Joe E. Brown: He Learned to Clown Through Crying

 Joe E. Brown is probably best remembered today for delivering one of the best punchlines to any comedy. At the end of Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), Jack Lemmon's character (who is disguised as a woman) tries to explain to Joe E. Brown's character why they can't get married. Brown has an answer for each of these reasons brushing them off nonchalantly. Eventually Lemmon takes off his wig and states, "I'm a man." Joe E. Brown just brushes this off by saying, "Nobody's perfect." This joke has been loved by movie audiences for decades and has been referenced countless times. The Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, Banty Raids (1963), even pretty much steals this ending when Foghorn (dressed in female clothes) tells a woman hungry rooster, "but I'm a rooster," and the other rooster ""Like, we can't all be perfect!". 

Yet Some Like It Hot was one of the last films from Joe E. Brown's long and successful movie career that started with Crooks Can't Win (1928). Over the years Joe E. Brown was one of the most popular comedic stars of the silver screen. Though occasionally he would appear in a high-profile movie like Warner Brothers' lavish A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), the majority of his filmography consisted of what were known as "programers." This is to say cheap and quick little productions that were made to fill out space in movie theaters. Yet Brown's charm made these quick little pictures not only box office successes but also still fun watches today. It is sad that Brown rarely gets mentioned among the great movie comedians. His career certainly deserves a revaluation from cinephiles as even his weakest films have something to enjoy about them. 

Here is an article about Joe E. Btown from a 1933 issue of Movie Mirror magazine. If you have any trouble reading the following pages, click on them and use your touch screen to zoom in. If you don't have a touch screen, click here. 

Joe E. Brown's Real-Life Story

 Best known today for his role as Osgood Fielding III in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), where he delivered the famous ending line "Well, nobody's perfect, Joe E. Brown had actually been one of the most popular movie comedians of the 1930's. He was especially popular in small towns, where his self-assured and boastful but good-hearted character resonated with audiences. Between 1933 and 1936, Brown was named one of the top 10 money makers in the movies. Though Brown occasionally appeared in great movies, most of his films were programmers. This is to say films that were meant to be a pleasant part of the movie program with no pretentions about being anything more. These movies were quite successful at being just this and most of them are still entertaining today. 

Here is a 1930 article from Screenland magazine that provides us with "Joe E. Brown's Real-Life Story." If you have trouble reading it click on any of the pages below and use your touch screen to zoom in. If you don't have a touch screen, click here. 

Here is Joe E. Brown on a 1954 episode of TV's This is Your Life.