{"id":73357,"date":"2023-07-06T09:34:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=73357"},"modified":"2023-07-06T09:34:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:34:57","slug":"have-you-seen-the-babe-ruth-story-1948","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=73357","title":{"rendered":"Have you seen…The Babe Ruth Story (1948)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY JOHN BILLINGER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can\u2019t be easy making a biopic. Not only is it a struggle just making the film itself, but you also have to deal with the publicity and criticism of not playing entirely true to the original events. No matter how accurately you try to make a film (or not), there\u2019s always at least one guy who says, \u201cHmph, that\u2019s not what happened!\u201d And that was certainly the case in 1948 with a film titled \u201cThe Babe Ruth Story,\u201d a film considered to be one of the worst biopics ever made. Before we talk about the contents of the film itself, let\u2019s talk about the man himself, and the production of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Babe Ruth was no stranger to movies. He played himself in the Lou Gehrig biopic \u201cPride Of The Yankees.\u201d <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

For those who don\u2019t know, George Herman \u201cBabe\u201d Ruth (born 1895) was an American baseball player, who played 22 seasons from 1914-1935 (most famously for the New York Yankees), and for a period of 34 years, held the record for the most home runs in Major League Baseball (714 in total). Highly respected during his time, he is still widely considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time. With that said, Ruth was not without controversy. His personal life was quite eventful, being a frequent drinker and womanizer, neither of which I or anyone will defend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year 1946, Babe Ruth was diagnosed with cancer, which received significant press attention, and some Hollywood producers decided that they needed to cash in on the publicity that Ruth received, quickly seizing the rights to a biopic, and rushing it out to cinemas as soon as possible while Babe was still alive. Loosely based on Ruth\u2019s autobiography of the same name, he was hired to serve as technical advisor on the film, which is movie code for: he\u2019s just there for the publicity department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His biggest role in the production was spending half a day posing for photoshoots with actor William Bendix (the actor cast to play him), and spending the other half watching the production of a Betty Grable movie. On July 26th, 1948, the film premiered, and in attendance was Ruth himself. Supposedly, Babe left the theater halfway through the film. Officially, it was for medical reasons, but one does wonder if that was just an excuse. Three weeks later on the 16th of August, Babe Ruth died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, on to the film itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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