Evening star., 1942-02-12

make movie. He is George Herman
Ruth, better known as Babe" THE
Babe" 1.-THE Bambino" and The
King Of Swat"
He is here to play prominent
role in the picture that Samuel
Goldwyn will make Of the life OF
Lou Gehrig. AS rule actors do
not excite me and can truthfully
say I would not cross the street
(even with a green light) to see most
Of them play volley ball with a
lemon meringue pie.
But went to the train to meet
The Babe. So did hundreds Of blase
Hollywoodians, who are so accus-
toned to celebrated thespians that
the sight Of a pair Of dark glasses
makes them shudder.
The Babe did not disappoint the
crowd. He stepped of the train
wearing polo coat that, judging
from its size was cut from a real
polo field, and a camel's hair cap
Of such vast proportions that it
could cross and recross any desert
without drink Of water. In simply
directing the porter what to do with
his luggage he displayed mixture
Of the best qualities Of Rooney,
Tracy, Colman. Hope and Hardy.
II *x
You will never guess the role he Is
going to play in the picture. There
was talk at first of casting him in
the role of the Yankee Stadium
itself, but recent illness cost him
80 or 40 pounds and now he is not
quite large enough to portray that
mammoth pile of steel and concrete.
He could play the main grandstand
and mezzanine all right. but he isn't
quite up to serving as the bleachers,
too. So he is going to play Babe
Ruth.
This is a role In which he can't
miss. He has played it for going
on so years. All his life he has been
The Babe. Nothing else. Hundreds
Of people have tried to make him
change, but he heard them not. He
was The Babe eating IS hamburgers
at a single standing. He was The
Babe hitting the ball. He was The
Babe morning, noon and night, and
wealth and fame changed him not.
No living actor ever gave a per-
formance that matched the Babes
during the big baseball show that
was the 1882 World Series. You re-
member that one in which the Babe,
angered by the taunts of the Chi
cago players, halted the proceedings
while at bat and, with a wave of his
hand indicated to the Cubs and the
$4,000 customers in the stands, what
he intended to do with Charlie
Roots next picth.
He pointed to the far-away stands.
1t was q tremendous moment. Here
was an actor writing his own lines.
Here was an actor halting a drama
to improve upon script with ad
Ibis. Here was the finest moment
IN a great show that is sports.
George Herman Ruth didn't fail.
He caught Roots pitch, fast one
that cut across the letters of his
shirt, and he hit it so. hard that it
is rolling yet.
Ruth is not new to motion pic
lures. Away back in 1926 he starred
in drama with Anna @. Nilsson (if
that's the way you spell it, titled
The Babe Comes Home" The big
scene in that mighty spectacle, If
my memory is not up to some knav-
cry, was when the Babe tried to kill
a mouse that was frightening Miss
Nelson Qet's try spelling it that
way. He never got the mouse, as
I recall it, but he wrecked the apart
ment building in the chase. His
display of emotions in that psrticu-
lar scene ran the gamut from q
(ArliSs) to (zazu Pitts.
That was a silent movie. The
Babes only trouble in his new ven-
ture (and it's a minor one) will be
to remember his lines. He is ele-
phantine but his memory isn't. To
him every one is kid" When he
left the Yankees he still didn't know
the name of the second baseman or
catcher or the shortstop. They
were kid" to him.
But Mr.. Goldwyn probably won't
hold this against him. After all,
Mr.. Goldwyn. when some one men,
toned the manager who ran the
Yankees when Ruth was in his
prime, said, Muller Higgins?
knew him we'll"
distributed by McNsught Syndicate. 1nc)