CINDERELLA
MAN
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
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
31. Who visits Jim right before the fight? What do they say to him?
32. What is the result of the Baer fight?
4
“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
James J. Braddock: The Man
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.
(from http://jamesjbraddock.com/theman/)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
6
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."
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
1985.
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
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
2001.
The champ's son James (Jay) lived in Saddle
Brook, NJ for many years with his family until
7
passing in 2001. 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.
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.
Howard Braddock lives in southern New Jersey
with his wife Elsie. Howard was a member of Local
825 and worked with heavy equipment. Their
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 48th Street and Northern Boulevard in Long
Island City, Queens. The bowl was torn down after World War II.
8
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
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