TCM's March Star of the Month: Joe E. Brown

Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month for March is Joe E. Brown. Today many people haven't heard of Joe E. Brown and classic movie buffs know him best from his supporting role in Some Like It Hot (1959), but in the 1930s and 1940s he was among the most popular comedic actors in the world. In fact, in the years 1932, 1935, and 1936 Mr. Brown ranked in the Motion Picture Herald's Top Ten Money Making Stars poll.

Every Wednesday night in March, TCM viewers will have a chance to familiarise themselves with Joe E. Brown's career. His turn as Star of the Month begins on March 4 with The Circus Clown (1934) at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central. That night TCM also shows The Tenderfoot (1932), Bright Lights (1935), Pin-Up Girl (1944), On with the Show (1929), Sally (1930), and Show Boat (1951). It continues on March 11 with Fireman Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933). At 9:45 PM that night TCM is showing one of Mr. Brown's most popular movies, Alibi Ike (1935). Joe E. Brown stars as the baseball player of the title, who makes so many excuses for his various actions that he is called "Alibi Ike." The movie features Olivia de Havilland as his love interest in an early role. It is followed by Local Boy Makes Good (1931), 6 Day Bike Rider (1934), You Said A Mouthful (1932), Top Speed (1930), and Eleven Men and a Girl (1930).

On March 18 Shut My Big Mouth (1942) and Beware Spooks (1939)  are scheduled. On March 27. They are followed by one of Joe E. Brown's most popular films, Earthworm Tractors (1936), in which he plays a tractor salesmen. It is followed by The Daring Young Man (1942), Son O' Guns (1935), Son of a Sailor (1933), Going Wild (1931), and A Very Honorable Guy (1934). Joe E. Brown's final night as Star of the Month, March 25, sees TCM air Some Like It Hot (1959), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), The Comedy of Terrors (1964), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Despite the sheer number of Joe E. Brown movies airing on TCM in March, I did notice one huge omission. For whatever reason Turner Classic Movies is not showing The Gladiator (1938). The Gladiator is one of Joe E. Brown's funniest comedies, as well as one of his better known ones. In the movie Joe E. Brown plays an ordinary, middle-aged man who returns to college and is then given a drug that turns him into the strongest man in the world. It might surprise many that the movie is very loosely based on a novel that served as one of the inspirations for the character of Superman, Philip Wylie's Gladiator. While Gladiator is a very serious novel, The Gladiator is a thoroughly madcap comedy. I really wish TCM would show The Gladiator, not simply out of historical interest, but because it is one of Joe E. Brown's finest films.

Today Joe E. Brown is best known for Some Like It Hot, but he did so much more. March will be a chance for TCM viewers to learn about one of the most popular comedic actors of the Thirties and Forties.