In the latest issue of Icon Magazine, Hans Crispin reveals that he himself stole the film "The Day the Clown Cried" from his former workplace Europafilm in 1980.
The then enormously popular American comedian Jerry Lewis took the film reels with him to the USA after filming and swore that it would never be shown to the general public. It did not live up to his quality standards – and the subject was too controversial.
Jerry Lewis, himself of Jewish descent, plays the clown Helmut Doork and his wife is played by Harriet Andersson. He ends up in a concentration camp after making a joke about Hitler and is promised release – on the condition that he leads children to the gas chamber.
Major Swedish actors such as Tomas Bolme and Lars Amble play roles in the film, and for example, Åsa Nisse legend John Elfström plays a prisoner. All Swedes were asked to speak English with a German accent. The concentration camp itself was set up in Frösundavik in Solna.
Hans Crispin tells Icon's Caroline Hainer that he got to hear that a working copy of the film was preserved somewhere at Europafilm when he worked at night to copy film for their account. He searched for the film and saved it in a bank vault – along with the original manuscripts.
Ten years later, he received a package with the film's first act – which was filmed in Paris. A colleague from before had figured out that he was the thief.
The reason Crispin did not reveal the truth earlier is that he was afraid of reprisals. He would now like it to be included in Jerry Lewis' archive at the American Congress Library.
