Cinderella Man Homework Questions

Transcription

1 CINDERELLA MAN

2 Cinderella Man Homework Questions 1. In 1928 what is the financial situation of the Braddock Family? 2. How does that change by 1933? Describe what the conditions are like for the Braddock Family. 3. What do the kids use for toys and playground equipment? 4. What does Jay do to get in trouble? What does Jim make him do? 5. What is Jim s promise to Jay? 6. What is the result of Braddock s boxing match vs. Abe Feldman? 7. What does Jim do to cover up his injury? 8. How did Jim lose all his money? 9. What gets shut off at the Braddock s house? 10. Who gets sick? 11. What does Mae do that upsets Jim? 12. What 2 things does Jim do in reaction to Mae s decision? 13. Why do you think the woman says, I never thought I d see you here, Jim? 14. Why do you think it is so difficult for Jim to ask for help? 2

3 15. What did Jim have to sacrifice to get his family back? 16. Why does Jim get to fight? How much money can Jim make from the griffin fight? 17. After the fight how much money does Braddock have? 18. Why does Joe pretend to have money? 19. Who does Braddock fight next? 20. Who s next after that? 21. What does Jim do at the relief office? 22. Why do you think he does that? 23. What is a Hooverville? 24. What happened to Mike? 25. What does Mrs. Braddock find out about Max Baer? 26. What is the first thing Jim will do if he wins the title? 27. How does Braddock explain his comeback? (3 things) 28. How does Mae feel about Jim fighting Baer, what does she want him to do? 29. What date is the big fight? 30. When Mae goes to the church to pray for Jim, what does she find? 3

4 31. Who visits Jim right before the fight? What do they say to him? 32. What is the result of the Baer fight? 4

5 CINDERELLA MAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION Name 1. List some of the negative situations that existed for the Braddock family: A. B. C. D. 2. Would you be willing to keep your family together, if your children had no heat in winter? Explain. 3. Why do you think many men left their families during this time? 4. What would you be willing to do to save your family? Would you break the law? 5. Why do you think it was so difficult for Jim Braddock to go on relief? 5

6 James J. Braddock: The Man (from James J. Braddock was born on June 7th, 1905, to Irish immigrant parents Joseph Braddock and Elizabeth O'Toole Braddock in a tiny apartment on West 48th Street in New York City. The Braddock family was growing and with five boys and two girls, Joseph and Elizabeth relocated across the Hudson River to the peaceful township of West New York in Hudson County New Jersey. Like most kids, Jimmy enjoyed playing marbles, baseball and hanging around the old swimming hole on the edge of the Hudson River or under the Hackensack River Bridge while he dreamt of someday becoming a fireman or a train engineer. From around the year 1919 to 1923, Jim Braddock worked a series of jobs: A messenger boy for Western Union, a printer's devil, a teamster and an errand boy in a silk mill. It was during this time that Jimmy discovered his passion for boxing. Braddock spent a few years honing his skills as a successful amateur fighter throughout New Jersey and in 1926 entered the professional boxing circuit in the light heavyweight division. During his first year, Braddock overwhelmed the competition, knocking out opponent after opponent in the early rounds of most fights. As a top light heavyweight, Braddock thought of moving into the heavyweight class. Problem was that although he stood over six feet, two inches, he seldom weighed over 180 pounds. But even with his trim physique, Jim's powerful right hand was no match for even those opponents that weighed close to 220 pounds. Jimmy Braddock was on his way. 6 On the evening of July 18th 1929, Braddock entered the ring in Yankee Stadium to face Tommy Loughran for the coveted light heavyweight championship. Loughran who had studied Braddock's boxing style knew about Jim's powerful right hand and spent the match ducking and dodging Jim's punches. Braddock would never land a clean hard punch and lost the 15 round bout to decision. On September 3rd 1929, less than two months after the Loughran bout, the stock market crashed and the nation plunged into the "Great Depression". As the banks went under, Braddock, like so many other millions of Americans lost everything. With no work available, Jim struggled to win fights so that he could put food on the table for his wife and three young children. However, along with the economy, Jim's fight career hit the skids as well. He lost sixteen out of twenty-two fights during which time he shattered his right hand landing a punch. At the bottom of the barrel, Jim swallowed his pride, hung up his boxing gloves and filed for government relief to help support his family. But Jim's luck was about to change. In 1934, due to a last minute cancellation, Braddock was given the opportunity to fight John "Corn" Griffin on the under-card fight for that evening's heavyweight championship fight between Max Baer and Primo Carnera. To the amazement of everyone, he went on to upset Griffin with a third round knockout. As word of Braddock spread, he was given another chance to fight. This time the opponent was John Henry Lewis. Once again, most predicted that Braddock wouldn't make it through the fight. Jimmy proved the critics wrong with a ten round victory. In March of 1935, with the nation in his corner, Braddock defeated Art Lasky in 15 rounds. Jimmy later told a reporter, "So they matched Lasky and I.

