Jerry Lewis is red-hot again

He’s back. But this time, Jerry Lewis will be the one doing the laughing (as in, all the way to the bank) after selling the remake rights to three of his classic Paramount comedies from the 1960s — The Bellboy, Cinderfella, and The Family Jewels. It isn’t the first time Tinseltown’s envisioned dollar signs in the 84-year-old King of Comedy’s back catalog. In 1996, Universal updated Lewis’ The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy as the nerdy scientist-turned- Casanova. Back then, Lewis was less than pleased with the Klump family’s toilet humor. Perhaps that’s why he plans to have more creative control. In addition to exec-producing, Lewis will have a firm hand in writing the scripts. ”They’re my babies!” he says. ”You don’t just hand over a baby. And I don’t care how much f—ing money’s involved, it’s still my baby!” As for whether the legend, who hasn’t appeared on the big screen since 1995’s Funny Bones, will make a cameo, Lewis laughs: ”Oh, you can bet your ass! You’ll see me! I don’t know where, but I’m going to make Hitchcock look like an amateur.”