Max Baer Sr.

[ST Moron]

To avoid any confusion: no, I'm not talking about "Jethro" from The Beverly Hillbillies: I'm talking about his boxer/actor dad .

I guess the reason I bring him up is because he seemed like such a fun guy. Which I guess makes his last words ("Oh God, here I go.") all the more troubling to me.

What I mean is: I get the impression that they were uttered in a desperate, anxiety-filled way...rather than in a joyful "Yee-hah! I'm making the Big Jump!"-sort of way.

Still, he was only 50 when he died, so he might well have felt he had some living left to do.

Has anyone else followed (or at least heard of) him? Wherever he is, I hope he's found peace.

[JeffD]

He was one heck of a fighter, killing 2 men in the ring. I read he financially supported his dead opponents families, even putting their kids through college.

He was also chronicled in the fantastic boxing movie "Cinderella Man" as the nemesis of James Braddock. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352248/plotsummary

I heard Jr on the radio one morning in an interview. He started a fight in the backyard with his champion father, smacking him in the face. Sr then circled him like a cat and knocked son out. Sr then stands over Jr and asks "are you all right"...lol!!

Oh, and btw, he was jewish. Who says jews can't fight.

[Ron Burgundy]

I have been a HUGE fight fan since I was 6 years old.


Max only killed one man in the ring....Frankie Campbell.

The other man, Ernie Schaff, died after being KO'd by Primo Carnera. Schaff had fought Baer some months before, and the common consensus is that he passed away as the result of injuries suffered in his fight with Baer. No one will ever know for sure.....but Schaff was found in the autopsy to be suffering from meningitis.

Baer had suffered minor heart attacks leading up to the big one, including one minutes before he died. He was shaving in his room at the Roosevelt Hotel when he suffered an attack. He phoned down to have the hotel physician come up to check him out. Within minutes, his chest pains subsided, and he seemed recovered.

However, soon after, he had a second attack, this one worse than the first. He must have known this one would do him in, hence his final words.

Oh, Baer's father was half-Jewish, half-German, his mother Scotch-Irish. So Baer was only one quarter Jew....at best. But he did use it to his advantage at times, like wearing the Star of David on his trunks when fighting Max Schmeling, a German with supposed ties to Hitler....which were actually false.

[AlicePearceandSandraGould]

One quarter Jew....how about one quarter Jewish...?

[Ron Burgundy]

One quarter Jew....how about one quarter Jewish...?

Whichever you prefer. I have many friends who are Jewish, and about half say it one way, the other half...the other way. YMMV.

[Schmermie]

One quarter Jew....how about one quarter Jewish...?

Semantics lesson for today:

No such thing as "half-Jewish" or "quarter-Jewish" as Judaism is a faith, not an ancestral heritage. You would never refer to someone as "half-Christian" or "half-Muslim"...you're either in or you're out when it comes to believing in a higher power. No halvsies...

Anyone can be Jewish...Sammy Davis converted to Judaism and certainly did not look anything like what someone might conjure up in their mind as "looking Jewish", right?

Good way to remember this is that Jesus raised in the Jewish faith, Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem, thus He is of Israeli descent.

Sorry...that one just always irks me.

[MissieMaam]

A few years ago, I found some autographed photos of Baer and "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom -- they used to tour together in a nightclub act. Great pix -- they looked really happy and like really nice guys.

[Nik]

Now, Schmermie, I disagree.

I consider myself half Jewish. I'm talking more about the Jewish culture than the faith, because I celebrate holidays with that half of my family, and I hold dear the culture of the faith, but do not consider myself religiously Jewish.

[KELT]

[SIZE=4]T[/SIZE]he other thing that I recall about MAX BAER SR. is that while he was married, he had a hot affair with JEAN HARLOW and when his first wife divorced him, she listed HARLOW as 'correspondant'.

[johnny]

In the boxing movie, The Harder They Fall, loosely built around the Primo Canero story Max Baer plays a boxer that kills another boxer and is set to go against the Primo Canero character in the ring. So basically Baer was playing himself.
Stars Humphrey Bogart in one of his last films.

[onehunglow]

His Brother Buddy was huge. I think 6'9'' and a real brawler. He didn't have the heart to really unload and hurt somone. Burt Sugar said he could have been the most dangerous fighter of all time. He was too kind hearted like Max Sr. I've watched his old fights. He was a monster.

[Daphne]

Your freakin kidding, this is Jethros real life dad? WOW.. I had no idea there was history there, thanks for sharing the info!

[John Trim]

His Brother Buddy was huge. I think 6'9'' and a real brawler. He didn't have the heart to really unload and hurt somone. Burt Sugar said he could have been the most dangerous fighter of all time. He was too kind hearted like Max Sr. I've watched his old fights. He was a monster.

By all accounts I've heard Max(Jethro)Jr. is a major a**hole. Go figure.

[stinkythejokedog]

One quarter Jew....how about one quarter Jewish...?

or how bout three quarter Goyem

[onehunglow]

By all accounts I've heard Max(Jethro)Jr. is a major a**hole. Go figure.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/section/NEWS


Do a search on him. Asshole don't even come close.

[KCBee]

Semantics lesson for today:

No such thing as "half-Jewish" or "quarter-Jewish" as Judaism is a faith, not an ancestral heritage. You would never refer to someone as "half-Christian" or "half-Muslim"...you're either in or you're out when it comes to believing in a higher power. No halvsies...

