The romantic comedy Babe Comes Home stars a baseball player and a laundress whose relationship is ruined by the player’s addiction to chewing tobacco. But did you know the Babe Ruth actually starred in this film?
Babe Ruth appeared in the film “Babe Comes Home.” It is now considered a lost film, meaning there are no known movie copies.
Who was Babe Ruth?
Babe Ruth was a baseball legend. He broke numerous slugging records for baseball, including the total bases in a season, the best slugging percentage for a season, and the majority of home run seasons in which he led his league. Ruth set a record for most home runs with 714, which stood until 1974.
As a New York Yankee, Ruth would become the most significant sports figure in history. He had the most outstanding season of any baseball player ever in 1920. He batted 376 and hit 54 home runs.
Unbelievably, in 1920, only one TEAM hit more home runs than Ruth. The pride of New York City and a national icon overnight was Ruth. He was not just the most well-liked sports figure in the country but also the most well-liked individual. Ruth had the best statistical season in baseball history in 1921, and no one has ever matched it.
Ruth passed away from throat cancer on August 16, 1948. He was just 53 years old at the time. His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people, while tens of thousands more lined the streets of New York to pay their condolences. One of the most renowned sports figures in history, Ruth continues to be respected today. (Source: Mr. Nussbaum)
Babe Comes Home: The Lost Movie
Ted Wilde directed the 1927 American silent sports comedy Babe Comes Home, which was made and released by First National. Babe Ruth and Anna Q. Nilsson are the main characters of this baseball-themed sports movie.
The movie was released using the short-lived Vocafilm sound-on-film technique; it probably had a soundtrack of music and special effects but no dialogue. The movie is regarded as a lost movie. (Source: IMDB)
Babe Comes Home Plot
The charming romantic comedy The Babe Comes Home was baseball legend George Herman Babe Ruth’s second-leading role movie. His first film was the 1920s Headin’ Home.
Ruth portrays Los Angeles Angels, a minor-league team in 1927, home run king Babe Dugan.
The Snow White Laundry has to launder Babe’s juice-stained jerseys after every game because of his tobacco chewing habit.
To learn firsthand how one man can be so untidy, Anna Q. Nilsson, who plays Laundress Vernie, goes to an Angels game. Vernie is struck in the eye by a fly ball that Babe hits. After a disastrous beginning, a romance blossoms and ends in an engagement.
Babe and Vernie argue about his tobacco use on the eve of the wedding. Babe slumps as she exits the room. However, Vernie enters the game during a critical moment, with bases loaded in the ninth, and throws Babe a flesh plug of tobacco. He swallows the wad before hitting the game-winning home run. Babe gives off smoking for good after admitting that Vernie’s love, not the chew, gave him the motivation to win.
The Babe Comes Home’s baseball sequences were shot at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, becoming a well-liked filming venue for several Hollywood baseball movies.
Based on a Wid Gunning magazine article, the Babe Comes Home was well received by both moviegoers and baseball fans, despite inaccuracies like the catchers wearing wedding rings. Still, no one was likely a bigger fan than Babe Ruth himself, who later admitted to watching the six-reeler ten times. (Source: All Movie)