Joe E. Brown Was More than a Silly Face.
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a comedian par excellence. For nearly three decades, he entertained the masses
via Broadway, television and film.
Maybe you remember him as the guy who,
upon discovering that the “woman” he’d been courting in 1959’s Some Like It
Hot was actually Jack Lemmon, said “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
But
Brown was much more than a punchline. He was the consummate performer, having
joined The Marvellous Ashtons, a circus tumbling act, at age 10. The circus tour
introduced him to the burlesque and vaudeville circuits and, by age 18, he left
vaudeville for Broadway, where he excelled as a comedian in several revues,
including Jim Jam Jems, Captain Jinks and Twinkle Twinkle.
His post-Broadway film credits include 1932’s You Said a Mouthful, 1935’s
Alibi Ike and 1935’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (opposite James
Cagney and Olivia de Havilland).
At the height of his stardom, Joe
marketed the Joe E. Brown Bike Club, issued by Quaker Oats in 1934. The club
offered premiums to youngsters, including Joe E. Brown’s Funny Bike Book, which
featured photos of a smiling, bike-riding Joe in comical outfits. He went on to
promote several newspaper and radio show clubs and premiums, such as Post
Cereal’s Joe E. Brown Club in 1936 and the Joe E. Brown Show premiums,
offered by Post Toasties in 1938-39.
While many remember Brown for his
comedy, did you know that he was quite the athlete and baseball enthusiast, as
well? He played semi-professional baseball with the National Vaudeville Artists
team and served as part owner of the minor league Kansas City Blues in the
1950s. So strong was his passion for the all-American pastime, he passed his
love of the game down to his son, Joe L. Brown, who went on to become manager of
the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955.
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