Jerry Lewis - The Day the Clown Died

Recently Jerry Lewis passed away. For decades I was involved in supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association, MDA. Mr. Lewis had put on a annual fundraiser for the on Labor Day. He started doing it in 1966 and was let go in 2010. He did it for 44 years and raised over a billion dollars for the charity. In 1972 Lewis made a film called, "The Day the Clown Cried". I has never been shown in public, though at least one copy exists. Lewis said the film would never be seen because it was horrible and I believe it was; but, still want to see it because I think it could have been great. I read the script.

IMSDB- THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.

The Greeks said there were only so many stories, they classified them as comedies and dramas and recognized the seven plots available to either. The essence of comedy is not the plot, it is the ending. Let me explain. Comedies have happy endings and dramas do not. This is true for action films too, it is true for all stories. If a story The feelings you have when you end a story is either happiness (comedy) or sadness (drama). The two masks that symbolize theater, the smiling mask and the frowning mask.

Comedy and drama both work best when there is something to cheer for. Most comedy goes for the silly underdog; but, the challenge he faces has to be real for the comedy to work. You have to care about him. You have to want to see him succeed, you have to wish him well and seek a happy ending.

The problem with "The Day the Clown Cried" is that they wanted to have humor in a movie with a horribly sad ending, a drama. You can mix humor into a drama; but, not too much and it has to be a very unique style of humor, gallows humor, not fun humor.

The film is about a clown in Germany who is sent to a concentration camp, jail, for Germans that ends up being side by side with a true concentration camp, one for Jews and Slavic people. The character that Lewis plays is a sad character, devoid of self. He is a broken man uselessly trying to fill out the papers that will get him released as he is a political prisoner, he insulted the idea of Hitler being the leader in front of the Gestapo.

Lets be clear about something, Jerry Lewis was a Jew and his parents were Russian Jews. Looking from the outside, attempting to make a comedy about the Nazi's gassing children seems like a really stupid and horrible idea; but, he wasn't making fun of them. It could have been his own family and he knew that.

I read the script for the first time tonight, it is linked above. The writing is terrible and the writer seems lost to me, he indicates which parts he thinks can possibly be played for laughs. I believe the writer was told to find places where the jokes could go in; but, it was never meant to be a comedy. There is a movie called "Life is Beautiful" that pulled off a very similar script; but, any humor was incidental to the story.

After making the film, Jerry Lewis stopped making films for years. He said he lost his artistic vision because of that film. Humor is tough, it is always a tight wire act and the performers usually die till they get really good at it.

Comedians frequently make great dramatic actors; but, in my opinion, Lewis never was. I think Don Rickles was a great dramatic actor (just watch Casino); but, Lewis played silly in comedy. Of silly comedians, I think Jim Carrey might just be able to pull this movie off.

I don't know that this movie deserves to be remade. I believe it could be powerful; but, too much time has passed and the dialogue is horribly immature. Francis Ford Coppola could have made this a good film; but, as much as I like him, Tarrentino could not make this film. If made, I don't think it would make tons of money, in fact, it is really depressing watching a clown lead children into a gas chamber. The biggest mistake the film made was focusing on the clown, on Lewis. It should have about the lack of compassion of the guards who were willing to send children off to be killed with a clown, just to make their jobs easier. If anyone bothers reading the script, let me know what you think.

Different Excuses Same Solution

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When you hear the same solution being suggested in different countries but the excuse changes, it is because they believe that one society will like one excuse more than another; but, it is still just excuses. The reality is, they want to tax everything except income. They want to tax you for living, but not succeeding. Watch the water games in your town and you will see it coming too.