Folks like the author of this article are queuing up to watch whatever there is to watch of Jerry Lewis's never-completed, disowned 1972 non-movie, The Day the Clown Cried. Most do not seem eager to see it because they think there is hidden wonderment there. Most seem to expect it to be exquisitely awful and the eagerness to see this exquisite awfulness is odd to me. I understand curiosity about such a thing and we've certainly heard more about this film than…well, almost any other movie Jerry Lewis made including the ones he wanted people to see.
And I understand that in his lifetime, Mr. Lewis was often very arrogant and probably over-praised by many, including himself, as a great performer and filmmaker. There might be some sort of karma to be found in this movie to whatever extent it proves that he was undeserving of most of that praise. I get it, I get it.
I had several encounters with Mr. Lewis in my lifetime. He was rude to me when I was about eight years old and years later, he was rude to me when he was a guest star on a TV show on which I was Head Writer and I later saw him be rude to others. Again, I get it, I get it.
At one point, I might have been in that line to see what there is of it…and I know folks who believe their lives will not be complete if they don't. I told this story here some time ago on this blog…
One day back when we all had our video on VHS tapes, I was printing up fancy labels for some of my homemade recordings. The labels came on a sheet of twelve and I had eleven to print…so I was going to waste one label on the page. On a whim, I used the last one, printed THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED on it and slapped it on an old cassette I was otherwise going to toss. I put the tape on my shelf of movies, spine out for all the world to see. I just wanted to see if anyone would notice.
No one did until a few months later. A friend came by and was waiting in my video room while I got ready so we could leave for a restaurant where we were meeting others. Suddenly, he saw the tape. He yanked it off the shelf, thrust it at me and yelled, "PUT THIS ON! I must see this movie!" I started to tell him he didn't but he interrupted and shouted, "NOW! I must see this movie NOW!!!"
Imagine if you will that some evil villain has tricked you into drinking a fast-acting poison. Imagine you're getting dizzy and your knees are buckling. Imagine that your only hope is an antidote and that the only clue as to where and what that antidote is is on a videotape. Imagine how you'd act in that situation, then triple the intensity and you have an approximation of how my friend acted at that moment. He was five seconds from knocking me to the floor and jamming the tape into my VCR himself.
I finally explained to him that it was a joke. He didn't believe me and I had to run a little of the tape to show him it was not what the label said. I thought he was going to cry.
I have never been that eager to see anything in my life; not even a Donald Trump concession speech. I was a modest fan of Jerry's, which I guess means I respect the length and breadth of his career and in some ways, his charitable work…but not most of his output. Last week for no visible reason, a lady friend and I watched You're Never Too Young, which was one of those (dean) and JERRY!!! movies. I remember enjoying it when I saw it when I was twelve or so. Not so much last week.
On some of the rare occasions when Jerry discussed the film, he said it was an incomplete mess of which he was ashamed and he didn't want anyone to ever see it. Then again, he seems to have made provisions such that X number of years after his death, people could…and that X number has passed. So I guess it's okay, especially if you weren't a fan of the man and want to see him at his worst. And like I said, I understand all about curiosity. I know I'm doing a bad job here of explaining why this makes me uncomfortable but it does.