# The Day the Clown Cried **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413 "2001-06-20T02:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/1 "2001-06-20T02:02:12Z")
I have been tasked by my friends to locate a copy of this Lewis [Masterpiece](http://www.filmthreat.com/Features.asp?File=FeaturesOne.inc&Id=258). Anyone have a line on it? The Screenplay perhaps? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/2 "2001-06-20T02:04:46Z")
Spellcheck all ya want, you gotta proofreed more closely son. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/3 "2001-06-20T02:14:39Z")
This gem was under production when some legal snag came up, and it was determined that the rights (for the book) had not been properly secured. Lewis at some point did get the legal rights (I think) and completed the film. Since a lot of the money was coming from his pocket at that point, he owned (and still owns) the film. It has never been releaseed, however, to theaters or video. I have read that Lewis does occasionally screen it to his guests, and that the comments from some people who have seen it are that it’s really awful. (I think Daniel Stern is one such person who commented on having seen it.) I also read that Lewis does not plan to release it as long as he’s alive. Whether or not it will be released on that die when France mourns his passing is something we’ll just have to wait for. (And you probably already know this, and I’m going from memory, so I might be a little off) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/4 "2024-09-15T04:07:59Z")
23 years later it is now 2024, the year stuff related to the movie is available to scholars at the Library of Congress. There is a new documentary just screened at the Venice Film festival [I can’t find who will be streaming it. Anyone know?]: > For the first half of “From Darkness to Light,” the filmmakers drop in quick snippets from “The Day the Clown Cried,” but they’re so unfinished and brief that questions linger: Will we see a significant amount of footage? And how bad was it, really? > > By the end of the doc, both questions have been answered. The film contains a lot of Lewis’ original footage, albeit in highly rough form, and for the most part, it’s pretty damn bad. > **[‘From Darkness to Light’ Review: Documentary Proves That Yes, Jerry Lewis’...](https://www.thewrap.com/from-darkness-to-light-review-jerry-lewis-holocaust-movie/)** > > Venice Film Festival: Michael Lurie and Eric Friedler’s film breaks down the tortured journey of Jerry Lewis' “The Day the Clown Cried.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/5 "2024-09-15T12:06:23Z")
The full screenplay is available online: [https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the\_day\_the\_clown\_cried.html](https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the_day_the_clown_cried.html) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/6 "2024-09-15T15:48:18Z")
I just recently rewatched the King of Comedy and Jerry Lewis is really good in it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/7 "2024-09-15T22:59:19Z")
Yeah, but it was directed by Scorsese. I think that probably had a lot to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/8 "2024-09-15T23:09:36Z")
I remember having seen a documentary about “The Day The Clown Cried” only a few years ago, probably on Arte TV (a German/French TV channel) which included some original footage from the movie, but I don’t remember the title of the documentary, and I can’t find it on the web. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/9 "2024-09-15T23:30:14Z")
It might be: > On February 3, 2016, German public TV [ARD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARD_(broadcaster)) aired a 2-hour documentary called _Der Clown_.[[36]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried#cite_note-ARD_documentary_The_Clown-36) German film maker Eric Friedler shows interviews, a 31-minute version of original footage and re-staged scenes from the original scripts with some Swedish actors who participated in Lewis’s movie. Finally, the film shows the first full interview with Lewis about his work after 43 years. The documentary was later put on DVD and shown theatrically at the Deutsches Filminstitute. In June 2016, a 31-minute version from _Der Clown_ was uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo by editor Kay Brown, and dubbed into German with English subtitles, marking the first time a version of _The Day the Clown Cried_ was made available to the general public.[[37]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried#cite_note-NYDN-37) It has since been removed.[[38]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried#cite_note-38) > **[The Day the Clown Cried](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried#cite_note-ARD_documentary_The_Clown-36)** > > The Day the Clown Cried is an unfinished and unreleased 1972 Swedish-French drama film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It is based on an original screenplay by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton, from a story idea by O'Brien, with additional material from Lewis. The film was met with controversy regarding its premise and content, which features a circus clown who is imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. > Lewis repeatedly insisted that The Day the Clown Cried would never be released, but l... ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/10 "2024-09-16T00:46:10Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Yeah, but it was directed by Scorsese. I think that probably had a lot to do with it. Scorsese said he thought Lewis did a great job in that movie, I’m not a Lewis fan, but he was great. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/11 "2024-09-16T07:59:41Z")
Yeah, that was the documentary I saw. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/12 "2024-09-16T18:41:33Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Scorsese said he thought Lewis did a great job in that movie, I’m not a Lewis fan, but he was great. My point was that under another director, Lewis could be a decent actor. Under his own direction, he was execrable IMO. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/13 "2024-09-16T19:10:36Z")
No, I wasn’t arguing the point. I never got his appeal as a comedian, but he was stellar in that movie. There’s a funny scene in which a woman tells him she’s his biggest fan and asks for an autograph. Lewis is in a hurry and politely declines and she’s says, “I hope you get cancer.” Scorsese said that Lewis suggested the line because that happened to him. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/14 "2024-09-16T19:26:06Z")
O.k. I missed _your_ point. Do you recommend the movie at all? I’ve avoided it because I find Lewis so repulsive. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/15 "2024-09-16T19:27:56Z")
It was a bomb for Scorsese but I love it. It’s very weird and funny and Lewis plays kind of a version of himself, he’s a talk show host similar to Johnny Carson. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/16 "2024-09-17T06:43:08Z")
I didn’t know it was a box office bomb…I’ll take your word for it, though…one wouldn’t expect it to be a crowd pleaser, though, for sure! I watched it again maybe a decade or so ago and was shocked at how grim and cynical a worldview it presents. I’d seen it maybe four times previously and was locked into the outstanding songs on the soundtrack, and the very dark comedy of Sandra Bernhard, and, yes, Lewis himself. I confess I still sometimes use that line Shelley Hack uses (she’s Lewis’s character’s…assistant, or something…) to Rupert Pupkin: “Well, I’m very sorry you feel that way, but I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it, now is there?” Well, maybe I’ve never actually said it…but thought about saying it a lot. Anyway, agreed about Lewis, under other direction…Tashlin comes to mind… Can’t say I’ll be the first in line to see _Day/Clown/Cried_, but it’ll go on the list…_Heaven’s Gate_ and _Ishtar_ will be ahead of it, though! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/17 "2024-09-17T12:40:12Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > I watched it again maybe a decade or so ago and was shocked at how grim and cynical a worldview it presents. Yeah, the movie is a bookend to Taxi Driver, both are about delusional people in the city who find some level of happiness by giving in to their violent and delusional impulses. I want to see The Day the Clown Cried to compare it to Life is Beautiful, which has a similar plot. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/18 "2024-09-17T12:59:43Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It’s very weird and funny and Lewis plays kind of a version of himself, he’s a talk show host similar to Johnny Carson. Agree 100%. I loathe Jerry Lewis, but he’s just right in this film. He and Sandra Bernhard have great “anti-chemistry.” I read that they really didn’t like each other off screen, which was quite believable. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/19 "2024-09-17T13:01:18Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > He and **Sandra Bullock** I believe you mean \*Sandra Bernhard." ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413/20 "2024-09-17T13:01:51Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Sandra Bullock Sandra Bernard. And she is amazing in it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-clown-cried/69413.md?page=2)