Excuses Interfere with Romance in “Alibi Ike,” Starring Baseball Fan Joe E. Brown

One of three baseball movies by this lifelong sports fan was also the debut of a future Hollywood legend.

by Rich Watson

If Joe E. Brown is remembered by modern movie audiences, it’s for his scene-stealing turn in Some Like it Hot, the gender-bending comedy with Marilyn Monroe in which Brown seduces Jack Lemmon in drag. It’s Brown who utters that film’s famous last line, “Well, nobody’s perfect!”

Long before that career-redefining role, Brown was a headlining actor in a number of comedies from the thirties, in particular baseball films. One of those was a romantic comedy co-starring a young woman taking the first step on a long journey to superstardom: Olivia de Havilland.

Small Town Gossip Threatens Baseball Romance in Sherryl Woods’ Sweet Magnolias Book “Stealing Home”

Single mom finds love on the diamond with a little help from her friends.

by Rich Watson

For almost forty years, Sherryl Woods has entertained readers with her Southern blend of romances and mysteries. A former journalist, she has written over a hundred ten books in a variety of series, under her own name and with the names Alexandra Kirk and Suzanne Sherrill.

In 2007, she started a new series called “Sweet Magnolias,” centered around a trio of best friends in a small Southern town, and the first book combined her love of romance stories with another interest: baseball.