Elmer the Great (Warner Bros.) (1933)

ADVANCE PUBLICITY your Ist story Joe E. Brown Comedy, "Elmer the Great," Coming to... Theatre Followers of Joe E. Brown will see the versatile comedian in what is probably the greatest role of his long laugh-making career when his latest First National picture, “Elmer The Great,” opens at the . . .. Theatre MERU estore sae There is every reason why this hilarious comedy-drama of big league baseball should fit Joe E Brown more perfectly than any role he has yet played. Joe’s middle name should have been baseball, for if making millions laugh is his business, baseball is his hobby. In fact, it’s been more than a hobby with Joe, for he was once a big league player himself. For several years he has maintained his own semiprofessional team in Southern California, and recently he topped all his previous baseball activities by buying an interest in the Kansas City baseball club. j Ring Lardner doubtless didn’t have Joe BE. Brown in mind when he wrote, in dramatic form, the life story of Elmer Kane, as only Ring Lardner knows how to write it. But the role of the Gentryville, Indiana, boy who modestly admits that he is the greatest batter the world has ever seen, couldn’t fit Joe E. Brown more per fectly if he had been the playwright-: humorist’s official model. Elmer Kane has three interests in lift—eating, sleeping and_ baseball; and he’s a champion at all three. As if this were not enough to con~me all of one man’s time and energy, “mer proceeds to fall in love, with side-splitting complications developing too fast for him. How Elmer gets into jail, is liberated only to fall into a brand new disgrace and be ruled off the team on the eve of the World’s Series games, and how he finally goes to bat and pulls the game out of the mud—literally as well as figuratively—is said to make one of the most uproariously funny pictures that the screen has seen this year. Mervyn LeRoy, director of many re ~ First National hits, piloted “veat” to its winning vé i. Drow. d Patricia Ellis is the girt wie. waom Joe is in love. Frank McHugh, aple comedian in such outstanding hits as “One Way Passage,” “Parachute Jumper,” “Wax Museum,” “Ex-Lady” and “Grand Slam,” has the role of Joe’s buddy, “High-Hips” Healy. Preston S. Foster is seen as the manager of the Chicago club, and Claire Dodd, Berton Churchill, Emma Dunn and Sterling Holloway have other important roles. The picture is an adaptation of the stage success by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, with Tom Geraghty being the author of the screen-play. your 2nd story Joe E. Brown at Home in "Elmer the Great" It isn’t anything out of the ordinary when Joe KE. Brown plays baseball, talks baseball, or buys a baseball club, as he did recently. But when Joe E. Brown doesn’t play, talk, buy act or think baseball—that’s something akin to a miracle. Several of his pictures have had baseball as integral parts of the pTot and background, but he has reached the acme in this degree in his latest First National picture, “Elmer The Great,” which comes to the... . Theatre on.... It is baseball comedy from start to finish by Ring Lardner and does Joe revel in it, because he simply loves the game! It all dates back to the days when Joe was 16 years old. Before that time he had joined a circus as an aerialist and then gone into vaudeville. But show business has seasons, so Joe was unable to indulge in his none-too-suppressed passion for baseball during the summer months. In 1908, then, Joe became a second baseman for the St. Paul team, starting a professional career which was to last eighteen years. Early every summer he would quit show business and sign up with a ball team, invariably playing second base. Joe admits he was pretty good at if in those days, although he never shined as a big league star. The majority of his friends today are baseball players, past and present. It was in 1920, when Joe was with the Red Sox, that he first met Tris Speaker, "and this warm friendship which sprang up, has continued to this day. At that time, Tris Speaker was playing for Cleveland—and it was the Page Two HE’S “ELMER Joe E. Brown, who comes to Strand movie-goers on Friday in “Elmer THE GREAT” | His "Elmer the Great" Gives Joe E. Brown ‘Idea for a Patent Already distinguished as_ stage comedian, screen star and_ baseball expert—in the latter field he recently qualified as a magnate by buying a third interest in the Kansas City Baseball Club—Joe E. Brown seems likely to win new fame as an inventor. His experience during the making of his latest First National comedy, “Elmer The Great,” which comes to the .... Theatre on ...., gave him the idea. Something should be done, he feels, to spare the poor base-runner the necessity of having to go through a sea of mud on a rainy day in his slide for the bag. Joe himself got a mouthful of it—in fact, numerous mouthfuls— during the making of the famous World Series game that forms the climax of “Elmer The Great.” Joe’s plan is