The Cleveland Indians on Film

It happens every spring. Those four words name both a popular motion picture and a formula for television programmers. Around the first of April every year viewers can see Lou Gehrig’s luck and Ike’s alibis and Stratton’s courage and that secret formula which causes objects to veer away from wood.

Unfortunately, with all the cinematic baseball on display there is scarcely a Cleveland Indian to be seen; not a smoke signal, not a tomahawk, not even a rain dance. They show the Prides of the Yankees and St. Louis and the Winning Team with Angels in the Outfield and The Natural who Bangs a Drum Slowly. The cable stations show re-runs of situation comedies which feature Drysdale, Davis, and Durocher, but not Colavito, Donovan, and McGaha. Everything Baseball lists appearances by Dodger stars of the `60s in every show from Donna Reed to The Munsters; Indian fans are left with Lucy in an Indian uniform (in the bowels of Yankee Stadium with Bob Hope) and former Indian player Luis Tiant being relieved by Mayday Sam Malone during the filming of a beer commercial.

In the thirties and forties animated cartoons featured caricatures of famous stars of the day such as Dizzy Dan (in Boulevardier from the Bronx), Carl Bubble (in Porky’s Baseball Broadcast), and Gabby Hairnet (in Sport Chumpions). Where are Earl Ape-rill, Hal Turkey, and Bob Fowler? The best Indian fans can see is a throw-away gag in The Hardship of Miles Standish when Standish (Elmer Fudd in pilgrim garb) is attacked by Indians, on horseback, in uniform, carrying bats instead of tomahawks. The narrator underlines the gag: these were Cleveland Indians!

Sadly, with two exceptions, sharp-eyed viewers have to look quickly to see Cleveland players in cameos. Bob Feller appears as himself in an old-timers sequence in It’s My Turn; Gene Bearden can be seen in support of Jimmy Stewart in The Stratton Story; and sixties slugger Leon Wagner has parts in The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings and A Woman Under the Influence. Hall of Famer Bob Lemon had a more substantial role as Hall of Famer Jesse Haines in support of Ronald Reagan in The Winning Team and Satchel Paige had a good-sized role in The Wonderful Country. Biographical films were made about Jimmy Piersall (Fear Strikes Out) and Paige (Don’t Look Back), but both films dealt with the time each spent prior to joining the Indians, although the latter ended with Paige pitching in the 1948 World Series. Johnny Beradino had a small part in Don’t Look Back. Beradino (or Berardino) played for Cleveland and other teams in the forties and went to a film career in such films as Marty and in the television series, I Led Three Lives and General Hospital. There must surely be documentary footage of the Tribe available; there are certainly films of the 1948 and 1954 World Series, and many of the television stations show old newsreels which often feature sports highlights. Bob Feller and Mel Harder and Frankie Pytlak and their contemporaries must surely appear in one newsreel or another.

Although the Indians and Tribe players appear in these fringe roles and settings, there are only two films to deal largely with the Indians, Major League and The Kid from Cleveland.

Major League is a recent, popular film, readily available on video cassette so the discussion will be brief. The Indian team portrayed in Major League is fictional. The story, in brief summary, is one of a grasping female owner who wants to move the Indians from Cleveland to Miami. She sets out to exploit a clause in the team’s agreement which gives her permission to relocate the franchise if attendance fails to reach 800,000 a season. To keep attendance down, she hires castoffs as players, including an over-the-hill catcher (Tom Berenger), a “wild” young pitcher who last played in the California Penal League (Charlie Sheen), an egotistical, overpaid infielder (Corbin Bernsen), a brash, young outfielder — Willie Mays Hayes — and a voodoo-practicing slugger. The owner chooses a long-time minor league manager to lead the Tribe into the cellar. Of course, the team pulls together and defeats the Yankees for the pennant.