Anyone can be Jewish...Sammy Davis converted to Judaism and certainly did not look anything like what someone might conjure up in their mind as "looking Jewish", right?

Good way to remember this is that Jesus raised in the Jewish faith, Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem, thus He is of Israeli descent.

Sorry...that one just always irks me.

Although individuals can convert, you technically are not Jewish unless you are born of a Jewish mother. If you are born of a Jewish mother, regardless of your father, you are considered "full-blooded".

[johnny]

here is something rare: Lou Costello interviewing Max Baer after a fight against Two Ton Tony Galento. What's interesting is that Joe Louis is also on hand. It's fun to watch the interaction between Max and Joe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9bdloBRGk

in 1935 or so, Joe Louis beat Max Baer. The Two Ton Tony was a boxer who was like 5'6 but 235 lbs. Louis had beaten him and then Baer beat him.
Two Ton Tony was a bit of a loudmouth so both Louis and Baer seemed to relish putting Two Ton in his place.

From IMDB, this might give you some background as to why Louis is happy about Two Ton going down.
"Galento, a dirty fighter who would deliberately head-butt, gouge, low-blow, and elbow his opponents, was one of the toughest men ever to box professionally. Defeating Lou Nova, Al Ettore, and Nathan Mann on his way to a shot at the heavyweight title, he was the most famous member of "The Brown Bomber" Joe Louis' "Bum of the Month Club." The underdog Galento earned fistic immortality when he sent Louis to the canvas in the second round of their title bout. Louis admitted that he might have been the toughest man he ever met in the ring.

Blessed with a lethal left hook, a roundhouse punch that could stagger the world's best boxers, Galento began his climb up the heavyweight division in 1928, a time when pro fighters fought almost every month. He was notorious for his street-fighting style that flaunted the rules and often led to fouls. But it was as a clown that Galento would achieve immortality, and it was a style he perfected early on.

On one night in Detroit in 1931, Tony took on three opponents and K.O.ed them all, drinking beer between rounds. Ten minutes before a 1932 fight with Arthur DeKuh, he took on a $10 bet that he could consume 50 hot dogs. He won the bet, and then the fight in four rounds.

The 5-foot-9 brawler, who sported a fighting weight of 235 to 240 lbs., resembled an ambulatory beer barrel, according to one sports reporter. A bar-owner, Tony made much of his lack of training, which might consist of him posing for photographers quaffing down a brew at his bar, or wrestling with a rubber car tire suspended from a tree that had been a child`s swing before Tony picked it as a sparring partner. Tony was a fat clown, and proud of it.

"Nobody really liked him except maybe the guys who hung out in his saloon," his corner man, Ray Arcel, admitted . "He was a crude guy, to put it mildly, who would resort to all sorts of foul tactics to win a fight."

Joe Louis, who eventually became friends with him, said that he hated the uncouth Galento because of his insults and race baiting, a crude psychology that Two-Ton Tony used to unsettle the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Tony was interviewed by a reporter before his title fight with Louis:

Reporter: Tony, what do you think your chances are against Joe Louis? Galento: Joe who? Reporter: Joe Louis. Galento: I never hoid of da bum.

While the Galento persona was popular among the people and helped hype the fight, Louis was offended by the lack of respect. The Champ, a fighter who hated clowning in the ring, had his pride further bruised in the second round, when Tony sent him to the canvass for a two-count. The crowd and press were stunned."

[neilmpenny]

Oh, Baer's father was half-Jewish, half-German, his mother Scotch-Irish. So Baer was only one quarter Jew....at best. But he did use it to his advantage at times, like wearing the Star of David on his trunks when fighting Max Schmeling, a German with supposed ties to Hitler....which were actually false.

Goebbels and Hitler wanted to use Schmeling for propaganda purposes. He didn't go along with it, and in the end they got so frustrated with him, he was conscripted to an elite parachute regiment.

[neilmpenny]

Semantics lesson for today:

No such thing as "half-Jewish" or "quarter-Jewish" as Judaism is a faith, not an ancestral heritage. You would never refer to someone as "half-Christian" or "half-Muslim"...you're either in or you're out when it comes to believing in a higher power. No halvsies...

Anyone can be Jewish...Sammy Davis converted to Judaism and certainly did not look anything like what someone might conjure up in their mind as "looking Jewish", right?

Good way to remember this is that Jesus raised in the Jewish faith, Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem, thus He is of Israeli descent.

Sorry...that one just always irks me.

Although individuals can convert, you technically are not Jewish unless you are born of a Jewish mother. If you are born of a Jewish mother, regardless of your father, you are considered "full-blooded".

Thanks for the lessons. I often wondered.

[Morto]

Max Baer lived in Sacramento for many years and in those days he was quite a personality locally.He had a piano bar down town that was very popular.

[suzycreamcheese1]

Semantics lesson for today:

No such thing as "half-Jewish" or "quarter-Jewish" as Judaism is a faith, not an ancestral heritage. You would never refer to someone as "half-Christian" or "half-Muslim"...you're either in or you're out when it comes to believing in a higher power. No halvsies...

Anyone can be Jewish...Sammy Davis converted to Judaism and certainly did not look anything like what someone might conjure up in their mind as "looking Jewish", right?

Good way to remember this is that Jesus raised in the Jewish faith, Jesus was a Jew, born in Bethlehem, thus He is of Israeli descent.

Sorry...that one just always irks me.

Thank you! Well said!