Buddy Love Was....Buddy Rich

I was thinking the same thing. Buddy Rich was the embodiment of cool in the early '60s, and the similarities in names and attitude are too close to be coincidence.

Of course, Buddy Love also bears a strong resemblance to Dean Martin, but I think Dean and Jerry were on the outs then.

Naw...not Buddy Rich , and not Dean Martin ( As Jerry has stated time and time again. ). Buddy Love = Frank Sinatra. Frank was abusive to women , often referred to himself in the 3rd person , always had the dangling cigarette , referred to other peers as "kids" , always had to be doing the "cool" thing , and of course the crooner singing. ( Frank may have recorded "Black Magic" at some point as well. ). Of course , in 1963 , admitting you were parodying Frank Sinatra , could get you killed!

Yes they have! If you can, take a look at the special "Jerry Lewis: Method to the Madness". I just saw it, and when it gets to focusing on production of "The Nutty Professor", Jerry explains that Buddy Love is a compilation of different people and, more specifically, people with negative qualities that he knew and he just combined them. He did say it wasn't Dean Martin, but nothing specifically was said about either Buddy Rich or Frank Sinatra being part of the development of Buddy Love that I can recall. Someone else posted on this message board that they were reminded of Don Draper in the scene where Buddy is dancing with Stella, and his cigarette is practically in her face. I don't recall Don Draper, but maybe he was one of those that Jerry based the Buddy Love character on.

IMHO Buddy resembled the essence of the Rat Pack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Pack
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop.