Earthworm Tractors (Warner Bros.) (1930)

EARTHWORM TRACTORS PUBLICITY Laughing Through Life That’s Joe E. Brown with his lovely leading lady, June Travis, in a scene from Brown’s latest First National comedy, “Harthworm Tractors”. Brown plays the role of Alexander Botts, tractor salesman-hero of the renowned Saturday Evening Post stories which have convulsed a nation. The fila comes t0. théis.s.c.ccorescoereseseassses EO cance TROUT OROI SG 22s, eS eras es Mat No. 201—20c Joe E. Brown Says Movies Will Embrace Vaudeville Star of “Earthworm Tractors” Thinks Variety Actors Coming Back Film entertainment may be responsible for the virtual demise of vaudeville and some other varieties of the show business, Joe E. Brown admits, but it is due to restore them more and more, in days to come, via the celluloid medium. In other words, the First National comedy star believes that film entertainment will ultimately embrace every variety of trouping that was done in the hey-day of the “variety” shows, from trick skating acts to ventriloquism. Brown, currently playing in “Karthworm Tractors,” now showing ae ENS. ssise-risdeeveeesie; Theatre, bemoans even the temporary submergence of vaudeville. But he looks optimistically to future films and also radio to give entertainers with a wide variety of specialties their chance to earn a living “Already we see a more and more extensive use of typical vaudeville acts of the old days, through their inclusion in big feature films,’ Brown points out. “My own picture ‘Bright Lights,’ affords an example. We used dialecticians, tumblers, an acrobat troupe and what-not. “But it was a back-stage affair. Another previous film, ‘Sons OQ’ Guns,’ touched upon theatrical life very briefly, but was chiefly the brighter side of doughboy adventures in the A. E. F. Yet it contained quite a variety of entertainers. Singers, dialecticians, dancers, acrobats—brought in quite logically. I make that point because I think that in many other feature films made today it would be possible to include, with no interruption of story or plot suspense, one or more samples of the many branches of entertainer’s art. “It seems to me there is a growing interest in all of these branches through the extensive interest, and even participation, in amateur entertainment, on the radio and elsewhere. Merely as hob Page Twenty Two bies, the new generation is learning magic and tap-dancing, acrobatics and juggling, ventriloquism and dialects, imitations, musical specialties, singing specialties, and what have you. “Pictures in the future will inevitably reflect this, just as they reflect all other passing phases of current American life, sooner or later. The result will be a lot of healthy fun for audiences and more variety in the sort of pictures which can logically include that sort of thing. “Meanwhile shorter subjects of all lengths, from mere flashes in that variegated thing we call news reels, to movies of perhaps half feature footage, can present regular vaudeville acts or programs with a variety of ‘headliners’ on each bill. “That may be mere wish-thinking on my part, for I do hate to see the passing into oblivion of all the old troupers with the entertainment specialties of which they were so proud. Some people get a laugh out of the animal-call imitator who dubs himself ‘artist’. I don’t! “But somehow I don’t think it’s wish-thinking.I think and hope the trend toward the sort of thing I have described, seemingly evident in current picture releases, will continue.” “Karthworm Tractors” is a rollicking comedy romance based on the famous stories by William Hazlett Upson. Guy Kibbee Insists He’s Home-Loving Earthworm But There Are Worms and Worms According To “Earthworm Tractors’? Comedian By Guy Kibbee (who has a leading role with Joe E. Brown in the First National comedy, “Earthworm Tractors’, which comes to ORG risocstcectan ree ee POUT S OU ose inicaputasncgnseeaaal ) It’s quite a coincidence that I was assigned to a role in Joe E. Brown’s latest First National Picture, ‘Earthworm Tractors”, for I am an earthworm if there ever was one. Not that I’m afraid of flying or anything. I’ll fly as high as the next person as long as I have one foot on the ground. It’s just that I love nature in all its forms, and prefer to be known as nothing more than a respectable, home-loving earthworm. I love the smell of the damp earth after an April rain, when flowers unfold and peep forth into a world glistening with dew. Worms have always interested me. I divide them into two classes: worms you go fishing with and worms you wouldn’t go fishing with. The first named are amoebas. So are the second, only they are of the human form. Being a rabid disciple of Isaak Walton, I put all my acquaintances into two classes. Those whom I would enjoy taking along on a fishing trip are the tops as far as I’m