Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

50 The Saga of the Hobo Louise Brooks has the role of a girl who evades the law by donning boy's clothes and mingling with hobos. live in a mansion, be waited on and have a beautiful wife, his hearty guffaw would have rumbled down the length of cars, and shaken the scared schoolmar'm out of her berth Such thoughts never entered his head. Years later, two men in ragged shirts and nondescript pants swung onto the rods of a freight on a siding, under the California sunshine. They were Red and Jumbo. The water tank was there, and the atmosphere seemed right. But there were cameras and mirrors reflecting the light, and the two men had grown heavier and older. They were filming "Beggars of Life," which stars Wallace Beery. It is the saga of the hobo. "The kangaroo court" is the hobo tribunal which meets in the woods, and "tries" members of its fraternity according to their own code. At nineteen Wally Beery bade the family a nonchalant farewell, unmindful of his Irish dad's storming, but embarrassed by his Swiss mother's rare outburst of tears, and got a job with a circus. His first week's wages paid for a pair of brogans. For five years he ridiculed steady employment. For three years he was with the circus, and for two years , — just bumming. He wore the black satine "thousandmile" shirt, the bothersome washing of which could be postponed indefinitely. He sat down to "mulligan" with many a likewise begrimed, but happy, confrere of the rails in many a moonlit "jungle" in the woods — the rendezvous of the leisurely gents. Many a back door was slammed in his face, but not every housewife could resist his bland humor. "Couldn't get away with the pathetic stuff. So I always asked, just to be polite, if there was any wood they wanted cut, but I explained I'd cut my thumb at the last place, or sprained my wrist, and if they didn't insist on my taking off the dirty bandage so they could see, I'd get my 'lump.' " "Lump" being, in the elegant parlance of the 'bo, a handout. "Or else I'd have some jokes on tap, and get 'em laughing. "Sure," he replied to my observation, "you work harder as a hobo than you do earning an honest living. You've got to use your brains." Curious how interesting it is to find out how the other half lives. A hobo, to me, has always been a very soiled individual, to whom you gingerly held out sandwiches. That there could be castes — a social and ethical system — among them, and dreams, talents and ambitions, was one of the surprises Beery and Tully handed me, along with memories of their bumming days, and words which my typewriter has not been trained to record. A lady of delicate sensibilities is instantly shocked at their language. I was shocked. But it had this to its credit : it was different. "There are classes of hobos," they explained. "The road kid, in search of adventure, is usually out only a few months. He gets his fill and goes home. Fellows get tired of sedentary life, and want a thrill. Another gets strapped, and has to ride the rods home to the wife and 'kids. Those are the transients. The seasoned 'bo just has the wanderlust. He can't stand the monotony of steady work. He is visionary, and a dreamer. The yegg is -the aristocrat. He robs country banks and always has money ; he rides at the company's expense, because it's against his principles to pay railroad fare. He swaggers around the 'jungle' and often brings the makin's for a 'setdown' (a regular meal) and the treats. "H o b o s are mostly Irish. There are no Jews. Few who have been on the moo c-h for a couple of years ever settle down to commonplace life. Jack London was on the road. Jack Dempsey, 'Kid' McCoy, and Stanley Ketchell were road kids. Many of them become pugilists. William Wellman, who is directing 'Beggars of Life,' was a road kid, beating his way to the lumber camps. For five years, intermittently, James Cruze was on the bum. He would connect with a theater Continued on page 109