Milton Berle in The Day the Clown Cried

 

A lot of folks are familiar with THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, the legendary unfinished and unseen Jerry Lewis film that started shooting in 1971. BUT...did you know there was an earlier 1966 attempt--also unfinished (if any actual footage was ever even shot)-- which would have starred Milton Berle, Veronica Lake, and Karl Malden? There was even talk that Berle might get the Oscar!

 

And yet, after all the above from 1966, this bit from early 1967 has Uncle Miltie saying he's still negotiating to do the project. 

 

"Record Buster" Crabbe

It isn't on his Wikipedia page nor do I see it online anywhere else so this may be a bit of info that got lost to history. Buster Crabbe is best remembered as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, Billy the Kid, Captain Gallant, and an Olympic swimming champion. He was born Clarence Crabbe but in Hollywood he was renamed Larry. Sometimes he was billed as Larry "Buster" Crabbe, "Buster" Crabbe, and eventually just Buster Crabbe. But even his Wiki page doesn't address the "Buster" origins. Well, it turns out, as seen in the two newspaper clippings here, that he set so many new records in his swimming career that he became known as CLARENCE "RECORD BUSTER" CRABBE! Over the years, that part seems just to have been forgotten!

 

Popeye Clippings-1930s