Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-07-05
BY WADE

HOLLYWOOD, Cal. R)-Said the
interviewer to the tramp:
TO what, sir, do you attribute
your SUGGEST"
Said the tramp:
TO hard work and plenty Of it,"
They still call Jim Tully the hobo
novelist, for he rode the brake-beams
in many a state before he became
famous for his depletion Of the vaga-
bond side Of American life. At times.
however, he worked; worked hard
enough and consistently enough TO
learn the trade Of chain-making.
II was an ironic turn in his life.
this application 10 the art of making
chains. For chains were Tully's
heritage. Poverty and loneliness
shackled his childhood and chains
Of adversely weighted him wherey-
er he turned 10 climb.
Born poor, he went TO an orphan
age when his mother died. He was
five theE-"just another freckle-
faced kid that nobody ever came 10
see" he recalls, but the best altar
boy they ever had"
Loneliness ate into his spirit in
those days. de felt keenly and re-
sented his utter unimportance dur
ing the years be was growing from
small boyhood toward adolescence.
i came out of it with a great Bit
terness," he says.
Away from the o~rphanage. work
ing for his board on q farm, the Bit
terness grew. Being older, he ran
away and began his apprenticeship
IN vagabondage.
AND later, when he turned TO learn
ing a trade, il was the forging of
chains that occupied him. lie still
has a card in the ch~sin-makers' union
and likes 70 talk Of old days in the
chain shop.
Its a great art, this making OF
chains" he says. Men must make
them, and by hand, just as they made
them long ago. Machines cant tame
the red-hot links and do IL well. And
it's no job for weaklings or the half
hearted. A fiye-p0und sledge was the
smallest hammer we used. A man
had 10 hit hard and learn where TO
hit, and he had to learn young"
To his first typewriter, built like
a bsttleship, Tully brought the
scorehed and ealloused hands Of a
chain-maker. He smote the keys
with sledgehammer fingers; beat
out laborious paragraphs with the pa
thence Of a hemmer-wielder who has
helped to make anchor-chain for
dreadnaughts.
Eight years it took me to write
my first novel," he relates. Eight
years. 1t mas hard labor, but l
learned a lot in the writing Of that
book. Others came easier. Beg
gars Of Life | wrote in two months"
Tuliy often is called "the most
hated man in Hollywood" 1t has
been said that when he walks into
a room full of picture players the
picture people walk out. This al
legged feeling against him is ascribed
70 his depletion of Hollywood char
acters in ~"Jarnegan" and to his pub
lished interviews with stars.
For Tully is blunt with a chain
shop bluntness. To paraphrase one
of his own expressions, the smallest
hammer he uses is a five-pound
sle6ge.
Tully also was a fighter in the
days before his books brought him
money. and he learned no velvet
touch in the prize-ring.
However, one need not fear that
this stocky, red-headed ex-chain-
maker ever will starve in Holly.
wood. II is not the people Holly.
wood hates but the people Holly
wood forgets who need pity here.
Just at present a producer whC
hated Tully well enough 70 pay
handsomely for the screen rights tc
"Beggars Of Life" is paying him ar
additional $500 a week 10 collabo
rate with the director during tbs
filming Of Il.
Such collaboration Tully does not
regard as work. II don't argue with
the director" he explains. writ.
ing the book was my job; filming il
is his"
For what he has achieved in his
writing. however, the hobo novel.
list" wants full credit.
1T wasn't luck nor genius" NJ