[VIDEO] Jerry Lewis on ‘The Day The Clown Cried’: The Legendary Comic Speaks Out

Posted: December 17, 2015 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Auschwitz concentration camp, Emmy Award, EWTN, Extermination camp, Final Solution, Hungary, Jerry Lewis, Jews, Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, Nazism, The Bellboy, The Day the Clown Cried, The Errand Boy, The Holocaust, The Nutty Professor, United States, World War II |Leave a comment

On his career, Trump, MDA, and the film that got away.

Raymond Arroyo writes:

…As writer and director of his own films, Lewis is responsible for some of the greatest slapstick gags in history. Just watch “The Nutty Professor,” “The Bellboy,” “The Errand Boy,” “Cinderfella” or “The Ladies Man,” and his particular comic genius is evident. In Europe, he has been named Best Director of the Year eight times since 1960.

He created Video Assist, a technology that allowed him to watch his on-screen performances, instantly, before the film was developed. Video Assist is still used by nearly every film and TV director to this day.

the-day-the-clown-cried-1972-jerry-on-set1

One Lewis project has been shrouded in mystery for decades: “The Day the Clown Cried.” It’s a World War II drama concerning a clown in Auschwitz. The film was mired in legal troubles, and Lewis has never allowed it to be seen.

Now, in an exclusive interview, he tells me why he has kept the film under wraps for so long.

Here’s a clip:

“That’s the problem, there was no artistry,” Lewis said. “The work was bad.”

[Read the full story here, at LifeZette]

This is just one of the many revelations he shared with me during a hilarious and moving interview that will air Thursday on “The World Over” on EWTN.

Day-the-Clown-Cried_0

Lewis will be 90 in March. As he closes in on that milestone, I caught up with the legendary performer at his home in Las Vegas for an hour-long conversation touching on everything from his breakup with Martin to the real reason he led the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon for nearly 50 years.