| STORY SUMMARY
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| In the 1920s and ‘30s, people looked to newspapers for “the news.” Favorable reviews of movies (or songs in movies) helped to create film stars. Great write-ups about athletes helped to create sport stars. Damon Runyon was one of those star-creating newspaper writers.
A celebrity himself, who earned a great deal of money for his columns and news reports, Runyon’s favorable comments about a good song (Thanks for the Memory) in a poorly reviewed movie (The Big Broadcast of 1938) helped to launch Bob Hope as a household name in the movie business. Runyon’s comments about boxers - at the time the most popular athletes in the world - resonated with a public enduring the disastrous years of the Great Depression.
It was boxing which got Jim Braddock noticed. It was Damon Runyon who first called Braddock the “Cinderella Man.”
In this story behind the movie, step back to the 1920s. Discover how difficult life was in depression-era America. Meet Jim Braddock (played by Russell Crowe), his wife Mae (Renée Zellweger) and his feisty manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti).
Take a ringside seat and watch the fight (against Max Baer) which earned Braddock his nickname. See the only knock-out of Jimmy’s career as Joe Louis became the new heavyweight champion of the world in 1937. And ... go back to ancient times to learn when boxing first became a championship sport.
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