7 There was no talk about the heavyweight championship fight because they figured Lasky'd lick me. When I beat him in fifteen rounds, I hit him with everything. I mean, wherever his kisser was, I had a punch there, a left hook, a right cross, it was one of them nights." With his win against Lasky, Braddock was now considered to be the top heavyweight contender to go up against Max Baer. Max Baer received the reputation as a dynamite puncher and possibly the hardest hitter of all time. On the evening of June 13th 1935 at Madison Square Garden in Long Island City NY, Braddock, a ten-to-one underdog, entered the ring to face Baer. Jim had studied Baer's boxing style just as Tommy Loughran had studied Jim's all those years ago. Jim knew he could beat Baer if he could stay away from his hammering right hand, and that's just what he did. In an amazing feat of courage and determination, Braddock won the 15 round decision to become the new heavyweight champion of the world. During his reign as champ, Jim Braddock fought a series of exhibition fights over the next two years. On June 22nd 1937, Braddock would defend and lose his heavyweight title in an eight round KO to "The Brown Bomber" Joe Louis. According to Jim, Louis threw far more punches then Baer. Although Jim never complained, few knew that during the fight for Louis, Braddock actually received medication for arthritis. Jim barely lifted his left during the fight because the medicine numbed him like a muscle relaxant. Jim's only lucky punch happened in an uppercut, simply since he failed to raise his left over his head. His follow up punch missed Louis's chin, and slammed into Joe's chest. The punch cracked around the auditorium. Only an inch short kept Jim from retaining the title. Joe Louis worked Jim over in the subsequent rounds, added twenty-three stitches, and moving a tooth right through his mouthpiece and into his lip. Everyone enjoyed the fight that night, and even though a loss, it was perhaps Braddock's best fight. Prior to the Louis fight, Jim's manager Joe Gould struck up a deal that would give Braddock 10% of the gross with Louis for the next ten years. From 1937 to 1939, Braddock received over $150,000, a lot of money in those days (nearly two million today). Jim Braddock was a man who wanted to go out on top and on January 21, 1938 after beating Tommy Farr after 10 rounds, Jimmy Braddock, the beacon of hope for millions, hung up his gloves and retired from the professional boxing game. After his retirement, Jim and manager Joe Gould enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1942 where they became 1st Lieutenants. Before the war ended, Jim served on the island of Saipan. Upon return, he helped construct the Verrazano Bridge and worked as a marine equipment surplus supplier, running generators and welding equipment. Jim and his wife Mae raised their three children, Jay, Howard and Rosemarie in a house they bought in North Bergen NJ. On November 29th 1974, after eighty-five fights with fifty-one victories, James J. Braddock died at home in his sleep. Mae Braddock continued to live in their North Bergen home for many years before moving to Whiting, NJ where she passed away in Braddock was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1964, the Hudson County Hall of Fame in 1991 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in The champ's son James (Jay) lived in Saddle Brook, NJ for many years with his family until 7

8 passing in He worked for the Bergen County Sheriff's Office and Local 825 working heavy construction equipment. Wife Jane, son James Jay III, and daughter Cathleen survive him. James III runs this website with his cousin John Van Vugt. Howard Braddock lives in southern New Jersey with his wife Elsie. Howard was a member of Local 825 and worked with heavy equipment. Their children are Susan, Nancy, and Tim. They all have wonderful families and many children. Daughter Rosemarie passed in 1995 and is survived by her husband Kenny DeWitt, and daughter Rosemarie DeWitt who plays a wonderful role in the movie Cinderella Man, as neighbor Sara Wilson. Interesting facts about the movie: Russell Crowe dislocated his shoulder while training for the film s boxing sequences, which delayed the filming two months. Russell Crowe lost more than 50 pounds, weighing only 176 pounds for his role (compare to 228 pounds in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)) Professional boxers played Braddock s opponents. They were told to land their blows as close to Crowe s body as possible. Unfortunately, they sometimes couldn t pull back in time and ended up injuring Crowe. Crowe suffered from several concussions and cracked teeth. The cinematographer invented a tire-cam which is a camera cushioned inside a tire and behind Plexiglas. This allowed the professional boxers to hit the tire to create realistic reactions from a first-person point of view. Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays the neighbor Sara Wilson, is the granddaughter of the real Jimmy Braddock. She is the daughter of his daughter Rosemarie, who is portrayed by Ariel Waller in the film. This Depression-era drama made headlines for being not only one of the best reviewed films of 2005, but one of the least well attended. After four weeks of release the film had taken around US$50 million, which even during the box-office slump as a disappointment, especially considering the good buzz. AMC Theatres hoped to keep the film and started a unique offer of a money-back guarantee. Ticket buyers who did not like the film were promised that their money would be refunded, no questions asked. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and Mark Wahlberg were all considered for the role of Jimmy Braddock. The streetcars used in the movie are owned by the Halton County Radial Railway Museum, which has a huge collection of streetcars near Milton, Ontario, Canada. Max Baer, whose paternal grandfather was Jewish, boxed with a Star of David embroidered on his trunks. The star is visible on Baer s red trunks throughout his fight with Braddock in the final fight scene. Madison Square Garden Bowl was located at 48 th Street and Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens. The bowl was torn down after World War II. 8

9 MOVIE REVIEW NAME DATE TITLE OF MOVIE STARRING: THE BASIC PLOT OF THIS MOVIE WAS: 2 THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: 2 THINGS I DISLIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: 2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY ACCURATE 9

10 2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY INACCURATE ON A SCALE OF 1-5 STARS, I WOULD GIVE THIS MOVIE STARS, BECAUSE I WOULD OR WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO A FRIEND BECAUSE 10