Elmer the Great (Warner Bros.) (1933)

CURRENT Prepared Review Joe E. Brown Bats 1000 in His “Elmer the Great” Popular Comedian Brings Gales of Laughter as Bragging Home Run Hitter in Baseball Story HALK up another home run for Joe E. Brown, in his hilarious comedy-drama anent the inside of big league baseball, “Elmer the Great.” It’s not only one of the most side-splitting pictures this First National comedian has ever given us, but judging by the enjoyment of the audience before which it was presented last evening at the .... tainment. . . Theatre, it is one of the laugh leaders of 1933 enter If Joe E. Brown’s batting average for knocking out comedy hits was high before—and there is no more reliable purveyor of pure and unadulterated amusement on the screen than he is—his score should shoot up about fifty ie We may live long enough to see some of our grandchitldren grow up to _ be big league ball ' players, but we'll never forget the sight of Joe sliding home from third base through a sea of mud to cinch the World Series for the Chicago team. Joe’s winning run Cut No. 2 Cut 15¢ Mat Se comes on_ the heels of a tense situation, during which it looks as if he were out of the game for the balance of the series, and nothing can keep his team, the Cubs, from going down to defeat. For high voltage laughs, however, Joe’s maiden address over what he thinks is a raddio, to everybody in the United States, including President and Mrs. Roosevelt, while his fellow ball players look on, choking with suppressed giggles, runs a close second to the big game. “Elmer The Great” is hearty, wholesome humor from the time we are introduced to Elmer Kane, world’s _ champion batter, asleep in his Gen tryville, Indiana, home, until he has __won hoth the girl an@ the game’ And! Joe E. Brown plays the part from start to finish, not merely as the good ‘actor he is, but as a former baseball player who thoroughly knows the character he is impersonating. There is an-able cast of first-rate actors working with Joe to help swell the total of the evening’s fun. Frank McHugh, as High Hips Healy, Joe’s pal on the team, garners his quota of laughs. Yreston S. Foster is excellent as the manager of the big league club. Patricia Ellis as Nellie, the girl for whom Joe is ready to give up baseball if necessary, is winsome and charming enough to turn any ball-player’s head. Berton Churchill, Jessie Ralph, Emma Dunn, Sterling Holloway, Claire Dodd and Russell Hopton contribute their share toward a satisfying picture. And for red hot baseball fans, theré will be the added thrill of seeing genuine big league ball players on the diamond during the World Series melee. _. Mervyn LeRoy, who directed the picture, keeps it moving every minute and has missed nothing in the way of opportunity to make “Elmer The Great” the pennant-winner that it is. The screen play by Tom Geraghty has lost nothing of the spontaneous hilarity of the stage hit by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. In fact, the picture is far greater entertainment because it actually depicts the big scenes which could only be hinted at on the stage. Patricia Ellis, Joe E. Brown’s pretty lady in “Elmer the Great’ at the Strand. Cut No. 4 Cut 15¢c Mat 5c eens points on this one. Tst Day of Run’ Joe E. Brown Picked Patricia Ellis as His Latest Leading Lady Patricia Ellis, the 17-year-old screen beauty who has recently risen to fame, was Joe EK. Brown’s own selection for his leading lady in his latest First National picture, “Elmer The Great,” now showing at the.... Theatre. He looked over a long list of names submitted by the casting department and selected the young lady whose first bid for fame was in the George Arliss picture, “The King’s Vacation,” and who later made good as Jimmy Cagney’s leading lady in “Picture Snatcher.” Studio executives pointed out to Brown that Miss Ellis is anything but a comedy character, but an unusually beautiful, sweet and quite demure girl. “But,” said Joe, “I don’t want a comedy character playing opposite me. The leading lady for a comedian should play her part straight to act as a foil for the comedy characterization. She also makes for fine romance and the love interest contained in the story of “Elmer The Great.” “The comedy part would fall flat if you did not have some serious players to act as a relief. Miss Ellis just fills the bill for the part oppoSite me.” “Elmer The Great” is said to be Joe’s biggest and funniest comedy. It was adapted by Tom Geraghty from the famous stage success of the same title written by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, around a champion ball player with lots of conceit. Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Preston S. Foster and Russell Hopton are among those in the supporting cast. Mervyn LeRoy directed the picture. Lots of Fun and Romanee Seen at Strand Frank McHugh, Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis in a scene from “Elmer the Great,” the famous baseball comedy by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. It will be on view at the Strand until Friday. Cut No. 6 Opening Day Story Joe E. Brown Comedy, “Elmer the Great,” at .... Theatre Today Joe EK. Brown will be seen on the screen of the ... . Theatre today in his latest First National comedy, “Elmer the Great,” which is said to be the most uproariously funny of any picture he has appeared in to date. “Elmer the Great,” written by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, was a comedy riot on the stage and is said to be even more hilarious as a screen play, because many of the startling sequences which could be only hinted at before the footlights are actually depicted in the picture. Some of the funniest as well as most intense scenes in the picture occur during the playing of a World Series in a downpour of rain. The plot concerns a hick town boy who develops into the champion batsman of the big league. He is also the champion eater and long-time sleeper. His cocksureness makes him the butt of innumerable jokes by other members of his team. Joe, as Elmer the Great, becomes involved in a love tangle which eventually lands him in jail, and very nearly loses the World’s Series championship for his team. How he extricates himself and finally wins both the game and the girl is one of the most exciting as well as the most laughable incidents in a comedy full of riotous situations and fast action. There is a strong supporting cast, with Patricia Ellis, the new sensation of the screen, playing the leading feminine role opposite