Richard Brody sorta reviews the clips of The Day the Clown Cried which have gone seriously viral on the 'net, the ones I featured here the other day. In an odd way, I feel sorry for Jerry Lewis and a tad guilty about adding to the film's notoriety. I'm pretty fierce about protecting my right to control my writing and to not have anyone — be they employer, close friend or lover — see anything I'm writing until I'm ready for it to leave me and go out into the world. Jerry Lewis has every right to declare his movie an unfinished work he does not want seen and to not be hectored by people (or bootleggers) who act like it belongs to The World and he has no right to withhold it.
I like and respect Harry Shearer but when he was quoted as saying he'd seen it and it was a horror, he simultaneously (a) ratcheted up the demand to see it and (b) according to a friend of mine who is in tight with Mr. Lewis, "guaranteed that Jerry would never allow it to be seen." I know this isn't a popular position but I think that if Jerry doesn't want it seen, it shouldn't be seen.