You know... I've often thought Buddy Love was Dean. After all, "Buddy" is the name Dean called everyone. Jerry always said that Dean, not remembering people's names, called them all "Buddy". And anyway on the watch that Dean gave to Jerry it said "To my BUDDY and pal". I Love You. Dean.
Buddy - Love.
But… okay, physically Buddy Love is Dean.
Tanned, thick and slightly curly hair with that little curl on his forehead, elegantly dressed (and Dean was always very elegant, even if Jerry deliberately exaggerated, after all Buddy Love was an exasperated character), he smoked, drank, sang... Dean loved to sit on the arms of sofas. Just like Buddy Love did in the movie.
BUT there is always that plan that caused me questions. The crooners sang. No crooner played a piano. Sinatra, Sammy, Dean and the rest, they all just sang. Why then did Buddy Love play a piano? Why does a painting of Buddy Love leaning against a grand piano appear in the film? I have always read that ALL the films written and directed by Jerry contained autobiographical elements (the recurring number 13 for example, his lucky number, the number that reminded him of his grandmother).
Kelp was Joseph/Jerome. Without any doubt. Jerry thought he was ugly as a boy, he was unlucky with girls (he basically married Patti, the first girl who took him seriously). As a boy he blew up the chemistry classroom at the school he attended. Kelp dreamed of becoming beautiful, strong, attractive. Winning. Joseph/Jerome/Jerry wanted to become like his father before... like Dean after. And he definitely missed his mother. That she was a pianist. She played, her father sang. Here it is, the piano. Could Buddy Love "sum up" the two men with whom Jerry had a true Love/Hate relationship, but adored them, admired them, and wanted to be like them? And that he missed his mother visually remembered with that piano?
Jerry always talked about how handsome he thought Dean was. And he gave Dean's physical features to Buddy Love. (The "yeah but that's Dean" rumors were certainly a very strong form of publicity for the film) But the personality in my opinion is that of Danny, his father. He was certainly a narcissist, his mother a flying monkey. Abandoned when he was a child, used for money when he became famous with his father jealous of his son's success.
Buddy Love are Dean, Danny and Rae. For me.
It definitely wasn't Jerry. Not in the 60s. Jerry got some Buddy Love in the '80s. Not before.
