The Nazi Professor

daytheclowncried03

We were talking here recently about The Day the Clown Cried, the unseen Jerry Lewis film. Recently, Jewish comedian David Schneider produced a one-hour radio documentary about its making and a half-hour video. I'll try and have a link to the audio up shortly here but right now, I can send you to this page to view the video.

The video is filled with never-before-seen stills from the set as well as interviews with people who knew people who were involved with the picture. There's a lot of speculative analysis and some fretting about whether comedy can or should be done about the Holocaust. If you're interested in the most famous movie nobody's ever seen, you'll want to watch the whole thing.

Years ago, I went to see a screening of Citizen Kane. Just before it started, I was talking to the gent who'd arranged the screening and he was nervous about it because (apparently) so many folks in the audience were seeing it for the first time. Said he, "I worry that this movie could not possibly be so wonderful that it will live up to its reputation." I've been thinking that when The Day the Clown Cried is finally screened for the public, someone will be afraid that it won't be so awful that it will live down to its reputation.