Has Anyone on the Forum Seen Jerry Lewis' "The Day the Clown Cried"?

I'm sure that many here know about this legendary/notorious unreleased early 70's film. Few copies are said to be in existence, but an handful of Hollywood collectors have it and have shown it to select audiences. I know that Harry Shearer has seen it, and called it terrible. Has anyone here seen it, and if so, what were your impressions?

 

you can read the script and decide for your self here;

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the_day_the_clown_cried.html

Spy magazine article on this infamous movie from may of 1992,

http://www.subcin.com/clownspy.html

 

Do any collectors really have copies? I understood Jerry Lewis had all of the extant film and negatives, and is tighter with them than Hetty Green with a dollar.

 

Harry Shearer said he's seen the film, so apparently someone other than Jerry has a copy.

 

I thought Harry saw it only because Jerry showed it to him?

 

Correct.

 

I transferred 30 minutes of the workprint to video for Jerry Lewis Productions, right around 1980-1981. Didn't keep a copy, but I remember little bits and pieces of it. Not a good film, very cheaply done as I recall.

 

Vidiot, How did that exchange go? Do you remember who contacted you? Did they give you any kind of instructions about confidentiality or the like? Jerry Lewis is quite touchy about this film and swears that it will find an audience one day. From what understand, he becomes quite agitated whenever the topic comes up at forums, interviews, or fan exchanges.

 

No, a messenger called from the company and they just brought the reels by. I barely remember the session, since it was over 30 years ago. I think at the time, he was working with an editor who was trying to redo the footage and present it to investors.

The only contact I had with Lewis personally was when I mastered The Bellboy, The Patsy, Errand Boy, and Cinderfella in the early 1990s, and I worked with his assistant every day. Jerry would occasionally called in, but I only spoke to him once or twice.

 

The movie was never actually completed in terms of editing, right?

 

That's pretty cool. Makes me wish I weren't so color blind. A fact I never tell my employers when applying for designer positions.

 

No, I don't think so. I think they never even completed shooting all the footage. I think at this point, Jerry is embarrassed about it and wishes everybody would forget about it. It's nothing but bad memories and a lot of lawsuits at this point.

One of the best music video producers I ever worked with admitted to me, a couple of years in, that he was color-blind. I was stunned and said, "but you used to tell me, 'maybe add a little more blue' and stuff every so often!"

He laughed and said, "I wouldn't be much of a producer if I couldn't bull$h!t people, could I?"

If you can still see shades of gray, I think you can at least see when things are going to clash or cause some kind of visual problem, plus if you understand composition and balance, you can go with your gut instincts. The reality is, most of the comments I get in color-mastering sessions have to do with brightness and contrast more than color.

 

According to the Sean Levy biography of Lewis, KING OF COMEDY, the film had serious financing issued and wound up shutting down production before it was completed. Due to legal action between the parties who produced the film/owned the story and Lewis, Jerry only wound up with SOME of the footage in his possession. It's possible that he was able to put together an assembly of an incomplete version of the film, which is likely what Vidiot transferred. I know the A&E Biography of Lewis (or was it the E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY?) had some behind-the scenes footage from DAY THE CLOWN CRIED featured in it.

When I saw Jerry at a speaking engagement a few years ago in Boston (promoting the DEAN AND ME book), one audience member asked about the film during the Q&A. I was prepared for Jerry to lash out at the question, but he instead very politely and calmly said Harry Shearer was a liar, that he'd never shown the film to him, as the film was never finished, and that the reason he's never completed it was because he thought it wasn't very good, and why release to the public something that you felt you did a "piss poor job" on. Very interesting to hear this from the man himself, and not the reply I was expecting.

Still, I'd love to see whatever exists for myself.

