Wallace Beery’s portrayal of The Champ won him a special academy award in 1932. A portrait so vivid that only Wallace Beery could bring the Champ back to life in Lux radio Theater’s presentation. Besides the award to its star the MGM picture also won academy honors as the best original screen story of the year.

The Champ is a story of a father and son whose devotion took plenty of hard knocks but never went down for the count. The father happens to be a prizefighter, a former champion but that isn’t the important thing in the story. The Champs greatest battle wasn’t fought in the ring at all it was fought within himself to become a champion as a father.

Wallace Beery’s brother Noah Beery also appears in the story in the part of Tony.