History Trivia / TheDayTheClownCried

* DoingItForTheArt: Lewis poured $2 million of his own money into the film.

* BuryYourArt: Although Jerry Lewis was for a long time a passionate champion of the project, he soured on it over time; for a long time he refused to even discuss it, and in interviews late in life he admitted he thought it was terrible and had kept it hidden out of embarrassment. Jerry Lewis made sure that the movie was not released while he was alive. He did eventually donate it to the Library of Congress, but with an agreement not to screen it for at least until June 2024 (he died in 2017, two years after the donation).

* CreatorBacklash: It wasn't a good idea to ask Creator/JerryLewis about this film. However, while reporters were warned in advance not to mention it to him, he still had the rough print and said in his autobiography he planned to finish it and release it some day, but, as he got older, he decided that it was a bad idea.
* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/JerryLewis poured $2 million of his own money into the film.
* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/JerryLewis lost forty pounds for the film, which he achieved by eating nothing but grapefruit for six weeks.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: Many people believe that the film was unreleased due to poor taste but it was actually due to copyright issues over the script. In fact, the producer of the film didn’t have all the rights cleared and didn’t have permission to make the film. Creator/JerryLewis was technically not allowed to finish it and put up his own money to at least get the film shot. Lewis was hoping to make an agreement to get the finished film released but the original screenwriters were so upset by the result they refused to make any sort of deal to allow the film to be released.
* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: One of the most famous examples. Completed in 1972, but a combination of legal problems and Lewis having a crisis of conscience over the subject matter resulted in it never had a proper theatrical run. A copy of the movie is currently held by the Library of Congress, but due to an agreement with Lewis cannot be screened until June 2024, 53 years after its completion.
* TroubledProduction: In addition to the legal issues that prevented its release, film equipment was either lost or delivered late, Creator/JerryLewis had several emotional breakdowns and the producer not only ran out of money before completing the film, but his option to produce the film expired before filming began, leaving Lewis to spend his own money on the film.

** In the original script by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton, Helmut Dorque was named "Karl Shmidt", who was an arrogant, self-centered clown who wanted to use his wife to bribe a ringmaster into giving him a better gig, with the story about his redemption. The story, however, [[ExecutiveMeddling ended up altered by Jerry Lewis]] into its current form.
** Creator/MiltonBerle, Creator/DickVanDyke, and Music/BobbyDarin were all interested for the project before Lewis. At one point in the mid 1960s, Creator/AlecGuinness was attached to star and produce.

** In the early 90's, there were talks of a remake starring Creator/RobinWilliams that never came into fruition; he instead ended up starring in ''Film/JakobTheLiar'', another '90s remake of [[Film/JacobTheLiar a '70s Holocaust movie]].

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: Many people believe that the film was unreleased due to poor taste but it was actually due to copyright issues over the script. In fact, Creator/JerryLewis was technically not supposed to finish it but he did, resulting in the movie being completed but rarely seen.

* BuryYourArt: Although Jerry Lewis was for a long time a passionate champion of the project, he soured on it over time; for a long time he refused to even discuss it, and in interviews late in life he admitted he thought it was terrible and had kept it hidden out of embarrassment. Jerry Lewis made sure that the movie was not released while he was alive. He did eventually donate it to the Library of Congress, but with an agreement not to screen it for at least until 2025 (he died in 2017, two years after the donation).

* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: One of the most famous examples. Completed in 1972, but a combination of legal problems and Lewis having a crisis of conscience over the subject matter resulted in it never had a proper theatrical run. A copy of the movie is currently held by the Library of Congress, but due to an agreement with Lewis cannot be screened until August 2025, 53 years after its completion.

* BuryYourArt: Although Jerry Lewis was for a long time a passionate champion of the project, he soured on it over time; for a long time he refused to even discuss it, and in interviews late in life he admitted he thought it was terrible and had kept it hidden out of embarrassment. Jerry Lewis made sure that the movie was not released while he was alive. He did eventually donate it to the Library of Congress, but with an agreement not to screen it for at least a decade in 2025 (he died two years after the donation).