Non-public Jimmy Butler lugged a cumbersome radio throughout a foggy battlefield as enemy machine weapons roared and mortar shells thudded.
It wasn’t a scene from one among his Hollywood motion pictures. The previous little one star had entered the thick of fight as a U.S. soldier.
Butler, a driver within the 882nd Subject Artillery Battalion throughout World Struggle II, had volunteered to take over the radio after its operator grew to become ailing. The Ohio native helped direct artillery fireplace Feb. 17, 1945, because the 70th Infantry Division fought to clear German troops from the French village of Kerbach.
The explosions drew nearer, however Butler caught to his mission.
Distinguished household in Akron
Butler hailed from one among Akron’s distinguished manufacturing households. His grandfather Frederick W. Butler, president of the E.H. Merrill Co. and vp of Robinson Clay Merchandise Co., had amassed a private fortune value about $6.2 million at this time.
His uncle F.W. Butler Jr. was president of the Akron Porcelain Co. and Mogadore Insulator Co. His different uncle H. Karl Butler donated 420 acres to determine Camp Manatoc for Boy Scouts and impressed Camp Butler’s title.
Jimmy’s father, Merrill W. Butler, an adventurer who owned a sugar plantation in Cuba within the early twentieth century, met his future spouse, Gertrude P. Thomas, a instructor from Michigan, whereas she was vacationing within the Caribbean. The couple wed in 1911 and moved to Akron to lift a household.
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The Butlers lived on North Highland Avenue at Highland Sq.. Jimmy had two older siblings: Grace and Fred.
It doesn’t matter what future Hollywood publicists would say, Jimmy was born Feb. 20, 1920 — as proved by a beginning announcement within the Beacon Journal. By the point he grew to become well-known, his official biography had shaved a yr or extra off his age.
The household relocated to sunny California when Jimmy was a toddler, initially residing in Laguna Seashore earlier than shopping for a ranch — not a ranch dwelling, a complete ranch — in La Canada. Jimmy attended the non-public, all-male Southern California Army Academy.
Performing debut in 1932 play
Gertrude Butler inspired her good-looking, outgoing son to pursue beginner theater. At age 12, he made his appearing debut within the 1932 comedy “A Plain Man and His Spouse” on the Pasadena Community Playhouse.
Critics believed he was youthful.
“If Jimmy Butler, aged 8, is pretty much as good at 28, as he was in his first stage look, phrases received’t describe the actor,” the Los Angeles Night Report gushed. “This system appeared anachronistic when it stated that Jimmy ‘needs to be an actor when he grows up.’ ”
Whereas many younger thespians sounded stilted or overrehearsed, Jimmy delivered dialogue in a conversational, plausible fashion.
His transition to movement photos was seamless.
Common Footage had examined over 100 boys to play Margaret Sullavan’s son within the drama “Only Yesterday” (1933) earlier than a scout tipped off the studio about that child within the Pasadena play. He simply received the half.
Initially credited as “Jimmie Butler,” the newcomer earned optimistic opinions for effortlessly displaying a variety of feelings from pleasure to grief.
Hollywood columnist in awe
“Essentially the most exceptional little one since Jackie Cooper grew to become identified from coast to coast is Jimmie Butler, aged 11,” Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons wrote. “Jimmie’s radiant character, his naturalness and his actual boyness received everybody who noticed him in ‘Solely Yesterday.’
“Until I’m mistaken, you will see Jimmie inside one other few months a potent rival to Jackie for display screen honors.”
Director Frank Borzage subsequent solid Butler as a lead within the Columbia anti-war drama “No Greater Glory” (1934), explaining he wanted a “clean-cut, resolute, self-reliant youth of the best kind.”
“I needed to have an actor with these {qualifications},” Borzage defined.
In one among his first interviews, Butler stated he loved Hollywood.
“Certain, I like being an actor,” he stated. “It’s extra enjoyable than work.”
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When he grew older, he wished to be a Western star. He already had a horse and burro on his ranch.
“I wish to journey and shoot,” Butler stated. “I’ve bought two .22 caliber rifles and I’m attempting to get a .22 pistol. Proper now, the probabilities are 50-50 for Dad says I can have it and Mom says I can’t. So I suppose I received’t.”
Jimmy Butler in 35 motion pictures
Butler appeared in 35 motion pictures over a 10-year span, together with “Manhattan Melodrama” (1934) with Clark Gable and Myrna Loy; “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” (1934) with W.C. Fields and Pauline Lord; “Romance in Manhattan” (1935) with Ginger Rogers and Francis Lederer; “Dinky” (1935) with Jackie Cooper and Mary Astor; “The Darkish Angel” with Frederic March and Merle Oberon; “Stella Dallas” (1937) with Barbara Stanwyck and John Boles; “The Shopworn Angel” (1938) with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan; and “Boys City” (1938) with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.
And simply as he had hoped, he bought to look in westerns: “When a Man’s a Man” (1935), “Battle of Greed” (1937) and “Wells Fargo” (1937).
In “Name a Messenger” (1939) and “Powerful as they Come” (1942), he shared the display screen with the Dead End Kids, later referred to as the Bowery Boys.
As with many little one stars, although, the roles bought smaller and fewer as he aged. He photographed younger, even in his 20s, for grownup roles.
On Feb. 15, 1941, he married Jean Fahrney, 17, a vocalist with the Horace Heidt Orchestra. They quickly welcomed two sons: Jimmy and Jerry.
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After the nation went to conflict, Butler landed an uncredited half as a soldier in “This Is the Military” (1943). His final movie was an uncredited function within the 1943 musical “Woman Loopy” starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.
Studios stopped calling. Butler’s film profession had ended, though he didn’t instantly understand it.
“I’ll lick it,” he vowed. “I really like appearing and I’ll by no means give it up.”
Drafted throughout World Struggle II
The household moved to Jean’s hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the place Butler labored as a welder in a protection plant earlier than getting drafted into the Military.
He entered the navy in June 1944 and arrived in Europe in January 1945. A month later, Butler discovered himself on a battlefield in France, volunteering to function a radio as a ahead observer directed artillery fireplace.
“Becoming a member of the advance parts of Firm F, 274th infantry, he carried the cumbersome radio from one vantage level to a different, underneath noticed enemy mortar and computerized weapons fireplace, successfully adjusting the artillery fireplace,” reads the Bronze Star quotation for heroic achievement.
“Whereas vigorously prosecuting his mission, he fell mortally wounded on the battlefield.”
Struck by a mortar fragment, Butler died Feb. 18, 1945, solely two days away from his twenty fifth birthday.
U.S. newspapers recognized him as a former Useless Finish Child and incorrectly listed his age as 23. He left behind his spouse, two younger sons and a bunch of kin in Akron.
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The soldier’s remaining resting place is beneath a white marble cross at Plot B, Row 43, Grave 28, in Epinal American Cemetery, a 48-acre monument that comprises the graves of 5,252 navy useless in Dinozé, France.
Jimmy Butler’s remaining function was that of an American hero.
Mark J. Value could be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