Major League received mixed reviews; the film had the misfortune to follow Bull Durham and Eight Men Out, two critical favorites. I think that Major League holds its own with these more-acclaimed pictures. David S. Ward’s screenplay is fast and funny with very little of the pretentiousness that mars Bull Durham and none of the solemnity that makes Eight Men Out slow-going at times. The whole cast performs admirably with hilarious performances by James Gammon as the manager and Bob Uecker as the team’s hard-drinking radio announcer. Cleveland viewers will recognize the Hope Memorial Bridge, The Old Stone Church, Public Square and Municipal Stadium under the credits. Several friends have mentioned the sheer joy of the climax when the Tribe wins the pennant and the crowd goes crazy.

If Major League is not a total success, it certainly fares better than The Kid from Cleveland. In Everything Baseball, Bill Veeck states: “I have one unwritten law at home … never allow my kids to mention or see this abortion.” In The Hustler’s Handbook, Veeck adds: “… they still persist in playing (it) on TV in the face of Newton Minow’s sternest warnings.” Lou Boudreau called it “a dog.” In Bruce Dudley’s Distant Drums, Boudreau implicates The Kid from Cleveland in the Tribe’s slow start in the 1949 season:

Outside activities definitely put a cringe to our playing ability. Veeck agreed to make a movie, The Kid from Cleveland, we would be in League Park during the day and consequently on our feet quite a bit doing shots … then at night we’d go to the Stadium and play a night game.

There is little in the cast and credits to indicate that The Kid would be in any way exceptional. The male lead George Brent was definitely on the downside of his career. A decade before, Brent appeared opposite Bette Davis in Jezebel and Dark Victory. As recently as 1946, Brent had the lead in The Spiral Staircase, but Brent was nearing the end. He would make a half-dozen more films before retiring in the early ’50s. Brent played radio commentator Mike Jackson who becomes interested in a young, delinquent boy, Johnny Barrows (player by Rusty Tamblyn a full decade before High School Confidential). Johnny is having family and police troubles when Brent spots the baseball-crazy youth sneaking into the Stadium. Brent and his wife, played by B-picture queen Lynn Bari, befriend the troubled boy, and Brent introduces him to his “30 godfathers”, the Cleveland Indians, who take the boy in hand and lead him down the good path. (At one time during production, the working title of the film was 30 Godfathers, an obvious nod to John Wayne’s 1947 hit, Three Godfathers. The film was also known as The Cleveland Story during production.)

Supporting players included Ann Doran as the boy’s mother and Johnny Bera(r)dino as Mac, a hoodlum who is not pleased with the lad’s rehabilitation. The film was shot largely on location by Republic Studios, best known at the time for Roy Rogers and Gene Autry westerns. In fact, the same issue of Variety which reviews The Kid also reviews Down Dakota Way in which Roy, Dale and Trigger root out hoof-and-mouth disease in Roy Barcroft’s herd. Herbert Kline directed The Kid from Cleveland; even the most dedicated auteurists will have difficulty remembering Kline.

Surprisingly, contemporary reviews were generally favorable. A positive review could be expected from the Plain Dealer’s W. Ward Marsh as the film was shot in Cleveland and had its world premiere at Loew’s Stillman Theater downtown. However, the film received a favorable notice from “Wear” in Variety, the most reliable of the trade journals. “Wear” praised the baseball scenes, Jack Mata’s excellent camera work, and the performance of Bill Veeck in his review of September 7, 1949. (Incidentally, other films reviewed in that issue of Variety in addition to Down Dakota Way, are William Wyler’s The Heiress, for which Olivia deHavilland won an Academy Award, and Carol Reed’s The Third Man with Orson Welles as Harry Lime.) The Film Daily reviewer also liked The Kid from Cleveland, calling it “… a fine story of the big game.” Several reviewers mentioned that it was the first major film shot in Cleveland since False Fronts in the early ’20s.

Despite good notices, The Kid is almost forgotten today by film historians. It is not listed in the comprehensive Halliwell’s Film Guide. Leonard Maltin gives it two stars in TV Movies. Despite the frequent showing of Republic pictures on television, the film has not been shown on Cleveland TV in recent years although the Art Museum presented it in December 1989. Perhaps with the large number of older films available on cable, The Kid from Cleveland may again turn up on the small screen.