 

I know Lewis is very protective of the property because about 10 years ago there was an announcement in the LA Weekly that the cast of "Mr. Show with Bob and Dave" (which I loved and wrote the HBO ad campaign for) was going to perform a script reading of "The Day The Clown Died." I was psyched and took some friends to the show in the basement of a little church. There was a couple minute delay when the show was about the start and then Bob Odenkirk and David Cross came out with a letter they had just recieved - a letter from Jerry Lewis' lawyer saying legal action would be taken if they went ahead with the staged reading! What a bummer. But the cast did improv for about an hour instead, which was neat, but I always regret not seeing that reading of the script.

 

7 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage has found its way to YouTube!


Edit: Anyone know who the gorgeous girl at 2:07 is?

 

Looks like Jane Birkin with Serge Gainsbourg.

 

This may include pieces of the workprint I transferred for Jerry 30+ years ago:



Noted internet commentator Mark Evanier has a nice column on The Day the Clown Cried at this link:

http://www.newsfromme.com/2013/08/11/todays-bonus-video-link-104/

 

Wow. Surprising to hear Jerry speaking about the film non-defensively and with his ego buried. Refreshing and hopeful to see.

 

Imagine being so far down the road in your career with a reputation to uphold (or dispel, like when you are passe and overbearing to your countrymen, yet you are more frustrated at their chagrin that
the French hail you as a comedic genius); you don't have the juice you once did, but you want to produce a masterful piece of entertainment on your terms, so you settle for lesser budgets, lesser talents,
creative input from people you trust who are out of touch with current tastes...then, you see the footage and realize it's better to shelve it than have it seen....only to have your work develop a reputation
on its' own and out of your control, on the basis that you WON'T allow it to be seen. Just like when Ebert is dissing studios who won't let him review a film, only to be proven right every damn time.

It's not easy to be a genius. It's harder getting the public to stop expecting that from you, so you can just...create.




Now playing on Ariel Stream: Dream Academy - The Love Parade

 

That's the thing--if it were a limited release back in the 70s, it would have come and gone quickly, and would probably be forgotten by all but a small cult following. By keeping it unreleased, it makes it way more known than it otherwise would be, and the mythology is too intriguing to ignore. Put it out there now and some people will be all over it for a little while, but pretty soon, we'll realize it doesn't live up to the hype we've created (though Harry Shearer says it's even better, so who knows) and soon enough it'll be out of the public consciousness. Kinda like Chinese Democracy.

A friend and I actually joked a few years ago about writing and producing a movie where we go a secret spy mission to Jerry Lewis's house (which, in our imaginations, is a heavily-guarded fortress where Lewis sits in isolation 24/7, controlling his surroundings and deceiving intruders Wizard of Oz-style) to steal the movie. The only scene I remember was us carrying the film canister, running across his mile-wide lawn as he fired a shotgun at us.

I'm sure he has some stipulation in his will that it can never be released--same for the screenwriter--but I hope it makes its way out there after he dies or something.

 

Interesting stuff

 

I bet that if we all got to actually see the movie, we'd probably be disappointed with it.

 

It's the topic that make people want to see it, not that it's an unreleased jerry Lewis film. I'm not even sure I've seen a full Jerry Lewis film in my life.

 

Not unlike a certain unreleased Beatles song.

 

I also believe that since the film's subject matter and the star/director of the film seem to mix like oil and water adds to its reputation. In the minds of most, a) Lewis is so broad and b) the subject matter is so inconceivably horrible that he just does not seem to be the "appropriate" man for the job. Lewis himself thought so when first approached for the project.

I m not much of a Lewis fan, but from what I have read, he went in with sincerity and a determination to do a thoughtful project -- not with the narcissistic and self-serving "The Academy can't ignore me for this" attitude that those who like to razz Lewis portray him as having. Some people just don't seem to like the guy because he is sometimes so overbearing and self-serving, and the failure of this project is a way to knock him down. I know so many people who just hate Lewis and even watch the telethon -- for which he should be awarded the Congressional medal or the Nobel Prize, IMO -- just to hate him. I don't care if he often makes the telethon "about him," because he is a performer, and knows what will make viewers contribute money. IMO, such vitriol attitude speaks volumes about their hearts, and nothing about Jerry Lewis.