The Day the Clown Cried (Unreleased 1972 Jerry Lewis Film)



In 1971, Jerry Lewis and Nathan Wachsberger began producing a film, which was quite controversial due to its content; that being of a Clown who becomes a prisoner of war in a Nazi concentration camp for speaking badly of Adolf Hitler. The plot is incredibly dark and tragic, that being another reason for it's controversial nature, despite only having been seen by a handful of people.

The production of the film was riddled with issues, namely being that the budget for the film ran out before it's completion. A fued ensued between Lewis and Wachberger, which ended with Lewis taking a copy of the film so that it wouldn't get lost, and Wachberger keeping the original negatives, planning to finish the film himself. Nothing came of the film from Wachberger; though Lewis stated in 1973 that the film was in final production, and was even invited to play at the Cannes Film Festival, after which time it was to be released in America. To this day, the film has not been released, and has become somewhat infamous amongst film buffs/historians.



In 1979, comedian Harry Shearer was shown a rough cut of the film, later recalling the film in a 1992 magazine article and saying "with most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. 'Oh My God!' – that's all you can say."

Several screenshots of the film have surfaced, as well as a short behind-the-scenes clip, and a few interviews with Lewis on the topic. In 2001, while giving a motivational speech, Lewis was asked about a potential release for The Day the Clown Cried, replying "none of your goddamn business!".