There are figures in Cleveland baseball history whose stories would make compelling films: Ray Chapman, Bob Feller, Bill Veeck, Herb Score, and Frank Robinson. Perhaps the success of Major League, Field of Dreams, and Eight Men Out will encourage filmmakers to examine baseball history and bring these stories to the screen.

---

CLEVELAND INDIANS’ FILMOGRAPHY

(Title of film, year of release, studio, director, leading actors, and Indians in film)

The Hardship of Miles Standish; 1940 WB; I. Freleng; Elmer Fudd. Animated Indians in uniform on horseback menace Elmer in this Merrie Melodie often shown on TV at Thanksgiving time.

The Stratton Story; 1948 MGM; Sam Wood; James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorhead. Gene Bearden played himself in the baseball game finale to this inspirational story of Monty Stratton who pitched for the White Sox in the late thirties and lost his right leg in a hunting accident. Bearden also suffered a severe knee injury during the war. The Stratton Story is not yet available on home video, but Ted Turner has colorized it.

The Kid from Cleveland; 1949 Republic; Herbert Kline; George Brent, Lynn Bari, Rusty Tamblyn, Ann Doran; Bill Veeck (owner), Lou Boudreau (manager), Tris Speaker, Hank Greenberg (coaches), Bob Feller, Gene Bearden Satchel Paige, Bob Lemon, Steve Gromek, Joe Gordon, Mickey Vernon, Ken Keltner, Ray Boone, Dale Mitchell, Larry Doby, Bob Kennedy, Jim Hegan (players), Gordon Cobbledick, Ed MacAuley, Franklin Lewis (sportswriters), Bill Summers and Bill Grieve (umpires).

The Winning Team; 1953 WB; Lewis Seiler; Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, Frank Lovejoy, Rusty Tamblyn. Bob Lemon portrays Hall-of-Fame Cardinal pitcher Jesse Haines in support of Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander in this sentimentalized biography. Lovejoy plays manager Rogers Hornsby. Note the presence in the cast of the kid from Cleveland, Rusty Tamblyn.

The Wonderful Country; 1959 UA; Robert Parrish; Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Gary Merrill, Jack Oakie. Satchel Paige portrays Sergeant Sutton in this Robert Mitchum western set along the Texas/Mexico border.

A Woman Under the Influence; 1974 Faces Int’l; John Cassavetes; Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands. Leon Wagner has a small role in this acclaimed domestic drama. Cassavetes’ wife Rowlands was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.

The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings; 1976 Universal; John Badham; James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Stan Shaw. Leon Wagner has a good-sized role as one of the barnstorming ballplayers in this entertaining adaptation of William Brashler’s novel. Available on home video.

It’s My Turn; 1980 Columbia; Claudia Weill; Michael Douglas, Jill Clayburgh, Charles Grodin, Beverly Garland, Steven Hill. Michael Douglas plays a retired Indians player who becomes romantically involved with the daughter of his father’s second wife. Bob Feller appears with Elston Howard, Mickey Mantle, and Roger Maris in Old-Timers’ Day sequence. Available on home video.

Don’t Look Back; 1981 TBA Prod; Richard Colla; Louis Gossett, Jr., Beverly Todd, Cleavon Little, Clifton Davis, Hal Williams, Ernie Barnes, Ossie Davis, John Beradino. Gossett portrays Satchel Paige in this made-for-TV film based on Paige’s Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever. The film follows Paige from his barnstorming days in the ’20s to his successful appearance in the 1948 World Series. Paige appears as himself in the epilogue a year before his death. Negro League greats Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell are played by Barnes and Davis. Note the presence of former teammate Beradino in the cast. Former Indian Bubba Phillips also has a small role. Available on home video.

Major League; 1989 Paramount; David S. Ward; Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Charlie Sheen, Margaret Whitton, Rene Russo, James Gammon, Bob Uecker, Steve Yeager. Available on home video.