'The Day The Clown Cried' Added To The Library Of Congress

[MightyBombJack]

...but with a 10 year screening embargo:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/jerry-lewis-the-day-the-clown-cried-added-to-the-library-of-congress-but-with-a-10-year-screening-embargo-20150806

[SJP]

It's already been embargoed for 40+ years...what's another 10?

Though he should've added a rider that said it could be shown to a select few before ten years...only those that are nice LAAAAAADIES!

[Johnny Unusual]

And now we play... the waiting game.  I hope How Did This Get Made is still around then.

[Relaxing Dragon]

People have pointed out elsewhere that the embargo is like Lewis ensuring he'll be dead before the masses actually sit down and see it.

I will totally watch it when I get the chance, because this is a genuine historical oddity that you can't pass by. But suddenly making it so easy? Seems to take the fun out of it all, really. Certainly means I'll probably need to cancel my planned heist on the Lewis estate to-

I've said too much.

[SJP]

People have pointed out elsewhere that the embargo is like Lewis ensuring he'll be dead before the masses actually sit down and see it.

That's exactly what I assumed.  I think that's also the reasoning behind declassification of documents for FOI requests at the 50 year mark...everyone involved is dead or close to it, so they can't have their lives ruined/families put into hiding/be arrested for doing naughty things.

But if he lives to the ripe old age of 99, I can imagine him pounding a table and going, "Dammit!  Of all things!"

[ScottotD]

I'm mostly shocked he's not as embarrassed about the rest of his movies

[Miku Fan]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I'm mostly shocked he's not as embarrassed about the rest of his movies

Say what you will about the Nutty Professor, it did not decide to inject slapstick humor into the Holocaust.

[TheUnabeefer]

I'm mostly shocked he's not as embarrassed about the rest of his movies

The Bellboy is a brilliant work of art.

[MightyBombJack]

30 minutes of Jerry Lewis' infamous Holocaust movie have surfaced online

http://www.avclub.com/article/30-minutes-jerry-lewis-infamous-holocuast-movie-ha-238394

[Edward J Grug III]

I'm mostly shocked he's not as embarrassed about the rest of his movies

King of Comedy is excellent.

[MightyBombJack]

Based on the clips I watched scanning through the video I linked above, I am a bit puzzled as to why Jerry Lewis is apparently so embarrassed by The Day the Clown Cried. I could imagine it being a surprisingly powerful film in a finished form. Harry Shearer famously claimed to have been shown a rough cut that he described as being about as wrong-headed as possible ("Like going to Tijuana and seeing a black velvet painting of Auschwitz" is one description he gave), but many say that that account is fabricated.

[BathTub]

It may very well be that it's reputation has been ridiculously over inflated because it's been hidden away. Perhaps someone Jerry trusted told him 'WTF are you doing?' and he over reacted, guess we'll know in a few years.