The Magnificent Max Baer
The Life of the Heavyweight Champion and Film Star
Colleen Aycock author David W Wallace author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc
Published:20th Aug '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Boxing might not have survived the 1930s if not for Max Baer. A contender for every heavyweight championship 1932-1941, California's "Glamour Boy" brought back the "million-dollar gate" not seen since the 1920s. His radio voice sold millions of Gillette razor blades; his leading-man appeal made him a heartthrob in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). The film was banned in Nazi Germany--Baer had worn a Star of David on his trunks when he TKOed German former champ Max Schmeling.
Baer defeated 275-pound Primo Carnera in 1934 for the championship, losing it to Jim Braddock the next year. Contrary to Cinderella Man, (2005), Baer--favored 10 to 1--was not a villain and the fight was more controversial than the film suggested. His battle with Joe Louis three months later drew the highest gate of the decade.
This first comprehensive biography covers Baer's complete ring record, his early life, his career on radio, film, stage and television, and his World War II army service.
“Meticulously researched and entertaining.... All of Baer’s famous fights are here...an enjoyable and informative read, providing boxing fans with the most complete look of its most interesting characters”—Max Boxing: “The biography is meticulously researched and includes a great many photographs of Baer from throughout his career”—ProtoView; “The Magnificent Max Baer is a meticulously researched, richly detailed and absorbing biography of one of the most colorful and extraordinary boxers of the 20th century. Back in the day when boxing rivaled baseball in popularity Max Baer, the ‘California Adonis’ became an international celebrity even before he won the heavyweight championship in 1934. The hugely popular boxer not only hosted his own radio show but also starred in a major Hollywood musical with actress Myrna Loy. As the authors so accurately point out, Baer’s outsized and charismatic personality made him ‘a bright light on the drab face of the Great Depression in the 1930s.’”—Mike Silver, author of The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science
ISBN: 9781476671611
Dimensions: 254mm x 178mm x 16mm
Weight: 558g
320 pages