A Thousand Clowns **** (1965, Jason Robards Jr, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam, Gene Saks, William Daniels) – Classic Movie Review 7483

Producer-director Fred Coe’s 1965 comedy A Thousand Clowns is an adaptation of Herb Gardner’s 1962 play about an eccentric, non-conformist comedy writer forced to conform to society to retain custody of his nephew.

Jason Robards Jr starred in both the original Broadway version and in the film as Murray Burns, the New York City drop-out, TV joke-writer who shares a single-room flat with his precocious 12-year-old nephew Nick (Barry Gordon) to the evident concern of welfare officer Albert Amundson (William Daniels).

Then there are Gene Saks as Leo Herman, aka Mr Chuckles the Chipmunk TV star the kids love to hate, Martin Balsam as Robards’s agent brother Arnold Burns, and Barbara Harris as Dr Sandra Markowitz, Daniels’s assistant who moves in with Robards.

A Thousand Clowns is a not very promising prospect with this title and just a main cast of six (Robards, Saks, Gordon and Daniels were all in the original Broadway version) and a single-set show (a little opened out, if hesitantly, by Coe and Gardner, writing his own screenplay). Also in the cast are Phil Bruns as Sloan and John McMartin as man in office.

However, just take a look and see the quality of the acting and hear the wit in the one-liners in this highly engaging comedy adapted by Gardner from his own Broadway play. Martin Balsam won an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his supporting performance in the movie. It is a good early chance for Harris to shine, taking over from Sandy Dennis in the stage version.

A Thousand Clowns premiered on the Broadway stage at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on 5 April 1962 and closed on 13 April 1963 after 428 performances. Directed by Fred Coe, the cast featured Jason Robards Jr, (Murray Burns), Sandy Dennis (Dr Sandra Markowitz), Gene Saks (Leo Herman), Barry Gordon (Nick Burns), William Daniels (Albert Amundson) and Larry Haines (Arnold Burns).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7483

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