The Day the Clown Cried (1972)

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Jerry Lewis portrays Helmut Doork in “The Day the Clown Cried”

Jerry Lewis unreleased film on the Holocaust has become something of a legend.  Filmed in Sweden, much of it with his own money, it remains an enigma, seen by only a few people.  What happened?

In 1971, producer Nat Wachsberger offered Jerry Lewis the role, plus the chance to direct.  Lewis agreed, believing it would put him in the realm of serious filmmakers.

Things started to go awry when he began tinkering with the screenplay, trying to make it “funny”.  At the time, Jerry Lewis owned a small theater chain with plans of releasing it in his own theaters.   These theaters catered to a family viewing audience.  How can you release a depressing saga about genocide for the kiddies?  So, Jerry Lewis set out with the impossible task of making a family-friendly Holocaust film – Rated PG.

1972.  During filming, producer Wachsberger failed to come up with the needed funding – Lewis was forced to pay for it himself.  Upon completion, the unpaid screenwriters (Joan O’Brien and Charles Denton) didn’t approve of the film and didn’t want it to be released.  Wachsberger kept the original print.  Jerry, having his own copy, took it back to the States.  Due to all the legal problems, ownership issues and copyright difficulties, “Clown” became unreleasable.  Because the writers weren’t paid, they retained copyright control.

Years passed,.  Jerry Lewis said “Clown” was complete or nearly finished, required some editing and that it would be released eventually.  Until…

Back in the late 70’s , D.J. Casey Kasem was one of the emcees for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.  Jerry loaned Kasem a videotape copy of “Clown”, which he unwisely loaned to actor Harry Shearer.  Shearer leaked it to the press that “The Day the Clown Cried” was a turkey – wrong in every aspect of development.  Lewis outraged, fired Casey Kasem from the telethon and locked up his movie.

Towards the end of his life, Jerry commented that “Clown” had become an “embarrassment” to him, that he thought he “could pull it off, but couldn’t.”  For a while, he said he burned it, which wasn’t true.  “The Day the Clown Cried” was donated to the Library of Congress and won’t be released until the year 2024.

My personal opinion is that Jerry Lewis’ film is neither the best or the worst movie ever made.  It remains a curiosity item; a lost fragment of cinema.

Text © 2018 – ERN

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Hollywood Fails: Unreleased or Unfinished Films You Will Never See

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tumblr_m3yqqpQQPy1rve0ppo1_500 THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED – (1971-1974)  Jerry Lewis debacle, some of it funded with his own money, based on the true story of a Jewish Holocaust clown allowed to live if he lures children to their deaths in the Nazi gas chambers.  Never completed.  Lewis has disowned it.  The master negative is still being held in a Swedish vault.

9781250007087  THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND – (1970’s)  Nearly completed by master director Orson Welles, until Iranian funding was withdrawn.  (Iran fell to the Ayatollah in 1979.)  Costar and biographer Peter Bogdanovich offered to complete it, but was blocked by Welles’ heir.  Previewed during the 1975 AFI awards.

7394020_3 SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE – (1962)  Troubled production plagued by the unraveling mental and physical health of its star, Marilyn Monroe.  Studio fired MM midway, then tried to replace her with Lee Remick.  Costar Dean Martin refused to go on.  MM rehired on August 1; died on August 5 from a drug overdose.  Directed by George Cukor.

default_ce_kubrick_napoleon_poster_0911061347_id_308650 NAPOLEON – (1969-70)  Famed director Stanley Kubrick spent a year in pre-production for this epic…until it was cancelled by MGM.  The fading studio had decided to cut back on big-budget films and rebuild itself as a Vegas casino-resort.

thEYZI6TWM  ARYAN PAPERS – (early 1990’s)  Another Kubrick cancellation.  Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” happened to come out during this same time period.  It was felt that too many Holocaust films could not succeed financially.  Based on the novel “Wartime Lies” by Louis Begley.

thUJ7IUHI3  ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S KALEIDISCOPE – (1967)  Director Alfred Hitchcock, intrigued by the French New Wave and Antionini’s “Blow-Up” (1966), began work on this avant-guarde, cinema-verite movie until Universal replaced it with the cold-war spy drama “Topaz” (1969.)

Dark-Blood_River-Phoenix  DARK BLOOD – (1993/2012)  Briefly released in an unfinished form in 2012.  Production stopped when star River Phoenix died from a drug overdose in 1993.  Phoenix plays a desert survivalist.

8d747f271efccaba23a53fb8fe333074 THE RAVAGERS – (1970)  Fifth of the Matt Helm film series was cancelled due to the waning popularity of spy films and the murder of its costar Sharon Tate (who was scheduled to reprise her role as Freya Carlson from “The Wrecking Crew.”)

 thLORGMAP1 ROMANCE OF THE PINK PANTHER – (1981)  Meant to be the sixth Peter Sellers-Inspector Clouseau comedy.  Partially written by Sellers himself.  Never filmed; Sellers died on July 24, 1980.  The “Pink Panther” film series continued on with different actors including Ted Wass, Roberto Benini and Steve Martin.  (Dudley Moore wisely turned it down.)

Text © 2016 – EricReports