1950s - The Final Years
In the 1950s Lasky made a comeback with the The Great Caruso, which made a star of Mario Lanza and a fortune for MGM. But Lasky's final years were spent heavily in debt, the IRS having confiscated his Sergeant York profits. His final film project, The Big Brass Band, was in pre-production when he died in Beverly Hills, California, January 13, 1958.
Posing prior to the “Milestone” Dinner: (standing) Mervyn LeRoy, (seated) Cecil B. DeMille, William Perlberg, Jerry Wald, Gloria Swanson, Adolph Zukor, Mary Pickford, Arthur Freed, Lasky, (seated on floor) Sam Goldwyn and George Jessel
Jesse Lasky as the subject of TV's "This Is Your Life", June 12, 1957. Standing behind Jesse and Bessie Lasky (seated) are (l-r) host Ralph Edwards, older son Jesse Lasky, Jr., director Mervyn LeRoy; daughter Betty, producer Walter Wanger, younger son Billy; (in the rear, l-r) actors Richard Arlen and Buddy Rogers, and Lasky's San Jose boyhood friend Jay McCabe
Jesse Lasky with star Mario Lanza (playing instrument) and Lanza's wife, Betty; circa 1951
The evening of the Milestone Award dinner, en route to the Cocoanut Grove to honor Lasky, (top to bottom, left to right) William Perlberg, Bob Hope, Bessie Lasky, Gloria Swanson, Lasky, George Jessel, Cecil B. DeMille, Mary Pickford, Sam Goldwyn and Jack Benny
Lasky with daughter Betty the evening he honored as the recipient of the first Milestone Award from the Screen Producers Guild; September 12, 1951
December 27, 1956. The old Lasky-DeMille studio-barn becomes a California historical landmark. Left to right, Sam Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, Adolph Zukor
Lasky's autobiography, I Blow My Own Horn, published in 1957
1957: During pre-production for The Big Brass Band, Lasky meets with with Don Sartell, leader of the National Baton Twirlers’ Association
Lasky with champion baton twirler Caroline Willis at Paramount Studios. Lasky died before filming began
Billy, Bessie and Betty Lasky at the funeral, January 16, 1957
Among the mourners at Lasky's funeral, January 16, 1958, are (l-r) director Frank Borzage, Buster Keaton and Gary Cooper