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The Three Sides of JIMMY
Longicorth
On the screen Jimmy Cagney is tough, hard-boiled, and pugnacious. This story by his friend Victor Jory, reveals the actor as his Hollywood friends know him best
By VICTOR JORY
NO two human beings could be more radically different than the Jimmy Cagney you know, and the Jimmy Cagney I know. The former, who exists only on the screen, is a cock-sure, hard-boiled, pugnacious — though very likable — little mug; the latter is a soft-spoken, kindly, intellectual gentleman — the finest gentleman it has ever been my good fortune to meet.
Like every dyed-in-the-wool movie fan from Hollywood to Timbuktu, I judge an actor by his roles, and, willy-nilly, form conclusions about his off-screen personality. In Cagney's case, I did just that. Having seen him bombard rival gangsters with bullets and lovely young ladies with grapefruit, I instinctively pictured him as a tough nut from the lower East Side — and of course paid him a compliment in so doing, for it is every actor's ambition to make his roles believable.
I was right in just one particular — he is from the lower East Side. In every other particular, my conception was ridiculously amiss.
Jimmy Cagney, therefore, has been a perpetual surprise to me. And so he is to everyone who knows him, for, like most self-made men, he is a bundle of contradictions, unusual abilities, unexpected interests and original ideas. He is a flesh-andblood album of "Believe it or Not" items.
I first met him on a location trip, and, by comparison with the other members of the troupe, all of whom were heavily tanned, he was so pale that I concluded he must be suffering from a severe hangover. I said as much to the assistant director, and he regarded me with amusement.
"You've been seeing too many Cagney pictures," he answered. "It may surprise you to know that Jimmy never takes a drop."
It did!
A few days later, I was boxing with an ex-heavyweight pug who had a bit in the picture. Cagney watched a while, then offered to put on the gloves with me. I was reluctant, for Jimmy is a much smaller man than I, and I don't like to pull punches. However, my concern was unwarranted. I've fought hundreds of amateur bouts and once had a brief whirl in the professional ring — but I've never felt such jolting blows from heavy gloves as he dished out. The man's a little giant! And his physical condition is as keen as that of a professional athlete!
Surprise number two!
As we became friends, we were drawn into discussions of this and that, and one day, we happened to hit on philosophy, a subject which has always interested me and which — until then — I rather prided myself on. And Cagney — the East Side boy — left me floundering. He quoted from books which I had heard of but never found time or courage (Please turn to page 62)
Longworth
Elmer Fryer
Above: Cagney is fond of horseback riding. Left:
His friend Victor Jory; and left, above, a recent
studio portrait of the vigorous Jimmy.
The New Movie Magazine, April, 1935