to furnish each baseball player with a light sled, the framework made of aluminum and about two feet long. It is intended to be worn strapped around the player’s body, like a catcher’s chest protector. With the legs of telescope construction, it could be flattened against the body like an opera hat. This would enable the player, when he came up to bat, to swing his stick freely, unimpeded by the device. By pressing a button on the side of the sled, whenever it became necessary to use it, the legs would spring into position. No matter how muddy the field might be, the base-runner could slide to second, third or home, and get as much fun out of it as a boy coast | your 5th story the Great,” the hilarious baseball comedy by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. Cut No. 8 your Srd story Patricia Ellis Enjoys Her Fifth Big Role in “Elmer the Great" | Patricia Ellis, the youngest feaES a emcnge Nal a seating © femMun. fe ‘role 2 E. Brown in “Elmer ..’ which comes to the 342334 €-0n: 3. es This is u. fifth picture in which the seventeen-year-old Miss Ellis has appeared After coming to First National just a few months ago, she was given small roles in “Central Park” and “Three on a Match.” Her talent was so marked, George Arliss chose her to play the ingenue role in “The King’s Vacation.” Miss Ellis was then given the leading feminine role opposite James Cagney in “Picture Snatcher.” Before finishing this, she was assigned as leading lady to Joe E. Brown. A Although comparatively new to the screen, Miss Ellis has had a wide stage experience for one so young. The daughter of one of New. York’s foremost directors and producers of dramatic and musical comedy productions, she has been before the footlights since a child. Working with her father, Alexander Leftwich, she understudied many famous ingenues and soon graduated into leading roles in her own right. It was while playing in “The Royal Family” at the New York Riviera Theatre that she attracted the attention of picture executives, who persuaded her to take a screen test. In “Elmer The Great,” her youthful loveliness acts as an excellent foil to Joe’s riotous comedy antics. Others in the cast include Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd and Preston S. Foster. The screen play by Tom Geraghty is based on the famous stage success of Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. year that Cleveland won the World Series. While Joe was filming “Elmer The Great,” Speaker called him on the phone by long distance from Kansas City and offered him a third interest in the Kansas City Ball Club, which Speaker and Lee Keyser, also owner of the Des Moines club, were buying. Now Joe and Tris are partners. Put it all together, “Elmer The Great” spells fine baseball comedy. Patricia Ellis has the leading femininerole in “Elmer The Great.” Others in the cast include Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Preston S. Foster, Emma Dunn and Sterling Holloway. The screen play by Tom Geraghty is based on the famous stage success by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. Mervyn LeRoy directed the picture. Cut 30c Mat 10c your 4th story Exceptional Cast Used With Joe E. Brown in "Elmer the Great" An exceptional cast, both of com-| Surrounding Joe E. Brown in -dy characters and a play|“Elmer The Great” are Patricia ae = en Mage Mae eat Rigg Some Ns atk Hapa = Brown in_his | which comes to the .... Theatre on Joe's leading lady is the beautiful and youthful Patricia Ellis, who started in pictures just a few months ago and has become one of the screen sensations of the day. After two tryout pictures she was cast in an ingenue role with George Arliss, in “T‘he Adopted Father,” then played the lead for James Cagney in “Picture Snatchers.” She now appears in. the chief feminine part with Brown. PATRICIA ELLIS leading lady to Joe E. Brown in “Elmer the Great,”? coming to the 6s OW sees Cut No. 1 Cut 15c Mat 5c Miss Ellis has a straight part, being Joe’s small town girl with whose snubbing of Joe when she catches him with his arms about the smart city gal leads to his going on a spree and landing in jail. On the eve of the world’s series games, Preston S. Foster, who had the lead with Barbara Stanwyck in “Ladies They Talk About” and in “The Last Mile” and other pictures, also plays a straight role as the manager of the Chicago Cubs, who depends on Joe’s great batting to win the World’s Series games. Frank McHugh, one of the screeii’s most humorous characters, has the role of Joe’s buddy, “High-Hip” Healy. Claire Dodd is the villainess whose kiss in the lobby of a hotel leads Joe’s country lassie to give him the cold shoulder. Other prominent players include Emma Dunn, Berton Churchill, J. Carroll Naish, Russell Hopton, Sterling Holloway, Charles Wilson, Jessie Ralph, Douglas Dumbrille, Charles Delaney and Gene Morgan. There are also _ thirty-five league baseball players in “Elmer The Great,” who. take part in the smashing final sequence, which is