Jerome Felder, known as Doc Pomus, in the documentary ‘AKA Doc Pomus’
'AKA Doc Pomus' — 4 stars
Documentary about early rock-’n’-roll songwriter Jerome Felder, aka Doc Pomus (1:39). NR: Language. Village East.
If you could only celebrate Doc Pomus in one artistic medium, it would be a song, not a movie. But the life of this justly revered early rock-’n’-roll songwriter makes for pretty good drama, too.
Like Pomus’ life, the movie’s not all happy or upbeat. But by the end it’s clear that Pomus, a devoted poker player, did remarkably well with the cards he was dealt.
His joker was the polio card. Infantile paralysis struck him at age 6 and he never walked unaided again. His last decades were spent in a wheelchair, which ironically helped inspire his best-known — and arguably best — song, “Save the Last Dance for Me.”
When he married actress Willi Burke, she recalls, he said at their wedding that while he couldn’t dance with her, he would be waiting when she and the other men finished.
Pomus, born Jerome Felder, spent some time as a blues singer before moving into songwriting. His hits, many co-written with Mort Shuman, included “Suspicion,” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” and “This Magic Moment.”
“AKA Doc Pomus” focuses less on the man’s craft, though, than his life. He died in 1991 of lung cancer, an outcome of a four-pack-of-Chesterfields-a-day habit. But he left a wonderful musical legacy, and this film, through interviews with those who knew him, shows how hard he had to work his hand to cash those chips.
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