Earthworm Tractors (Warner Bros.) (1930)

EARTHWORM TRACTORS PUBLICITY Joe E. Brown’s Squeak Is Joy Of 10,000,000 Kids Characteristic mannerisms are a part and parcel of every movie stars bag o’ tricks. They are so well established in the public mind they might almost be copyrighted. Joe E. Brown, now starring in “Karthworm Tractors”, the First National picture, which comes to EG ys cic cseackoesstse PEMEBELE ON csccsassesesteeskvae : wouldn’t be Joey to ten million kids if he didn’t, sometime during each picture he makes, stretch that cavernous mouth to its widest extent and emit a few words in the weakest possible audible squeak, This characteristic gesture was invented deliberately by Brown during one of his early New York shows. He had a small part and the lines that preceeded his, spoken by other, better known comedians, usually got such a laugh that his words were not heard by the audience. He found then that by opening his mouth very wide and holding it open for a few seconds, the audience quieted down to see what on earth was coming out of that great void. The first time he tried it he waited so long that his voice, when he did speak, broke into a high treble. The audience roared, and a new comedy star was born. “Karthworm Tractors” is Joe EK. Brown’s latest roaring comedy based on the stories by William Hazlett Upson. Others in the cast include June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran, Carol Hughes, Gene Lockhart, Olin Howland and Joseph Crehan. Raymond Enright directed the picture from the screen play by Richard Macauley, Joe Traub and Hugh Cummings. Joe E. Brown Is Dunked In Mud Of Film Swamp Joe EK. Brown who comes to the in “Earthworm Tractors”, got dunked in the muddy waters of a swamp during the production of the film. And the First National comedy star isn’t sure, but he has a sneaking notion that Guy Kibbee may have had something to do with it. Joe admits that his suspicion of the corpulent Kibbee is based on his general knowledge of human nature and a natural desire for revenge. “The reason I think Guy caused me to fall into the mud,” grinned Joe, “is that several days ago, while I was driving the big ‘Earthworm Tractor’, I gave Kibbee the scare of his life.” Kibbee denies that he jarred the plank on which Brown was standing when he took the swamp tumble. He denies it, members of the “Earthworm Tractors” company point out, but he continues to grin. Brown took his muddy tumble on location at “Gopher Flats” on the ranch just across the river from the First National studio. And when he fell, eye-witnesses said, he let out a Joe E. Brown yell that was mighty genuine. Hurriedly furnished with facilities for a shower bath of a crude type, and given a complete change of wardrobe, the comedy star, within an hour after the “accident” was serenely doing his stuff over the muddy swamp. But—he was keeping, it was noted, a wary eye on Guy Kibbee. “Karthworm Tractors” is a screamingly funny comedy based on the stories by William Hazlett Upson. Besides Joe E. Brown and Kibbee, the cast includes June Travis, Dick Foran, Carol Hughes, Gene Lockhart and Olin Howland. Raymond Enright directed the picture from the screen play by Richard Macauley, Joe Traub and Hugh Cummings. Page Twenty Alexander Botts Calling... The man who made millions of readers roar with laughter in the famous Saturday Hvening Post Stories is now on the screen played by filmdom’s king of clowns, Joe BE. Brown. It’s First National’s mirthful comedy, “Karthworm Tractors” coming to the it A Hasta e RT AACN PAE ILA Theatre MOUs... ssctgaagedoassnsssois est teeters with a huge comedy cast featuring June Travis as Joe Es leading lady. Mat No. 212—20c Joe E. Brown’s Rival Film Sweeties Look Like Twins Feminine Leads In ‘“‘Earthworm Tractors”’ Similar In Appearance For the first time in recent movie history, the rival sweethearts of a film hero are so nearly identical in appearance that one might easily be mistaken for the other. They could almost be twins. The picture in which they appear is Joe E. Brown’s latest First National comedy, “Earthworm Tractors”, which comes to TG. sick iessiesatoare er aa at lier TNeatre Osis. icscctanccctisss Rey eer ane girls are June Travis and Caro] Hughes. Brown, as the demon salesman Alexander Botts of the William Hazlett Upson stories on which “Earthworm Tractors” is based, starts the picture engaged to Miss Hughes. He finishes it about to be married to Miss Travis. June has dark hair, bluish green eyes; is five feet four, and weighs 116 pounds. Carol has dark hair, bluish green eyes; is five feet four, and weighs 114 pounds. The resemblance between the girls is even closer, in some respects, than these statistics indicate. They are both athletic, healthy outdoor girls, very feminine but far from the old-fashioned hot-house variety of womanly flower. And the resemblance between them doesn’t figure in the picture. There is no trick in the script by which one is supposed to be mistaken for the other, or anything which calls for the similarity. Director Raymond Enright could just as well have chosen a blonde for one part or the other. “But I didn’t,” Enright explains, “because I believe in this instance Joe E. Brown’s characterization logically motivates his falling for a girl of a type similar to the girl to whom he is engaged at the beginning of the picture. “Botts, blundering and comical as he is, nevertheless has a heartwinning simplicity and directness of character, a down-to-earth, American Yankee point of view. He’s no varietist. “Having fallen in love with one type of girl, he’d be most likely to succumb to the charms of another of very similar type.” In the completed film, however, the girls show striking differences of temperament, which don’t exist to such a degree in real life, created by their acting prowess. Both girls are fine actresses, June having scored a hit as the lead opposite James Cagney and Pat O’Brien in “Ceiling Zero”, and Carol as ingenue lead in the Bette Davis—George Brent picture, ‘The Golden Arrow”. So through the characterizations given them in the script the audience will be all for Joe winning June, and against Carol winning Joe. Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran, Olin Howland, Gene Lockhart, Joseph Crehan, and other favorites appear with the comedy-romantic trio in the picture. June Travis Beats Joe E. In Tractor Driving Race Film Players Gape As “Earthworm Tractors”’ Stars Race On Boulevard June Travis had to learn to drive a regulation sized tractor while enacting the leading feminine role in Joe E. Brown’s latest First National Picture, “Earthworm Tractors’, which comes to RE SO napa deere SR OMEMLTG OUR Tassie itis gs atoseeasnel otsscans June pitched right in and learned the intricate mechanism in no time at all. During her short lifetime she has come to expect the unusual as a natural course of events. During the past ten years the young actress has been forced to become a jack of all trades in several professions. Unlike the average person who has had to learn a lot of different things, June has learned them all well. After the new picture had been in production for three weeks at the First National studio, June could handle a heavy tractor as well as an experienced farmhand. The explanation is simple. Miss Travis is one of those thorough persons who is determined to make a success out of anything she undertakes. June didn’t step into the tractor seat unprepared on the occasion of the first day’s shooting. She spent several days previously on the ranch of Arthur Todd, the photographer, finding out how the wheels go around in the tractor world. Very few young ladies in a like position would have done this, but as said before, June is a very determined young lady. The actress developed her thoroughness in a Chicago preparatory school. Here she shone in class athletic activities for the simple reason that she spent after school hours in strenuous practice. Today, in Hollywood, she is one of the foremost Badminton players. June excels in_ this popular film colony sport because she trained herself for it—trained, in fact, with the Pacific Coast champion. It’s her way of doing things. To cite some of the young lady’s accomplishments which are a little removed from the feminine line of activities; she can fly and operate a glider; run a printing press; navigate a pretty goodsized yacht; and mix and pour cement. She learned this last accomplishment while helping a friend build a swimming pool. June became so_ enthusiastic about tractor operations during the filming of the picture that she made the studio property department a cash offer for one of the machines used in the film. She then challenged Joe E. Brown to a race down Hollywood Boulevard, an event that astonished the most blase members of the film colony. June won the race by a nose, or rather by a hood. Greetings, Folks! In New Film Dick Foran and Carol Hughes have important roles in First National’s “Earthworm Tractors”, starring Joe EH. Brown as the hero of William Hazlett Upson’s famed Saturday Evening Post stories about Alexander Botts. The film 16:08 ANG 53% cossssjcmmnninnt Theatre. Mat No. 106—10c Draws Many Athletes Admittedly one of the most ardent sport fans of all Screenland, Joe E. Brown, star of “Earthworm Tractors”, the First-National picture now at the........... enseeees Theatre, constantly proves a magnet for famous folk of the sport world. Yeah—he’s back! Joe EF. Brown, as Alexander Botts, world’s greatest salesman! The guy who used dynamite to break down his customers’ resistance! The screen’s funniest man COMES LO TNE. rsceereserenceeees Theatre in First National’s “Earthworm Tractors” with June Travis and a comedy cast including Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran and Carol Hughes. Mat Ne. 208—20c