Bruce Campbell Adamson PO Box 1003 Aptos, CA 95001-1003

The Prizefighter and the Lady 1933 vs. Cindrella Man, as a Film 2005

Through my 11th great grandfather I am descended from the Howard's of England a very distinguished family and yet Howard and myself may be related. I do not know Ron Howard's family genealogy. Ron Howard is a natural in front and a natural behind the camera. I wish I had his talents and experience. Recently I watched the Prizefighter and the Lady and since I thought it was superior film than Cindrella Man, I am bring up the issue here. In the 1930s Howard focused in on Baer negatively, yet the film overlooks Baer's positive stance as a fighter against Facisim. Beating Germany's Schilling and Mussolini's mascot Primo Carnera. This is where my grievance lies. While watching this film I recognized Baer as a man standing with my uncle who both fought racial prejudice, Facisim. Had I not seen the film I would never had known about Max Baer Sr. Baer was not a phony, he was the real McCoy.

It seems that Ron Howard feels that his view on Max Baer Sr.'s reputation can be smeared because he killed two people in the ring. I watched Ron Howard on Jay Leno and got the impression from him that because of that fact it was alright to smear Max Baer's reputation. If Baer had done this out of malice I would have said Howard was right. Yet, Baer did not mean to kill them, he was just a great fighter. Howard makes Crowe into a Champion actor even though Crowe has been wrestling with women in a drunken state on cruise ships. And even though he knows or ought to know that Crowe has been in the past few years drunk and in fights in New York City, London and Santa Monica. the New York Police told him not to come back. This is how he promotes his film Cindrella Man. No one wants to talk about how a lady pinned him to the ground on a Cruise Ship just a few years ago.

Click here for Russell Crowe was beating up a crew mate on a ship while drunk and a full nelson from a colunist's daughter Chris Sobran who pins him to the ground in a Full Nelson.

American society glorifies Boxing as a sport. Mohamed Ali has been given the red carpet treatment as man and as a boxer who was also very much like Max Baer. Should we punished the boxers like Joe Frazier who pounded Ali in the head? If the public promotes fighting and someone get's hurt, whose fault is it?

Baer did not, that I know of beat up or fight with people in bars like Russell Crowe does. It shows me that Max Baer was a great boxer and Max Baer, Jr. has said his father always felt terrible about the death of Frank Campbell and other other man. What if Russell Crowe, who is wrestling with women while being drunk killed someone? He is not setting the proper example to our public by being thrown out of bars regularly. Is Russell Crowe a good actor, yes. But just as sport figures are being held accountable for their actions off the field, Crowe should be held accountable off the screen and if he can't act like a gentleman in bars.

Then why should we respect his portrayal as Jimmy Braddock? Was Braddock a great man, I do not claim to know his life history, I am sure he was. We all have faults, yet we are all good at something. Max Baer was much much better than Ron Howard had Baer portrayed by Crowe on screen. My case lays with the film The Prizefighter and the Lady, 1933. You've got to see it to compare the characters in question and to have an-in-camera opinion as to the point being made here. Myself I am not a boxing fan. I can not stop the sport myself, if American's want it around.

APRIL 6 Thursday----6:30 AM PACIFIC TIME; Prizefighter And The Lady, The (1933) A boxing champion falls for a gangster's moll. Cast: Myrna; Loy, Max Baer, Walter Huston. Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II. BW-102 mins,

To Whom It May Concern:

Recently you picked one of your favorite films "THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY, 1933 with MAX BAER.

I watched the film "Cindrella Man" and was totally disgusted with the way they portrayed Max Baer as a boxer and a man. Why doesn't Turner Entiretainment broadcase THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY and promo it during the week of the ACADEMY AWARDS or a week BEFORE?

Sincerely,

Bruce Campbell Adamson, P.O. Box 1003, Aptos, CA, 95001
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Dear Viewer,

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ANSWER:
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To Turner Classic Movies:

Re: The Cindrella Man vs. The Prizefighter and Lady: who should eat Crow?

Russell Crowe has been thrown out of bars for being drunk in public and has the reputation portrayed by Max Baer in Ron Howard's film The Cindrella Man. I am surprised at Howard's attack on Baer Sr.. Howard
overlooked an important character trait of Baer's, one who fought Facism, not just as a boxer, but as a person.

Russell Crowe's reputation is well known and is itemized with photographs on the internet. It is my belief that the American public should have the opportunity to view The Prizefighter and the Lady or have it re-released. I am sure Max Baer, Jr. would contribute to the cost and promotion of this film.

Only by viewing this film does the public get to see the Great man that Max Baer was. Just like Mohamed Ali's (Cassius Clay) character is preserved on film. For many to witness in future generations. Having shook the hand of Ali about 15 years ago he is very much like that of Max Baer Sr.

If the American public does not focus on the Greatest of Baer, Sr. then they are being brainwashed and getting a onesided opinion. Since Turner owns the film rights I would think it would be worthy of showing the film and promoting it on Turner Classic Movies before the Academy Awards.

Let me thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Bruce Campbell Adamson
P.O. Box 1003, Aptos, CA, 95001
bca@got.net --

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I wrote this letter because I feel that others should have the opportunity to see this film and make their own judgment on Max Baer.

Robert Osborne of Turner Entertainment has a favorite film in which Max Baer starred with Myrna Loy The Prizefighter and the Lady 1933. I have to agree with Osborne, this is truly one of the best films I have watched. It was not acting but REAL people who carried the show. Max Baer was subperb, not as an actor, but as a real person. Max Bear's trainer was Jack Dempsey a good friend of John Barrymore. Baer fought racial discrimination and to me was a great inspiration and not a cruel man! Jimmy McHugh composed the song Lucky Fella with Dorothy Fields writing the lyrics for The Prizerfighter & the Lady. Harold Adamson and McHugh would later become songwriting partners writing such hits as Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer for World War II. Baer did not shrink from performing the song he danced for seventeen minutes. He was GREAT showing a much more talented man with charisma that shouldn't have been dejected! Shame on you Ronny Howard. I will definitely have to tell Andy about this. It is like me stating that Ronny Howard and Russell Crowe are working for MI6 and the CIA.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO CROW- BEAR

It was Baer's son Max Jr. who played Jethro in the Beverly Hillbillies. I did not know this and only now can I see the resemblence between father and son. Uncle Harold wrote songs for Buddy Epsen in 1934 in the film With a Banjo on my Knee and Buddy was then too a "Hillbillie." Ironically my dad Douglas took Buddy Epsen (Beverly Hillbilly fame) out to show him homes in the Beverly Hills and Bel Air areas during the 1950s. Max Baer, whose grandfather was Jewish, is the only Jewish man to win the heavyweight boxing World Championship (as a genealogist one eighth). I have to agree with Mr. Osborne this was a great film and I thought much higher of Max Baer after watching it.

I strongly recommend watching the 1933 film Prizefighter and the Lady. See what a real farm boy can do, Baer conquered the world! The energy that Baer displayed in The Prizefighter and the Lady out weighs The Cinderella Man is tenfold. This film is owned by Turner Classic Movies. Extremely real and it had day light in it, unlike Cindrella Man which seemed to be entirely darken surroundings.

I would have to say that Ron Howard's film has great photography and is in color. I watched it on T.V. and not being on a big screen which could explained why everything looked so darken. I would have to do homework on Jimmy Braddock's career. He could have been a great guy and caught Baer on a lousy night. I was just so impressed how Jack Dempsey coached Baer and how he fought Primo Carnera and studied his style. Carnera had no idea that Dempsey and Baer were studying him for a fight next year. Greatest Coup on earth! That is what really impressed me and Max Baer's personality was just like Jethro's on the Beverly Hillbillies. He was terrific. Robert Osborne who is the top honcho at Turner Classic Films picked this film as his favorite. I would say it is near the top.

I think that Howard's film ignored the importance of Jack Dempsey's talent in training Baer. Lastly I would emphasize that Germany was racially at war with the Jewish race and what I saw in the 1933 shows Baer as a great man who had beaten Germany's Ron Schilling. Photograph of Harold Adamson, Max Baer and Jimmy McHugh circa 1933-34, taken by grandfather James Adamson, also a boxer from England standing in at 6'4". In 1934 when Max Baer Sr. won the World Championship from Primo Carnera, he knocked him down 11 or 12 times. That same year Harold wrote songs for Palooka, staring Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Stuart Erwin, Mary Carlisle, and William Cagney (brother of Jim). Lupe Velez was excellent in this film. It was a light beat comedy. This is most likely when the photograph was taken. Max Baer, Sr. and Harold bought fought facisim in Harold's case he had polio in his hand and Baer made up the difference. Point ignored by Ron Howard.

I do not believe that if it was true that Max Baer should have said the things shown during the fight. I could assume he had a bad night the night before. I do believe Russell Crowe did a good job of acting as Jimmie Braddock. Compare the cast below of the Prizefighter and the Lady, 1933 and today's Cindrella Man 2005. In Howard's film Braddock's coach gave me a headache, yet was good.

Regarding my uncle who had polio in his hand, during World War II with Jimmy McHugh literally proved that the pen was mighty than the sword (Gladiator). McHugh's music and Hal's lyrics were being sung all over the world by the Army Air Corps and Navy in such hits as "Coming in on A Wing and a Prayer," "Buy a Bond" and many other World War II songs for the film industry. As for Renee I thought she did a good job as the wife of a boxer, but enjoyed her ten times more, in the film Cold Mountain. Do not get me wrong Cindrella Man was a better story line than Cold Mountain, yet in that film Renee Z. had so much more energy and was full of LIGHT and carried that film. All I can say is compare both films and you decide who is the Real McCoy. I believe that Max Baer was superior, because he played himself and as a Boxer. He did not hide behind the darkness of the camera to project a false image. Jack Dempesy thought the world of Baer and so does Robert Osborne! You've got to see The Prizefighter and the Lady, 1933. Black and White, yes! but much better than Cinderella Man.

