Around 1930 he moved to Hollywood and worked as a film producer with Paramount, RKO, and MGM until after World War II.

[4] His partner, Max Gordon, was also from a Lower East Side family of Polish Jewish immigrants and had also performed a "Dutch" act in vaudeville.

Their booking and production agency became known for creating high-quality single-act plays for inclusion in vaudeville programs, such as Eugene O'Neill's In the Zone.

[4] In 1925 Lewis produced and directed the original Broadway production of The Jazz Singer, starring George Jessel.

Lewis moved to Hollywood to work for William Fox, who had once partnered with Max's brother Cliff Gordon in vaudeville acts.

The film was directed by Marion Gering and starred Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, Marjorie Rambeau and Trent Durkin.

Frank Nugent of The New York Times called the film "a fumbling, unoriginal and infantile farce [which] comes unpleasantly close to being the composite year's worst picture.

[9] In 1942 Lewis and George Balanchine co-produced and co-directed Cabin in the Sky, a Broadway musical with an all-black cast.