Theodore Leopold Friedman (June 6, 1890 – August 25, 1971), known as Ted Lewis, was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician.

He fronted a band and touring stage show that presented a combination of jazz, comedy, and nostalgia that was a hit with the American public before and after World War II.

[2] Lewis was fired from Henry Goldsmith's music store in Columbus, Ohio because whenever he demonstrated a clarinet for a customer people thought he had gone crazy.

[5] As his career gained momentum he refined his style under the influence of the first New Orleans clarinetists to relocate in New York, Larry Shields, Alcide Nunez, and Achille Baquet.

[7] Ted Lewis and His Orchestra was one of the featured entertainers at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition – Pageant of the Pacific on Treasure Island (Sunday, August 13, 1939, Program of Special Attractions and Events indicates that the Ted Lewis Orchestra performed from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Temple Compound and from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Treasure Island Music Hall for a free dance).

[8] Lewis's band continued to play in the same general style throughout the Great Depression, but was essentially the musical backdrop for his act as a showman.

This gave the effect of Lewis "speaking" the song spontaneously: "When ma' baby... when ma' baby smiles at me... gee, what a wonderful, wonderful light that comes to her eyes... look at that light, folks..." Lewis kept his band together through the 1950s and continued to make appearances in Las Vegas and on television, appearing as the mystery guest on What's My Line?, This Is Your Life and Person To Person in the 1950s, and Hollywood Palace and others in the 1960s and 1970s.

His physical presence with props like his top hat, white-tipped cane and clarinet combined with bits of visual humor and dancing were as important to him and as crucial to his popularity as his music.

In 1941 the band was recruited at the last minute, along with the Andrews Sisters, to furnish musical numbers for the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost (1941), released by Universal Studios on August 6, 1941.

In 1943 Columbia Pictures mounted a feature-length biographical film of Lewis—yet again titled Is Everybody Happy?—with actor Michael Duane portraying the bandleader and lip synching to Lewis's recordings.

There is an extended caricature of Lewis in the Warner Brothers short Speaking of the Weather (Tashlin, 1937), playing Plenty of Money and You, and a briefer one (performed by Daffy Duck) in Person to Bunny (1960).

Ted and Adah moved into a 15-room apartment overlooking New York City's Central Park and once they got married, and remained there for the rest of their lives.

Following a Jewish funeral service in New York City, his body was brought to Circleville where thousands walked past his coffin.