| Show v. v w. Jo tI S 'S JF r f r J i f. f t. t Jf McLEMORE SAYS SAYS- Drama Has Ba Baer r Groggy Playboy Maxie Puzzled Over Broadway Script By HENRY M lEM RE RENEW NEW YORK Oct 18 UP UP-It UP It has been my lot to see Max Baer in many of his most his most tragic mo mo- mo- mo ments jl JI saw Jim Braddock take away his his lis worlds world's heavyweight champion champion- ship I was there when Joe Louis C cut clit t him to bits and made him take bike the count on one knee I watched Lou Nova knife him to ribbons with rights and lefts Lowest Lowes Depths But last night In the quiet of ofa a suite high in the New Yorker hotel I saw Max Baer plumb the depths o of ot misery wallow wallow- in the sands sands' of despair and all but cry alo aloud d for help He was faced with nothing more formidable than pages pages of typewritten typewritten typewritten type type- written script the script the pages of words he will have to memorize before his Broadway show Hya G Gentlemen c can n go go into tl tion n. n But it had him on the can can- vas vps Those pages had him in worse shape than any opponent he ever faced in the ring When I was in grammar school Max moaned it took me si six months to memorize The Village Village Vil VII lage Blacksmith And that that- was wasa a a w short little thing thing thing-a a r six under But this thing is a rounder 20 and andIn m In telling you I aint sure I I. can last the distance Keep punching kid encouraged encouraged encouraged aged Maxs Max's manager Ancil Hoff- Hoff man nan That script cant can't hurt us Were We're a cinch Dough on Line Baer is probably the only onty actor actor actor ac tor in many a year to get his guarantee before he started studying studying study study- ing his lines The the Tracys the Nugents the Dowlings arid and the J Jessels gamble on a show b bring ing a a hit But not Maxie He insisted on his dough being in the bank befort he started wrestling with the first firs line of his script We aint suckers Manager Hoffman explained We didn't come all the way from California for nothing get his and Ill I'll get mine even if th the sh show w doesn't last but one night From what Maxie and Hoffman told me of the play it is likely to have a long Jong run if only for the reason that customers will have to togo togo togo go two three and four times to figure out what its it's all about The plot is something like this Baer who plays the part of Spinner Spinier Skinner fakes credentials and enrolls enrolls enrolls en en- rolls at Groton that holy of holies of a preparatory school whose alumni include President Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt At heart Spinner Skinner is isa isa isa a bookmaker and he he immediately begins the operation of a horse race book in his room I Betting on the horses catches on at Groton under the stimulus of Spinner Skinner and soon the headmaster dean and all the fac faculty faculty faculty fac fac- are cu cutting ting classes to to get down bets on goo good things at Belmont Santa Anita Tropical and Churchill Church Church- ill III Downs From there the action gets faster and faster Provided of course that Spinner Skinner a alias Max Baer can learn his script Maxie has hopes that he will master master master mas mas- ter the written word in time I 1 did a play with Stan Lupino in London once he said and I managed to learn my part part part-it it was called Over She Goes' Goes and did all ali right And I had to learn quite a bunch of stuff in my movie with Myrna Loy Lay You remember that one about the prize fighter and a lady Switching the conversation from acting to fighting I learned that |
