Elmer the "Joe E." Great
Comedian Brown's Lardner Character Was His Greatest Role, Circa 1933
Ring Lardner gave Joe E. Brown his most famous comedic lead, the character Elmer the Great, and it became Brown's signature role. Elmer the Great was a 1933 family film event about a young man who leaves family, friends, and girlfriend to become a sports hero and comes back full circle in experiences. Family was an institution that Brown earnestly supported.
Elmer is Warner Bros. Baby
Warner Bros. was Brown's chief employer in the 1930s when he stretched Lardner's character a little further. Lardner's Elmer the Great was a derivative of Major Leaguer Edward Augustine "Big Ed" Walsh (1881-1959), who became Hall of Fame material while laboring for the Chicago White Sox.
A sports reporter for the Chicago Examiner and later, the Chicago Tribune, Lardner used the real Walsh and a Walsh characterization pointed out by another leading Chicago sports writer, Charles Dryden, who described Walsh as "the only man in the world who can strut sitting down".
Brown, a baseball die-hard, added his imitation of Walsh for Elmer and antics he compiled from watching St. Louis Cardinal pitching ace Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (1910-1974) and Philadelphia Phillies mound star Harry Frank "The Giant Killer" Coveleski (1886-1950). All the models were what Elmer was created to be -- a lovable, walking, talking, egocentric braggart with clumsy talent.
In Elmer the Great, from the time a fictional Chicago Cubs representative comes to Elmer's small home town to sign him to a major league contract, until the story ends with Elmer's double-crossing his gambling bosses for the good and his World Series-winning grand slam, the film is a home run for morality, family ties, and relationships.
Brown's Special Learning Curve
A special by-product of the film for Brown was the learning experience he received from doing a funny breakfast scene. Elmer bends a spoon over the rim of his coffee cup rather than simply removing it from the cup to avoid being poked by it while sipping.
Adult fans wrote hundreds of letters of complaint about the scene. Their children, also Brown fans, were imitating the spoon-bending sequence at home and, thusly, eliminating spoons from their family's utensil drawers. After that, Brown never forgot how potent his film characters were, and having reached top ten box office stardom, the importance of his own place as a role model for youth.
Elmer Remained the Comedian's Favorite Character
Later in life, Brown always chose Elmer as his favorite film character for these three reasons: (1) his director, Mervyn LeRey, was a knowledgeable baseball man who could convey that knowledge on screen; (2) Elmer was Lardner's creation of a touching persona from which comical responses could be created; (3) in his life in and around small town baseball -- Ohio, Indiana, Michigan -- Brown said he had met many real-life Elmers whom he admired for their self-determination and self-belief.
(Resources: Gehring's 2006 biography and Joe E. Brown's autobiography, Laughter is a Wonderful Thing.)
