Jimmy the Raven

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Jimmy the Raven

Jimmy the Raven was a common raven who appeared in over 1,000 films from the 1930s to 1950s. His best-known roles include Uncle Billy Bailey's Raven in Isn't Life Beautiful? by Frank Capra and the raven who landed on the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz .

biography

Jimmy was owned by Henry W. "Curley" Twiford, a Hollywood animal trainer. Twiford found the bird as a nestling in an abandoned nest in the Mojave Desert in 1934 . He raised the raven, allowing it to roam freely around the house to get used to the company of people. He had his first film appearance in 1938 in Frank Capra's Life Artists. After that, Capra cast him in many of his later films.

In order to be versatile in many scenes, Jimmy was trained to execute a large number of commands. Among other things, he could type letters on a typewriter, open doors, light cigarettes and deliver messages. In fact, Twiford claimed that of all animals, ravens were the easiest to train because they could remember an exercise for up to ten years. In an interview in November 1948, he stated that Jimmy recognized 53 usable words. In another interview he stated that he knew about two hundred words. It took Jimmy about a week or two to learn a new term. Jimmy was valued by both the directors and the actors.

"If you call Jimmy, we both answer," explained James Stewart , noting that the raven "is the smartest actor on the set who has to re-shoot fewer scenes than his human colleagues."

Jimmy was paid about $ 750 a week. As his popularity grew, Jimmy was insured by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $ 10,000. His last film was The Circus Clown from 1954.

In addition to his cinematic success, Jimmy was also honored with a gold medal by the American Red Cross for serving more than 200 hours for the entertainment of WWII veterans .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Mark Powell: The bird who deserved an Oscar. In: Washington Examiner , February 24, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Karolyn "Zuzu" Grimes, Franklin Dohanyos: Zuzu Bailey's-It's A Wonderful Life Cookbook (Recipes and Anecdotes Inspired by America's Favorite Movie) , Kensington Publishing Corp., 2000, ISBN 978-0-8065-2165-7 ; P. 11.
  3. ^ Charles B. Driscoll: New York, Day By Day . In: The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton, Ohio), June 29, 1938, p. 8. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  4. ↑ Jim, The Raven, In New Flicker . In: The Evening News . Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. December 31, 1948. p. 12. Retrieved September 27, 2019.