the World’s Series games between the Cubs and Yankees. Among these players are Babe Herman, Charles Root, Larry French, Bill Brubacker, Charlie Moncrief, Frankie and Ray Jacobs, Tut Steinback, Frank Shellenback, George Burns, Wally Hood, Tuck Hannah and Beans Reardon, the National League umpire, who acted in that capacity in the picture. | iugh, 1 ma wunn, Claire Dodd and Sterling Holloway. — big 1 ing on a toboggan, besides arriving at his destination without having to be excavated upon his arrival. The invention is still in its embryonic stages, but Joe is very sanguine about the outcome. At least Joe claims that his idea is just as constructive as Ed Wynn’s device for eating grapefruit safely in public, or his famous typewriter carriage for enthusiastic cornon-the-cob eaters, with a bell at the end of the row to keep them from chewing their thumbs off. ci, Frank ~ ae ee Picl ‘Berton Churemii, |} BIOGRAPHIES JOE E. BROWN Joe EK. Brown, star of “Elmer The Great,’ was born in Holgate, Ohio. He joined a circus when nine years old and toured the country as the youngest of “The Five Marvel Ashtons.” A broken leg ended his circus career. He joined’ the St. Paul baseball club and later became a member of the Yankees team. He has his own team in Los Angeles, which is considered one of the star amateur nines. Deciding to become a comedian, Joe went into burlesque and soon landed on Broadway. Some of his hits were “Listen Lester,” “Jim Jam Jems,” “Captain Jinks” and “Twinkle Twinkle.” It was while playing in the latter in Los Angeles that he was induced to try his hand at pictures. His first was “Crooks Can’t Win,” which he considers his worst. Since then he has made many pictures for Warner Bros.-First National, the most recent being “You Said a Mouthful,” “The Tenderfoot,” “Fireman, Save My Child,” “Local Boy Makes Good,” “Broad Minded” and “Going Wild.” ‘PATRICIA ELLIS Patricia Ellis, young Wampas baby star, under contract to Warner Bros.-First National, who has the leading feminine role opposite Joe E. Brown in “Elmer The Great,” was born in New York and trained in the traditions of the stage from earliest infancy by her father, a noted New York producer and director. After playing in “The Royal Family,” “Once in a Lifetime” and “Elizabeth the Queen” on Broadway, she was signed for a small part in “Three on a Match,” her screen debut at Warner Bros.First National studios. She had another bit in “Central Park” and then was chosen by George Arliss to play an ingenue role in “The King’s Vacation.” Then she was elevated to a lead| ‘Ing role opposite James vy — ie rhe Greet” is her fifth picture. | _ Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis in “Elmer the Great,” Joe’s cme comedy hit which opens at the Strand on Friday. It’s the famous baseball comedy by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. Cut No. 3 your 6th story Studio Waited Weeks for Storms to Cease, Then Shot Rain Scene They do strange things in Hollywood, but one of the strangest occurred during the production of Joe E. Brown’s latest starring comedy for First National, “Elmer The Great,” which will be on the screen of the Serene UDCALe NExECs The picture was all finished except” for some baseball sequences which were to be shot at the Wrigley Field ball park. Just about the time they were set to start these sequences, the rainy season set in. For two weeks, the company watched the skies and read weather reports, and not a wheel turned. They were waiting for the rain to cease and for the sun to dry the field. At last came an auspicious day, and the company of actors, ball players and several hundred extras under Director Mervyn LeRoy, got to work on the field. The scene to be shot is the great climax of the picture, which is a World Series game between the “Cut 30c Mat 10c¢ Cubs and the Yankees, and which is played in the rain. So the first thing the company did after waiting two weeks for the rain to stop was to set up water pipes and wind machines and go right into the filming of rain scenes with the use of artificial rain. Before half a day had passed, the field they had waited for so long to dry was sopping wet again and the players were playing in the mud. Naturally the question arises in the minds of readers, “Why in heaven’s name didn’t they film the baseball sequences while it was raining if they wanted to show the game being played in the rain?” The answer, gentle readers, is they can’t film a rain scene in the rain—lack of sun makes it impossible. To photograph anything during a rain storm would result in foggy and poor photography. That is why all rain scenes must be shot with manufactured rain. Patricia Ellis has the leading feminine role opposite Joe, while others in the cast include Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Preston S. Foster and a score of professional ball players. The screen play by Tom Geraghty is based on the rollicking comedy stage success by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan.