Diamond Jim
Cast & Crew
A. Edward Sutherland
Edward Arnold
Jean Arthur
Binnie Barnes
Cesar Romero
Eric Blore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
James Buchanan Brady is born to an Irish saloonkeeper and his wife in 1856, but loses his parents early in life. In his early thirties, Jim spots an advertisement for a salesman while he is working at the Spuyten Duyvil railroad station as baggage master. Jim rents a suit from a pawn shop, believing that "...to make money, you've got to look like money." The pawnbroker convinces him to rent a diamond as well, even though that means he must accompany Jim on his interview as insurance. When they arrive, there is a line of applicants out to the street, so Jim goes through the customer's entrance. The owner, A. E. Moore, becomes so impressed with Jim's knowledge of railroad equipment, and his audacity, that he hires him, and Jim quickly becomes a champion salesman. On one of his trans-continental train journeys, Jim saves British Mr. Fox from a crooked cardsharp, but both are obliged to jump off the train. Jim discovers that Fox has been unsuccessful in selling a device known as an undertruck, to be used at railroad stations. After haggling over commission, Jim represents the product himself. Finally experiencing success, Jim proposes to Emma Perry, with whom he has been in love, only to discover that she is already engaged to someone else. Jim is heartbroken and puts all his energies into building the Brady-Fox Co. which produces the undertrucks and other equipment. Now a captain of industry, Jim has diamond jewelry especially designed for him in huge proportions. His first entrance into a restaurant while wearing his new regalia prompts gawkers, and a comment from his waiter that he should be called "Diamond Jim." Jim proceeds to order a meal fit for a king and ten other men, and when he sees an English singer perform, sends her roses and introduces himself. Jim promotes the woman, whose name is Nellie Leonard, but who assumes the stage name Lillian Russell, and she becomes a favored performer. Lillian admits she is in love with business man Jerry Richardson, and at a party he throws for her, Jim meets Jane Mathews, who closely resembles Emma. Jim is instantly smitten by her, and they become engaged, but on the eve of their small wedding, Jim gets drunk for the first time in his life and stands her up because he is suspicious of her relationship with Briggs, a banker. Jane finds him eating the banquet he ordered for their celebration and, unable to detest him for his actions, remains his friend while refusing his periodic proposals. Unknown to Jim, Jerry and Jane have fallen in love, but are too afraid of hurting him to admit it. Jim loses his fortune in a stock market crash, and begins all over again by creating a steel railroad car for safety. At its first public test, Jim straps himself inside the car as it heads for a collision with a wooden car. Jane jumps on board and struggles with Jim to get off, but he straps her in instead. Jim is knocked unconscious during the collision, but the car and Jane are unharmed. While Jim spends a year recuperating from the accident, he builds his fortune on the new railroad car. Finally released from the hospital, Jim plans a European trip with Jerry and Nellie during which he hopes to marry Jane. However, Jane and Jerry finally confess their love for each other to Jim, who is hard struck by the news. Although he wishes them well, Jim is shattered. After proposing to Nellie, Jim is again rejected, and despondently returns home, where he orders a banquet of rich foods, knowing that to eat it will kill him. Reminiscing about his life, Jim burns up all the I.O.U.'s in his possession, puts his mother's picture in his pocket, and settles down to his feast.