Joe. Others include Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd, Preston S. Foster and Russell Hopton. The screen play is by Tom Geraghty and the direction by Mervyn LeRoy. Cut 45c Mat 15c 2nd Day of Run Help , Fire and Ouch Are Joe E. Brown's 3 Favorite Words Joe E. Brown, whose latest starring comedy, “Elmer The Great,” for First National, is now showing at the .... Theatre, has three words which he considers the most valuable to him in his efforts to produce laughs. They are“Help,” “Fire” “Ouch.” “‘Help’,” says Joe, “is the most useful word in the language. Without it men, women and little children would be helpless in emergencies. It exercises the diaphragm, stretches the larynx, tones up the whole system and sometimes saves lives. “‘Wire’,’ adds Joe, “is tailor-made for the occasion. Imagine waking up at night to find your house burning down. No word like ‘fire’ to call attention to the situation. Suppose you rushed to the telephone or the window crying ‘conflagration,’ ‘sparks,’ ‘flames’ or any other synonym for ‘fire’ You wouldn’t get the slightest attention. “But ‘ouch’,’ concludes Joey, “is my favorite word. It’s elemental, amusing and expressive. It’s explosive and shows the teeth. And what is more important, it always gets me a big laugh.” Seriously speaking, though, Joe is very fond of using all three words in his pictures, because they afford him the opportunity of getting over fine comedy action when he opens his mouth wide. And, as he puts it, “You’ve got to open up wide to yell these words.” “Fire” and “Help” both come in a recent picture, “Fireman, Save My Child.” Only “Ouch” is made use of in “Elmer The Great,” the famous comedy hit of the stage, written by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan and adapted by Tom Geraghty. Among those in the supporting cast are Patricia Ellis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd and Preston S. Foster. Mervyn LeRoy directed. and 999 3rd Day of Run Joe E. Brown Played "Elmer the Great" on Stage Two Seasons If Joe E. Brown seems thoroughly at home in the star role of “Elmer The Great,” now playing at the.... Theatre, it isn’t merely because he is an enthusiastic baseball player and fan himself, and because the great American game has, for years, been second nature to him. Joe has already appeared twice on the stage in this high-powered laugh success from the pens of two of America’s outstanding creators of comedy—Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan. He knows every line and every piece of business in the show by heart. Joe E. Brown “Elmer the in the Strand’s Cut No. 7 Cut 15e Mat 5c PUBLICITY ARS AAR 2 REPENS OS RN TIE 4ih Day of Run Joe E. Brown Comedy Has Realistic StudioMade Winter Scenes Two of the principal streets and the main square of a small Indiana town, mantled in the snow of a middle western winter, were built on the back lot at the First National Studios, for the opening scenes of “Elmer The Great,” starring Joe E. Brown, which comes to the ... .. Theatre on .-... More than thirty buildings went into the making of this section of Gentryville, Ind., where Elmer the Great, played by Joe E. Brown, grew up to be the greatest living wielder of a baseball bat that ever stepped up to a big league plate. There are a dozen frame _housés, with their yards and picket fences, a two-story hotel, the general store, which also houses the post-office, the hay-grain and feed store, pool parlor, barber shop, and rows of other shops characteristic of such a community. Producing the kind of a “snowstorm” that would cover Gentryville with between five and six inches of snow was no mean feat, even for experts in blizzards. When the “snowstorm” had been completed, and Director Mervyn LeRoy walked into the main square of Gentryville with Joe E. Brown, the scene before their eyes was a triumph of realism. The drifted snow along the fences, the frosted store and house windows, and the trees mantled in white—with a couple of sleighs dashing up the snow-covered street, made the spectator feel positively cold. There was a touch of irony in the fact that every actor in the Gentryville scenes was swathed in heavy clothing, fur caps, reefers and ulsters and heavy gloves, despite the fact that it was one of the warmest days of a mild California winter. Patricia Ellis, the leading woman, sweltered in an ankle-length squirrel coat, woolen cap and muffler, and heavy winter goloshes—most of which she shed as promptly as possible between scenes. “Kilmer The Great,” which *e~*~ climax at the World Ser i. ical ed =—= “ IE so acre TEN and George M. Cohaii. * | Versatile Joe Joe E. Brown, the wide mouthed comedian, can make them cry as well as laugh. He actually does it in “Elmer The Great,” the riotous First National comedy hit by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, now showing at the... . Theatre. Joe, the world’s famous batsman, is nevertheless the butt of continuous kidding by his fellow players | because of his credulity and cocksureness. The scene is one in which the players take advantage of Joe’s ambition to do a broadcast stunt. They place a thermalite in front of him, explaining it is a microphone and that the whole world of fans is waiting to hear him say something. The group in the room gets the laugh on Joe, but he turns the tables on them, unwittingly, according to the story plot, by winding up his talk by calling his mother and telling her how hard he is going to work to win the series for his team. Joe puts so much pathos into the scene that many eyes were wet among the spectators. It is a clever touch in which Joe’s seriousness and earnestness accentuate the hilarity of the entire situation, the scene bringing tears and laughs together. At the revival of “Elmer The Great” on the Pacific Coast last year, Joe E. Brown starred in the production for weeks to packed houses, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The run of the play was such a sensational success that it was reproduced during the current season, with Joe again as the great batsman from Gentryville, Indiana. This time his appearance in “Elmer The Great” served as a timely and convenient rehearsal for the picture, which was scheduled to go into production within a few weeks following the revival. The cast of this First National production includes Patricia Ellis in the leading feminine role, Frank McHugh, | Preston S. Foster, Claire Dodd, Ger ton Churchill, Sterling Holloway, Emma Dunn, Russell Hopton, and numerous other well-known actors. Page Three