In one of Renee's latest films Baer was not positively featured with Jim "Cinderella Man" Braddock film. In comparing the films Max Baer in The Prizefighter and the Lady, 1933 to the real life Russell Crowe. Crowe does not hold a candle to the man Max Baer. Hollywood can dim the lights and today use special effects, but in the end real people stand out. I personally consider it offensive, since Russell Crowe was thrown out of a bar in Santa Monica for being drunk. He recently had problems in New York City and with the Police. Why does Ronny Howard pick actors who protray in real life the life style he is claiming Max Baer had? Max Baer was a great father and turned out a great son who gave us, to me more laughs than that of the Andy Griffith Show. Of course I love Don Knotts. While Ron Howard behaves himself on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica having coffee and working hard on his projects, the man Howard picked Russell Crowe is acting badly in public and getting into trouble in New York and other places. Just as if Howard portrayed Crowe in place of Baer on screen. Is this the kind of behavior America supports? A foriegner at that? If so, we are in big trouble. To me watching the film it seemed as if someone had an axe to grind with Max Baer Sr. or Jr. I do not know Jimmy Braddock so I cannot badmouth him. Through my 11th great grandfather I am descended from the Howard's of England a very distinguished family. I do not know Ronny Howard's family genealogy.

On March 13, 2005, Russell Crow is arrested in his controversial role as a neo-Nazi in Austrailian film Romper Stomper. He thought his character was "aborrent."

Click here for Photograph Russell Crowe's arrests in New York for hitting man with telephone.

Click here for Russell Crowe pleads guilty.

Click here for Russell Crowe was beating up a crew mate on a ship while drunk and a full nelson from a colunist's daughter Chris Sobran who pins him to the ground..

Click here for Russell Crowe gets into fight in Knightsbridge bral November 13, 2002 when he slugs tycoon. Tycoon fires back and has photographs..

In This Corner We Have the Cast for The Cindrella Man 2005:

NEPTOTISM : Note that two other Howard's are associated with this film, Clint his brother and father Rance Howard *.

Russell Crowe - Jim Braddock
Renée Zellweger - Mae Braddock -- LOVED RENEE in COLD MOUNTAIN She Carried that film.
Paul Giamatti - Joe Gould
Craig Bierko - Max Baer
Paddy Considine - Mike Wilson
Bruce McGill - Jimmy Johnston
Ron Canada - Joe Jeanette
David Huband - Ford Bond
Connor Price - Jay Braddock
Ariel Waller - Rosemarie Braddock
Patrick Louis - Howard Braddock
Rosemarie DeWitt - Sara
Linda Kash - Lucille Gould
Nicholas Campbell - Sporty Lewis
Gene Pyrz - Jake

* "Those cynics who believe that Rance Howard forced his son into acting in order to create a meal ticket are referred to a well-known anecdote concerning the earliest years of the Griffith program. Little Ron decided to test his value by throwing a temper tantrum -- whereupon Rance took the boy aside, gave him a spanking, and told his son that if he didn't want to act like a professional he'd have to go home and forget about acting. While Rance certainly did not rely on Ron's fame alone to get work (he remained a busy stage actor), it is true that Ron recommended his dad for supporting roles in such films as The Music Man (1962) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both of which featured the younger Howard. When child star Ronny Howard became A-list film director Ron Howard in the '80s he continued casting both dad Rance and younger brother Clint Howard in Splash (1984) and other films. Rance Howard remained a reliable general purpose actor into the '90s, appearing most recently in Tim Burton's 1994 biopic Ed Wood." Hal Erickson -- all movie.com

And in this Corner we Have The Prizefighter and the Lady - 1933:

Myrna Loy - Belle Morgan
Max Baer - Steve Morgan
Primo Carnera - Himself
Jack Dempsey - Referee
Walter Huston - "Professor" Edwin J. Bennett -- A favorite of mine
Otto Kruger - Willie Ryan
Vince Barnett - Bugsie
Robert McWade - Adopted Son
Muriel Evans - Linda
Jean Howard - Show Girl
Morgan Wallace - Mr. Black
Jess Willard - Himself
Harry Woods
Ed "Strangler" Lewis - Himself
Arthur Hoyt
Harry C. Bradley
Garry Owen - Jake
James J. Jeffries - Himself
Matt McHugh

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W.S. Van Dyke - Director
Hunt Stromberg - Producer
John Lee Mahin - Screenwriter
Frances Marion - Screenwriter
John Meehan - Screenwriter
Lester White - Cinematographer