concerned. The others are merely worms. Not good old-fashioned earthworms, but just out and out worms you wouldn’t care to be seen with. You are probably more or less familiar with most of them. You find them on city streets and in rustic hamlets. They go to theaters and are seen at all the big parties. They are fat and _ thin, short and tall, and they all get into your hair. The only reason they don’t get into mine is because I haven’t any. I lost it all thinking about such pests. There’s the worm who invites you to dinner and then uses a trick two-bit piece to toss you for the check. There’s the motion picture director who allows you to sit up all night studying a scene, and the next morning announces that he has decided to rewrite it. There’s the actress who always manages to wriggle you around until the camera gets a_ swell close-up of the back of your neck ‘Injun’ Joe E. Brown during your most important scene. There’s the gag man who doesn’t like your bit of ad-lib humor, and substitutes a bit of his own that was originally used by Aristophanes for the edification of ancient restaurant owners. There’s the publicity man who dresses you in pink tights and has you take a short workout with Man Mountain Dean for a picture which usually lands on the wantad page. There’s the cameraman who runs out of film in the scene which you did fourteen consecutive times before getting it right. There’s the practical joker worm who delights in giving you the “hot seat” and in stuffing your pockets with potato salad. There’s the palooka sitting next to you in the theatre who sets your pants on fire reading his program with a lighted match. There are hundreds of others. You can name your own. That’s why I prefer to be known simply as “Earthworm Kibbee”. It gives me a feeling of peace and contentment as I wriggle along life’s highway. * * “Karthworm Tractors” is Joe FE. Brown’s latest roaring comedy, based on a series of Saturday Evening Post stories by William Hazlett Upson. Besides Kibbee, the cast includes June Travis, Dick Foran, Carol Hughes, Gene Lockhart, Olin Howland and Joseph Crehan. Just in case youre the only one who doesn’t know it, Joe E. Brown, star of First National’s side-splitting comedy “Earthworm Tractors”, is im itating an Indian brave ridinga V-8... via the silly “handy” game. Joe plays the role of the famous Saturday Evening Post character, Alexander BOLUS ONG, 1S LO. OCSSCON. BU ENRCic..cicenserscgseoasscigaiven: Theatre. Mat No. 202—20c Someone’s Mad Looks like Guy Kibbee. And yowd be mad, too, if Joe E. Brown had taken you on a tractor ride wp and down mountains loaded with dynamite. It’s a scene from Brown’s funniest First National comedy, “Harthworm Tractors”, now at the ncn Theatre. Mat No. 104—10¢ Actress Tears Up Cactus Bed To Her Dismay Carol Hughes, erstwhile Chicago girl with no especial knowledge of cactus, showed up on the First National set of “Earthworm Tractors”, now showing at the........ Theatre, with badly scratched hands. “I got ambitious, got scratched and, to top it all, got bawled out,” said the vivacious young actress who is one of Joe E. Brown’s love interests in the new screen comedy. Miss Hughes explained: “I live in an apartment house in Hollywood. Ive always liked flowers. I like to plant and cultivate them. I saw a patch of cactus growing at the side of the building so, to surprise the apartment house owners, I dug up the cactus and planted some flowers. “I had no idea that cactus would prove so prickly. And I hadn’t the slightest idea that Southern Californians considered the things decorative. All the thanks I got, when I proudly pointed to my work, was the shocked exclamation: ‘Oh! You’ve torn up our beautiful cactus bed’ !” “Karthworm Tractors” is a rollicking comedy romance based on the famous stories by William Hazlett Upson. Besides Miss Hughes the cast includes Joe E. Brown, the star, June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran, Gene Lockhart, Olin Howland and Joseph Crehan. Actress Hunts In Sun Clothes And Big Smile One of the prettiest brunettes in Hollywood is probably the best hunter, or huntress, of the film players. She is Carol Hughes, First National actress playing opposite Joe E. Brown in “Earthworm Tractors”, which comes to the........ ANE A ERE LON. .102 ccasieqeceossconatas Miss Hughes disclosed to Brown that she had a hunting lodge in the mountains back of San Diego. It’s really a small ranch, which ends in drift fences against country wild enough to afford good hunting for Carol and her dogs. A friend of her family lives on the place as caretaker. His chief chore, and that of his wife and children, too, is taking care of Carol’s dogs. Miss Hughes, who is a sunshine addict as well as a hunter, indulges both passions at once by doing most of her hunting near her ranch clad in sandals, sun clothes and a smile.