Jerry Lewis has given his entire personal archive of films, documents and other media to the Library of Congress, the library confirmed today.
The official announcement is more of a formality at this point, since we heard last month that the comedy legend, now 89, had given some of his work to the LOC to be preserved forever. Moving image curator Rob Stone told the Los Angeles Times in August that Lewis gave them a print of his infamous never-completed and never-publicly-shown The Day The Clown Cried.
Lewis told the LOC that the film could not be shown for another 10 years. Stone later explained to the New York Post that the film will be shown to the public starting in June 2024, but only at the LOC’s Packard Campus research center in Culpeper, Virginia.
While The Day The Clown Cried might be the most interesting part of the collection, The Jerry Lewis Collection will include much more. Lewis will also celebrate the donation with a performance on Friday, Oct. 9 at the State Theater in Culpeper.
"For more than seven decades I’ve been dedicated to making people laugh. If I get more than three people in a room, I do a number," Lewis joked in a statement. "Knowing that the Library of Congress was interested in acquiring my life’s work was one of the biggest thrills of my life. It is comforting to know that this small piece of the world of comedy will be preserved and available to future generations." Lewis donated portions of the collection; the rest was acquired via purchase.”
The collection includes over 1,000 movie image materials, including rare footage of Lewis and Dean Martin doing their nightclub act. There’s even fully scripted movies that he made at his home with his famous friends. He also included 35 mm prints of The Bellboy, The Errand Boy, The Nutty Professor and his other films.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com