In May 1992, Spy magazine spoke to comedian and actor Harry Shearer, who claimed that Lewis had shown him a rough cut of the film in 1979. Shearer claims he told Lewis the film was "terrible", which reportedly made Lewis furious.
More recently, on the Howard Stern Show (clip available at YouTube), Shearer changed his story and said that he had seen the film without Lewis's permission, raising questions as to whether Lewis's "fury" at Shearer was due to his calling the film terrible or to his having seen it against its maker's wishes. Shearer has yet to explain how an unnamed acquaintance of his acquired a copy of the film from Lewis's private vault.
Production stills and footage of the making of the film reveal that Lewis does not wear his hair jet black and oily as the clown (as he does in THE JAZZ SINGER, a TV broadcast whose stills are often mistaken for stills from the film), nor does he wear a pinky ring or shiny Florsheim shoes while imprisoned in the Nazi camp - two myths perpetuated by Shearer and Joshua White, an MDA telethon director (Shawn Levy, KING OF COMEDY, p. 381).
The script for the film is available online and well worth reading. There is little reason to believe that Shearer ever saw the film, and much reason to accept that he did not: he made the story up to boost his reputation.
More recently, on the Howard Stern Show (clip available at YouTube), Shearer changed his story and said that he had seen the film without Lewis's permission, raising questions as to whether Lewis's "fury" at Shearer was due to his calling the film terrible or to his having seen it against its maker's wishes. Shearer has yet to explain how an unnamed acquaintance of his acquired a copy of the film from Lewis's private vault.
Production stills and footage of the making of the film reveal that Lewis does not wear his hair jet black and oily as the clown (as he does in THE JAZZ SINGER, a TV broadcast whose stills are often mistaken for stills from the film), nor does he wear a pinky ring or shiny Florsheim shoes while imprisoned in the Nazi camp - two myths perpetuated by Shearer and Joshua White, an MDA telethon director (Shawn Levy, KING OF COMEDY, p. 381).
The script for the film is available online and well worth reading. There is little reason to believe that Shearer ever saw the film, and much reason to accept that he did not: he made the story up to boost his reputation.