"She's the answer to my dreams," Jerry told his manager Joe Stabile. "I'm happier now than I've ever been in my life."

But while Jerry crows about his new child, Danielle, he's cut his six sons so far out of his life that he didn't even bother to tell them they have a baby sister.

The boys didn't find out about Danielle, who was born on March 23, untiltheir dad proudly showed off her picture on a TV show.

"Jerry's on cloud nine now that he has the daughter he's been waiting over 35 years to have," Stabile told a reporter.

"He adopted the baby at birth and he told me, "I'm 66, but I'm not starting my life all over again.'"

The comedian and his 41-year-old second wife tried to have a baby for five years, but they finally decided to adopt one after she suffered two heartbreaking miscarriages, revealed a friend.

"Jerry insisted that the baby had to be a girl. He set up medical tests and selected a pregnant young woman whose tests showed she would have a girl.

"When the baby arrived, Jerry was at the hospital, and he told me that tears ran down his cheeks when the doctors told him the beautiful, healthy baby girl had been born.

Jerry confided in me, 'I was awestruck that I finally had my daughter.'

And he's turned into a doting dad. He diapers the baby, burps her, talks to her, carries her around and helps bathe her."

In mid-April, Jerry showed off little Danielle to friends and neighbors at Turnberry Isle, Fla., where he owns a luxury condo. And on May 12, he brought a picture of her with him when he appeared on the "Arsenio Hall" show.

"Jerry is so crazy about the baby that he's bringing her and SanDee along on two cruises he's booked to perform on this summer," the entertainer's musical arranger Les Brown told a reporter.

Jerry disclosed to Brown, "I always wanted a little girl. It's the best thing that could have happened to me!"

But the comic's sons are bitter about the adoption, according to sources.

"He didn't tell any of them that he had adopted a baby," Jerry's first wife Patti told a family friend.  "They learned they had a sister by seeing Jerry on Arsenio's show.  The boys feel hurt and rejected.

Jerry's youngest son Joey, 28, complained to the family friend: "It's as though he's starting a new life and he doesn't want any of his sons in it.

"We're so hurt at being left out."

But Lewis' boys are used to being hurt by their dad, who's best known to millions for his annual telethons, which have raised millions for young victims of muscular dystrophy.

In a 1989 exclusive Enquirer interview, Joey charged that Lewis was a cold and uncaring father who regularly threatened and beat his children, kept them terrified with his violent outbursts - and showered them almost no affection.

"My dad is a mean-spirited, self-centered jerk," Joey told the interviewer.  "Even today we're all afraid of him."

The entertainer's manager Stabile angrily denied Joey's claims the Jerry was a violent and distant parent.

"Jerry Lewis was a loving father," Stabile insisted.

But Jerry admitted to a pal, "I may have failed with my boys and I didn't have my priorities straight when they were growing up.

"I was consumed by my career and I was working for Muscular Dystrophy Association.

"But I'm going to be the best dad in the world for my sweet baby girl.  Come hell or high water, I'm going to be there every inch of the way in Danielle's early years.

"I'm determined to be a superdad!"
-Richard Baker