Local Boy Makes Good (Warner Bros.) (1931)

. aE : ak Sr ; cereemeanetee o nedinenemenantatlll PUT PLENTY OF THE PICTU ee DEE ae RE's STARDOM CONFERRED ON JOE E. BROWN | Forty Varsity Athletes BY THE UNIVERSITY OF HARD KNOCKS Star of “Local Boy Makes Good,” First National Film| More than forty fledgling athletes Now At Strand, Was Traveling Acrobat At Nine And Object Of Boss’s Cruelty (Absorbing Human Interest Story fur No. 1 Paper) Joe E. Brown, who comes to the in his latest First National starring vehicle, ‘‘Local Boy Makes | Which opens a ee Theatre Good,’’ has a twelve-cylinder Cadillac, a home in Beverly Hills, a wife, three children, and a fine picture contract. Here are a few of the little things Joe E. had to endure before he graduated from the University of Hard Knocks. CIRCUS AT NINE When Joe was nine years old he joined a cireus. A Mr. Ash, who had seen him do some amateur tumbling, begged Joe to join him as the star of The Five Wonderful Ashtons. It was a hard thing to decide —the lure of being a circus performer was great, yet nine is hardly the age to go bread-winning. But the circus lure won out, and then Mr. Ash seemed to be the nicest sort of employer anyone could want to have. Joe was given a railroad ticket—he was then living in Toledo, Ohio—and told to join the troupe at Topeka, Kansas. Joe did just that, he remembers it distinctly. When he got to the circus he introduced himself, was assigned his quarters, and invited to stand around and talk with the rest of the circus aristocracy, the acrobats. Joe stood and listened, swelling with righteous importanee. Then a loud voice yelled out. “Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown, is Mr. Brown about?” It was marvelous, a nine-year-old boy being paged as “Mister.” Joe turned, it was Mr. Ash paging him. “Here I am, sir,” said Joe proudly. Ash walked over and struck the boy right over the mouth, knocking him to the floor. “That’ll teach you not to answer to any name but Ashton.” Joe picked himself up and meekly isco Ba uy Two weeks later, before an audience of what looked to Joe like twenty people in a small town whose name he doesn’t now remember, the eatecher of the acrobatic act missed him. Joe tumbled fifty feet down, into the net, breaking his jaw. If one doesn’t know how to fall in a net, and Joe did not, it is almost as dangerous as the ground. Sometimes even more so, because if you land in a twisted position, by the time you’ve sunk to the limit of the net’s resilience and you are hurled baek, you may wrench all the tendons of a whole side, which practically paralyzes one for life. In a fall bones are smashed but bones soon knit. TWO BEATINGS PER For four years he remained with gentle Mr. Ash, being beaten at least twice a week after which episodes he would write letters to his mother telling in detail what a wonderful time he was having, and how nice he was being treated, so she wouldn’t worry. Then from a friend he heard that a cireus in New York needed an acrobat, a vacancy having been created through the misfortune of someone who had been killed in the act. Joe left. Anything to be away from Mr. Ash. But after a week with the new ecireus, he remembers praying that he would wake up in the morning and be back with Ash. He was thirteen years old at that time. It may be interesting to know that Joe, as the star of the featured act of the cireus which was one of the most important in the _ country, started in at $1.50 per week. At the end of the four years, however, having proved his worth, he received $7 per week, Joe finally deserted show business and went home to his folks. Waiting for him were a number of tender missives from his good friend, Mr. Ash, who it seemed had turned over a new leaf. If Joe would only return to the cireus, he’d be treated differently, with the respect and dignity he deserved. Joe went! For a week all went well, and then Mr. Ash began his old tricks. One of his favorite bits of playfulness was to hit Joe with a broom handle across the shins —once across the nose, making it bleed for almost an hour. Joe was small for his age. He was thirteen but weighed only eighty pounds. Page Six bVaa air UN, Ate Carry On In Brown Hit (Advance Reader) from the University of Southern California earned their summer savings during the making of various track scenes and sequences in Joe E. Brown’s latest First National pic ture, “Local Boy Makes Good,” Aiea Sb these MOR thes 5 sake eek next “Local Boy Makes Good” Stars Joe E. As Athlete (Advance Reader) “Tocal Boy Makes Good,” the newest Joe E. Brown comedy for First National which comes to the Theatre next, is the sixth athletic comedy the star has made. He has appeared as every kind of an Joe E. Brown Seems Like Local Boy To Every Home Towner (Current—Plant Sixth Day) Joe E. Brown, now drawing crowds to the Theatre in “Loeal Boy Makes Good,” his latest First athlete except a baseball player, the|National starring vehicle, has be branch of sport in which he is really best. eee Directed by Mervyn LeRoy A FUNNY ? — ee S FIRST ACRO SS THE | Himself — Fast? Nothing can catch him! Breaks all laugh records! GOOD? Boy — He’s PERFECT! LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD with DOROTHY LEE Ruth Hall, Eddie Nugent A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE HIT Cut No.1 Cut 60c Mat rsc HOSPITAL SEVEN WEEKS One day, as was inevitable the blowoff came. Joe faced Mr. Ash in the dressing room, picked up a lamp, and said, “If you hit me again Ill let this go.” Mr. Ash said, “If you don’t get your stunt right next show Tl let you drop!” At the next show, Mr. Ash, who was the catcher, although not the one who missed him when Joe broke his jaw, went through the act properly almost to the end. Then the particular stunt came, over which Joe had been beaten. Up he went into the air, a double somersault. Usually, for a double somersault, Joe kept his eyes closed. The reason was a good one. He had already gauged hig distance and leap, keeping his eyes open might only distract him. There was nothing he could do to help this particular stunt through to its end other than being caught. But this time, remembering Mr. Ash’s threat, he kept his eyes open. What he saw was Mr. Ash turning around and walking away—with Joe spinning in the air. Joe was in the hospital seven weeks with a broken leg and minor internal injuries. Even now, in rainy weather, and Young Man Goes ‘East’ To when he strains himself, it pains. In “Local Boy Makes Good,” his latest picture, he runs in a relay race. During one of the scenes, not shown on the screen, he collapsed while running. All he remembered. he said when he revived, was a horrible shooting pain shooting up his leg. Mr. Ash flashed through his mind——-and then—a blank. He had fainted. Supporting Joe E Brown in “Local Boy Makes Good” are Dorothy Lee, who plays lead; Ruth Hall, Edward Woods, Wade Boteler, William Burress, Edward J. Nugent, John Harrington and others. Mervyn Le Roy directed. Two Famous Sprinters Are Supporting Joe E. Brown (Advance Reader) Two of the world’s fastest human beings, Frank Wyckoff and Vie Williams, appear in bit roles in Joe E. Brown’s latest First National ¢om edy, “Local Boy Makes’ Good,” which opens ......... at tne PHORET GE aac 0s next. Enjoy Well-Earned Rest Mervyn Le Roy, the youthful director of Joe E. Brown in “Local Boy Makes Good,” the First National comedy now at the ........ Theatre, immediately after the filming of the picture went with his wife, Edna Murphy, the screen favorite, to a resort in the Sierras (which really is East counting from Hollywood) for a rest. Le Roy has had an active winter and spring, including among hig _ directorial achievements the phenomenally successful “ittle Caesar,” “Broad Minded” and “Five Star Final.” Tampa Junior League Girl Prominent in Brown’s Hit A year and a half in Hollywood sufficed for Ruth Hall, a former Tampa, Florida, society girl, to make good in pictures. She plays a prominent role opposite Joe E. Brown in his latest First National comedy which opens at the Thentre 20.5. oe. come such an institution in every town, big and little—that his coming is hailed almost as if he were actually one of the local boys. Joe Brown has never been seen in just the type of comedy exemplified in “Local Boy Makes Good.” This picture, based on a very human play by J. C. and Elliott Nugent, does not depend on slapstick for its laughs—but on the ludicrous situations which develop out of everyday happenings. Joe gets the laughs, but in a different way. He plays the part of a timid eollege student afflicted with an _ inferiority complex—and a suppressed desire to be a devil with the ladies and a hero on the athletic field. If he wins, it is not without some of the most amusing complications that ever befell a fellowman. Featured in support are Dorothy Lee, Ruth Hall, Edward Woods, Edward Nugent, Wade Boteler, William Burress, John Harrington and many others. Mervyn LeRoy directed. DOROTHY LEE, SCREEN HIT, WAS MERELY MARJORIE MILSAP (Current Reader) Dorothy Lee, who plays lead for Joe E. Brown in “Local Boy Makes Good,” his latest First National starring vehicle, now at the....... Theatre, was originally not ealled Dorothy or Lee either. Her name was Marjorie Milsap, and because she liked John Held’s drawings of “Merely Marjorie,” she for a time decided she shorld be so billed. Bene TN ee weighing severid pounds under one hundred, Dorothy tells how her first theatrical employers, Fanchon and Marco, when she introduced herself pertly with “I’m Dorothy Lee!” replied in chorus, “Well, what of it!” Her captivating sauciness in the role of Julia in “Local Boy Makes Good” proves that there is more than littleness of size and name in the personality of Miss Dot Lee! Saucy Dorothy Lee Shines In Joe E. Brown Comedy (Advance Reader) Dorothy Lee, whose saucy profile is becoming more and more familiar in important roles in pictures, appears in a prominent supporting role in “Local Boy Makes Good,” Joe E. Brown’s latest First National comedy which opens at the Theatre Joe E. Brown Says He Ran Hundred Miles in Film (Advance Reader) Joe E. Brown has it figured out that he ran more than a hundred miles during the making of his latest Warner Bros. comedy, “Local Boy Makes Good,” the current attraction at the Theatre. This in spite of the fact that he strained a ligament during rehearsals and was spared all unnecessary’ racing through a part of the picture filming. FOR A GOOD LAFF! A FIRST NATIONAL HIT STRAND Cut No. 19 Cutz20c Mat sc