Director
A. Edward Sutherland
Cast
Edward Arnold
Jean Arthur
Binnie Barnes
Cesar Romero
Eric Blore
Hugh O'connell
George Sidney
Robert Mcwade
Charles Sellon
Henry Kolker
William Demarest
Albert Conti
Armand Kaliz
Tully Marshall
Purnell Pratt
Helen Brown
George Sidney
Dorothy Granger
Patricia Farley
Robert Burns
Otis Harlan
Lew Kelly
Matt Mchugh
Fred A. Kelsey
Irving Bacon
Arthur Millett
James Farley
George De Normand
Johnny St. Claire
Billy Jones
Stanley Andrews
Francis Mcdonald
Jack Carlyle
Dell Henderson
Jimmy Dundee
Dan Crimmins
Darby Jones
Jean Bary
Kay Deslys
Bill Hoolahahn
Robert Perry
Huey White
Frank Hagney
Russ Clark
Henry Otho
Charles Hammer
Richard Tucker
Julian Rivero
Eddie Collins
Arthur Housman
John Miltern
Maidel Turner
Libby Taylor
Bernice Pilot
Etta Mae Allen
Bill Howard
Jane Keckley
Germaine De Neel
Lawrence Wheat
Jean De Briac
Alex Chivra
Robert Mckenzie
Gino Corrado
Mary Wallace
Greta Meyer
Daisy Bufford
Montague Shaw
Emmett King
Clarence Geldert
Arthur Stuart Hull
Edward Le Saint
Edwards Davis
Harold Nelson
Murdock Macquarrie
Wilfred North
George Macquarrie
Sam Flint
Orrin Burke
William Tooker
Ralph Lewis
Edwin Mordant
Mitchell Ingraham
William Worthington
John Larkin
Eily Malyon
William Arnold
Malcolm Mcgregor
Marshall Ruth
Lloyd Whitlock
Gay Seabrook
Harry C. Bradley
Alan Bridge
George Reed
Billy Mclane
Herbert Skinner
Charles Moore
Sam Hayes
Blanche Harold
William Welsh
J. P. Mcgowan
Eddy Chandler
Sam Appel
Al Hill
Malcolm Waite
Cyril Ring
Wade Boteler
Monte Montague
Baby Wyman
George Ernest
Robert E. O'connor
Mabel Colcord
Charles Mcavoy
Dorothy Vernon
Clarence L. Sherwood
Barbara Barondess
Addie Mcphail
Joseph Girard
Louis Lavoie
Lee Prather
Alan Cavan
Anders Van Haden
Hayden Stevenson
King Baggott
Charles K. French
Marina Passerowa
Crew
T. Abriff
Bakaleinikoff
Jack Bixey
Jack Bolger
F. Buckley
Harry Clork
Camille Collins
John P. Fulton
Willard H. George
Arthur Gerstle
Charles Gould
Edmund Grainger
Edmund Grainger
Ferdinand Grofe
Harry Grundstrum
Archie Hall
Charles D. Hall
Harry Hills
Ross Hoffman
Bill Howard
Alan Jones
La Prele Jones
Evelyn Joy
Larry Judge
Gilbert Kurland
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle
Joseph Lapis
Frank Madigan
Doris Malloy
Daniel Mandell
Shirley Martin
Joseph Mcdonough
Warren Munroe
Norma Nilson
Ted Offenbeck
Maurice Pivar
George Robinson
Harold Smith
Katherine Stanley
Preston Sturges
Ed Ware
Franz Waxman
Vera West
Western Costume Co.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A foreword notes that "...in condensing the happenings of half a century into the space of an hour, some rearrangement of the facts is obviously necessary." The working title of the picture was Diamond Jim Brady. According to information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, Paramount purchased a story in 1933 by Mike Simmons, based on the life of Brady, and registered the title with the Hays office. In an October 1934 telegram, Paramount executive Charles R. Rogers protested Universal's production, however, it is unclear how the matter was resolved. A synopsis in the pressbook says that "Jim" jilts "Jane" at the altar because he discovers her true relationship with her supposed uncle, Briggs, however, this point is not clear in the film. In letters to a Universal official, Joseph I. Breen, director of the PCA, found the relationship between "Jane" and "Briggs" full of sexual innuendo, and recommended that this be changed, as it would directly violate the Code. Included in the file is correspondence from Lillian Russell's daughter, Dorothy, who protested the film because she felt that it misrepresented her mother's friendship with Brady, which, she says, was not a lifelong friendship, but was more an acquaintanceship that lasted from 1902 to 1916. According to a Daily Variety news item, Dorothy Russell believed that Universal used story matter from "My Mother," a biography by Dorothy published in Liberty magazine, and hired an attorney to help her file a lawsuit. The outcome of her protest has not been determined.
An article in New York Times explains that Universal went on location to San Luis Obispo to create the train crash, where they used a narrow gauge railway and vintage cars donated by Pacific Coast Railroad. The crash was recorded for Universal's sound effects library, which was headed by Jack Foley. New York Times includes this film in their list of 1935 films that cost over $750,000. Edward Arnold recreated his role as Diamond Jim Brady in 20th Century-Fox's 1940 film Lillian Russell (see below). A modern source notes that Franz Waxman's orchestral score was also used in the Universal serial Flaming Frontiers.
