Jerry Lewis’ disavowed Holocaust clown film surfaces on YouTube

Excerpts from a Holocaust-themed film by Jerry Lewis, which the actor recently swore would never see the light of day, has made its way to YouTube.

The leaked footage was a behind-the-scenes clip of the 1972 film “The Day The Clown Cried,” a film about a clown who entertains children in Nazi death camps. Narrated in Flemish, the video was recently posted to YouTube and picked up by online media publisher Gawker late Sunday.

The film has been disavowed by Jerry Lewis, most recently at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in an interview with Reuters:

But he said there was one film which he regretted and would never see the light of day – the 1972 film “The Day The Clown Cried” which he both directed and featured as a circus clown imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. It was shot in Sweden.

“It was all bad and it was bad because I lost the magic,” said Lewis. “You will never see it, no-one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work.”

Adam Soclof is JTA’s Associate Director of Outreach and Partnerships and coordinates presentations and advertising/marketing opportunities for the news agency. A digital archives enthusiast, Adam has authored more than 300 blog posts for The JTA Archive Blog and was responsible for its social media presence and weekly newsletter, This Week in Jewish History. Adam has presented at several conferences in the form of game shows, interactive social media campaigns and Powerpoint presentations. Follow him on Twitter: @hypersem