The Day the Clown Cried

August 18, 2023

The Day the Clown Cried

In 1972, Jerry Lewis directed, wrote and starred in the movie, “The Day the Clown Cried.”

The storyline:
“Helmut Doork, a once great and famous clown, is fired from the circus. Getting drunk at a local bar, he pokes fun at Hitler in front of some Gestapo agents, who arrest and send him to a prison camp. Helmut angers his fellow prisoners by refusing to perform for them, wanting to preserve his legend. As time passes, Jews are brought into the camp, with fraternizing between them and the other prisoners strictly prohibited. Eventually, Helmut is forced by the others to perform or be beaten. His act bombs and he leaves the barracks depressed, trying the routine out again alone in the prison yard. He hears laughter and sees a group of Jewish children watching him through a fence. Happy to be appreciated again, he makes a makeshift clown suit and begins to regularly perform. His audience grows, but a new prison Commandant orders Helmut to stop. When he refuses and continues to perform, he is beaten and thrown in solitary confinement. But the Nazis soon come up with a use for Helmut, keeping the children quiet as they are loaded into a boxcar to be sent to another camp. Helmut complies, but is accidentally locked in with the children and arrives the next day at Auschwitz.”

You might think that sounds like a great movie, and it probably is. However, no one has seen it, except for the few people involved in it.

A long-running distribution battle involving Jerry Lewis and producer Nat Wachsberger was a likely cause for the film being shelved. More intriguingly, Lewis expressed dissatisfaction with the final product, stating in 2013, “You will never see it. No one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work.” When asked about the status of the film in the years up to his death in 2017, Lewis was adamant that the public will never see it and constantly reinforced the deemed poor quality of the picture. However, in a sudden turn in 2015, Jerry Lewis donated an incomplete copy of The Day the Clown Cried to the Library of Congress. The donation came with one provision: the film was not to be screened on any date earlier than June 2024.

Principal photography began in Sweden during April 1972, but the shoot was beset by numerous problems. Film equipment was either lost or delivered late, and the necessary money was nowhere in sight. Lewis was repeatedly assured that money was forthcoming by Wachsberger, who did not appear at all on set.

The film became a source of legend almost immediately after its production. In May 1992, an article in Spy magazine quoted comedian and actor Harry Shearer, who saw a rough cut of the film in 1979:
“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.” — Harry Shearer, Spy Magazine, 1992

Rumours have it that the movie will be released in 2025. Until then, here are a few excerpts of the script by Jerry Lewis, Joan O’Brien, and Charles Denton

GUARD:
ATTENTION! The men jump, but quickly, to their feet, and stand at
attention at the front of their bunks, ala inspection in the
army. They are rigid and waiting to hear what’s up. The
Guard takes a few steps into the barracks…behind him we
see several prisoners carrying bunks waiting to enter the
barracks.

GUARD: All the prisoners from the other side of the camp
are being moved over to this side of the camp
over to this side of the camp. Barracks “H”
will make room for three additional bunks.
He takes a few steps down the aisle…

GUARD: I want all the bunks moved down toward the far end.
Get them as close together as possible. Now! GET MOVING!

KELTNER: I’ve seen you around the yard, but the others…

WHITE-HAIRED MAN: About thirty of them got here yesterday
from the prison outside of Frankfurt.

1ST NEW PRISONER: (who occupies the bunk above
the white-haired prisoner) For the last three months,
we’ve been shuttled from one camp to another.

2ND NEW PRISONER: (his bunk is the lower bunk
on the direct opposite side) Now they’re shuffling us f
rom one side to another. I think they’re trying to lose us.

OLD PRISONER: He’s got to have something to eat.
The Big Prisoner looks at him questioningly.

OLD PRISONER: (continuing)
If he gives you his other meal…
he’ll starve to death.
Then you won’t get anything.
This reasoning makes sense to the Big Prisoner.

BIG PRISONER: (to Helmut) Remember…you fix them
before you bring ’em back.

HELMUT: (screaming at the top of his voice)
Come back, damn you, come back.
The children…they’re laughing.
They’re laughing. I am a clown.
I am a clown.
He turns back to the children and again bows. He quickly
leans down, looks at his reflection in the puddle, and
scoops up a handful of mud which he plasters on his nose to
make a bulbous, artificial proboscis. He turns back to the
children and in pantomime, pretends to see a fly buzzing
about and tries to swat it. The imaginary fly buzzes
closer. The CAMERA MOVES UP to—CLOSE UP SHOT of HELMUT
As the “fly” lands on his nose, he looks cross-eyed at the
mud blob, then swats at it. The blob falls off.
MED. SHOT – CHILDREN

Page 75/151

There are now nine or ten youngsters at the fence, all
squealing with delight.

CLOSE SHOT – HELMUT

He bows again, and as his head comes up he looks o.s. toward
his barracks, still hoping that someone will be watching his
“great” success. When he turns back to the children, we see
that he continues to smile — while tears course down his
cheeks through the mud still caked on them.

Here are a few clips from the movie.