Day the Clown Cried Behind-the-scenes

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED FOOTAGE SURFACES

By Jerry Saravia

It seems not too long ago that Jerry Lewis spoke very negatively of "The Day the Clown Cried," an unfinished film he directed back in the early 1970's. As a refresher course on this controversial, unreleased film, Jerry Lewis play the title role of a German circus clown named Helmut Doork who entertains Jewish children repeatedly (they laugh at his antics) despite being admonished and beaten by the Nazis each time. Before long, he is mistakenly stationed in Auschwitz where he continues to entertain the Jewish children who are being readied for the gas chamber.

Reportedly, from many sources involved with the production, the film was a disaster (one such source was "This is Spinal Tap's" own Harry Shearer who saw the film). Jerry Lewis himself had tried to complete it and have it ready for release but faced many financial and legal entanglements. Most recently at a Cinefamily Q&A event at the Los Angeles Silent Movie Theatre, Lewis was asked if the film would ever surface in any fashion. He replied: "...in terms of that film I was embarrassed. I was ashamed of the work, and I was grateful that I had the power to contain it all, and never let anyone see it. It was bad, bad, bad."

Just a couple of days ago, Youtube uploaded a 7-minute behind-the-scenes special with footage and some takes with sound from the film, originally discovered in a Flemish website. The footage has Lewis juggling balls and performing some funny tricks with a candle, discussing the use of temp music to get the actors ready and engaged for their scenes, and several other clowns who mug for the camera. This may be as close as anyone gets to seeing a frame of this controversial film beyond what A&E aired years ago.