Mini Biography
Joe E. Brown happily claimed that he was the only youngster in show business who ran way from home to join the circus with the blessings of his parents. In 1902 the ten-year-old Brown joined a circus tumbling act called the Five Marvellous Ashtons, which toured various circuses and vaudeville theaters. Joe would later begin adding comedy bits into his vaudeville act and added more as it became popular. In 1920 he debuted on Broadway in an all-star review called "Jim Jam Jems". As he developed skits and comedy routines throughout the 1920s, he built up his confidence and his popularity soared. The same could not be said for his debut in movies. Hired for a non-comedy role in The Circus Kid (1928), he played a lion tamer whose fate is death. He would not register with the public until he signed with Warner Brothers in 1929 to do comedy roles in the film adaptations of Broadway shows such as Sally (1929) and Top Speed (1930). Joe would be well known for his loud yell, his infectious grin and his cavernous mouth. Since many of his films revolved around sports, his natural athletic ability combined with the physical comedy made them hits. In Local Boy Makes Good (1931) Joe would play a botanist who becomes a track star. As he had briefly played semi-pro baseball, he was a natural for films like Fireman, Save My Child (1932), where he played a pitcher who was also a fireman. Two of his biggest hits would involve the game of baseball, Elmer, the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike (1935). In his contract with Warners, he had written that he would have his own baseball team at the studio to play when he was able. Joe was one of the Ten Top money-making stars for 1933 and 1936. In 1937, he would leave Warners to make films for David L. Loew, and it would be a disaster. Most of the films would be cheaply and poorly made and only a few were successful. Two of the betters ones were Riding on Air (1937) and The Gladiator (1938). With Loew, his popularity fell and by the end of the decade, he was working in "B" material. With the advent of World War II, Joe worked tirelessly to entertain the troops while his film career floundered. Their enthusiastic response enabled Joe to overcome the death of his son, Captain Donald Brown, on a training flight. In 1947 Joe was back in the biz and back on the stage in a road company of the comedy "Harvey". His first movie in three years would be as a small-town minister in the drama The Tender Years (1948). Even though he gave a good performance, it would be another four years before he was again on the big screen in the 1951 version of Show Boat (1951), where he played Captain Hawks. When his film career was almost non-existent, Joe worked on radio and in television. He starred, as the clown, in the drama "The Buick Circus Hour" (1952) from 1952-53 and would make guest appearances on a number of shows in the 1950s and early 1960s. After a few small movie roles in the 1950s he would be discovered by a new generation as the millionaire Osgood Fielding III in Billy Wilder's classic Some Like It Hot (1959).
Mini Biography By:
Tony Fontana (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
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