Rose Knows

Q: Where can i find a copy of Jerry Lewis’ unreleased 1972 movie, The Day the Clown Cried? He plays a clown in a concentration camp. Thank you. — Bean

A: At Jerry Lewis’s house.

A quick explanation for everyone who’s not Bean: The Day the Clown Cried was going to be Jerry Lewis’s Big Serious Film: The story of a circus clown in Nazi Germany who winds up a political prisoner (because he mocked Hitler, not because he was a clown), starts performing for Jewish kids in the camp, and is eventually tasked with leading children to the gas chamber.

I’m not making this up. Check out the Wikipedia page or IMDB entry if you don’t believe me.

Thanks to ongoing financial disputes, no finished copies of this film exist in the wild. There are some scripts floating around; there are some photos; there are even some behind-the-scenes clips. And according to everyone who’s seen it — except for Jerry Lewis — it’s best to keep it that way.

According to various sources, Jerry Lewis has the only known videotape copy of The Day the Clown Cried. It’s said that he keeps it locked away in his office, occasionally bringing it out to reflect on what might have been. Legend has it that the original negative is out there somewhere, but is too ashamed to show itself. (That, or it’s still in the possession of a production company which claims they’re owed money on the film. Which is pretty much the same thing.)

Still don’t believe in the inherent awfulness of this film? Check out the script. Read the articles collected at Subterranean Cinema, where they’ve collected everything there is to collect. (Warning: By clicking on that link, you are exposing yourself to pictures of Jerry Lewis in clown makeup.)

See, everyone who’s not Bean? I told you I wasn’t making this up.

Back to the question. I’ve answered it in the literal sense, but I get the feeling that despite all warnings, you actually want to view this piece of cinematic…uh, cinema. According to his web site, “Jerry hopes to someday complete the film, which remains to this day, a significant expression of cinematic art, suspended in the abyss of international litigation.” So all you have to do is track down Jerry Lewis, convince him that you’re the person to untangle the legal mess (which seems untangleable by design, but never mind), and ask him to show you his copy so that you can testify as to the film’s cinematic merit. View it, thank him, and run like hell. Yes, it’s a mean thing to do, but this is the guy who still thinks it was a good idea to play a complicit clown in a concentration camp. I think you’d be about even.