in Georgia, where Branstetter was stationed with the 11th Airborne Division.

The movie was a typical Martin and Lewis over-the-top farce in which Lewis plays a nightclub entertainer who becomes an incompetent paratrooper so he can perform on army bases. Branstetter was around for most of the filming on base, and he appears in one scene in which Lewis ineptly tries to pack his parachute while all the paratroopers around him, including Branstetter, are distracted by the goofiness.

Even when the cameras weren’t rolling, Lewis kept up the silliness, Branstetter remembered. When Lewis was introduced to a general on the base, the actor fell to his hands and knees and started acting like a monkey.


Another time, Branstetter said, Lewis taunted Martin between takes by playfully punching his co-star, until Martin, a former bareknuckled boxer, got irritated and decked the comedian.

Coincidentally, Bob Cooper, one of Branstetter’s friends and a Roanoke County neighbor, was also at Fort Benning and got some screen time. Too bad it wasn’t a better movie, Branstetter said.

“It’s one of the worst movies I have ever seen,” he said. “Really terrible.”