Jimmy Boyd: Difference between revisions
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==Early years== |
==Early years== |
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Boyd was born in [[Mississippi]] to Leslie and Winnie Boyd. His father was a farmer and picked [[cotton]] to help support the family. When Jimmy Boyd was two years old, Leslie Boyd put Winnie, Jimmy, and one of Boyd's brothers on a train to [[Riverside, California]]. |
Boyd was born in [[Mississippi]] to Leslie and Winnie Boyd. His father was a farmer and picked [[cotton]] to help support the family. When Jimmy Boyd was two years old, Leslie Boyd put Winnie, Jimmy, and one of Boyd's brothers on a train to [[Riverside, California]]. |
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Boyd's grandfather, William Boyd (known as "Fiddler Bill"), who had 21 children, played at dances and family gatherings in Mississippi. Leslie Boyd played guitar and harmonica and started teaching Jimmy to play guitar when he was nine years old. Leslie Boyd had been a farmer when a drought hit. As there was no cotton in California to pick finding work was difficult. He eventually got work cleaning up construction sites, and ended up becoming a carpenter. |
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Leslie and Winnie Boyd would take their children to [[Country and Western|country and western]] dances held in a barn in [[Colton, California]] outside of Riverside. It was at one of these dances when Boyd's older, nine-year-old brother, Kenneth, went up to the bandstand and told the band leader, Texas Jim Lewis, he should hear his little brother sing and play the guitar. Lewis called seven-year-old Jimmy onstage to sing and play. After the dance concluded, Lewis and the manager of a local radio station approached Boyd’s parents to make an offer of $50 per appearance on an hour-long radio show to be broadcast from the dance every Saturday night. While the family was in Los Angeles for Leslie Boyd's cataract surgery, they were told about auditions being held for the ''Al Jarvis Talent Show'' on [[KCOP-TV|KLAC-TV]]. Following his audition, Boyd appeared on Jarvis' show the same night. Winning the contest, Boyd was the subject of numerous telegrams and telephone calls from fans addressed to Jarvis and KLAC.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} |
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Jarvis, along with co-host [[Betty White]], had a five-hour-a-day, six-day-a-week talk show on KLAC-TV called ''Hollywood On Television''. After his popular appearance and win on the talent show, Jarvis signed Boyd to appear regularly on ''Hollywood on Television''. With his popularity rising, Boyd started to be seen on other television shows, including CBS-TV's ''[[The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS TV series)|The Frank Sinatra Show]]''.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} |
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=="I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"== |
=="I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"== |
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Revision as of 18:23, 25 December 2021
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009) |
Jimmy Boyd | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jimmy Devon Boyd January 9, 1939 |
| Died | March 7, 2009 (aged 70) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1951–1983 |
| Spouse(s) |
Anne Forrey
(m. 1980; div. 1984) |
| Children | 1 |
Jimmy Devon Boyd (January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
Early years
Boyd was born in Mississippi to Leslie and Winnie Boyd. His father was a farmer and picked cotton to help support the family. When Jimmy Boyd was two years old, Leslie Boyd put Winnie, Jimmy, and one of Boyd's brothers on a train to Riverside, California.
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"
Boyd recorded the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" for Columbia Records in 1952, when he was 13 years old. It became a hit, selling over two and a half million records in its first week's release and Boyd's name became known internationally. Boyd was presented with two gold records.[1] Boyd's record went to number one on the charts again the following year at Christmas, and continues to sell as a Christmas song. Collective disc sales by 1966 amounted to over 11 million copies.[1]
Boyd owned horses, so Columbia presented him with a silver mounted saddle. Inscribed in the silver plate on the back of the saddle were the words, Presented by Columbia Records to Jimmy Boyd commemorating his 3,000,000 record of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". When first released, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston condemned the song for implying even a tenuous link between sex and the religious holiday, and radio stations in several markets banned it. Boyd made worldwide news when he went to Boston to explain that, of course, Santa Claus and Daddy were the same man. The following Christmas the ban was lifted.[2][3][4]
Other recordings
One of his surviving performances available online is with Betty White on The Betty White Show in the mid-1950s.[5]
Personal life
In 1960, Boyd married actress Yvonne Craig (TV's Batgirl), which ended in divorce in 1962. Boyd married a second time in 1980. He and Anne Forrey Boyd had a son together, but divorced in 1984. He remained single for the rest of his life.[6] When asked, "What's the most exciting thing that ever happened to you?" his reply was, "The birth of my son."
Jimmy Boyd died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 70.[7]
Awards
For his contributions to the recording industry, Boyd was awarded a star (located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1959. It made Boyd (at age 20) the youngest-ever recipient of the honor for 45 years, until actress twins Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen (then 18) were jointly awarded a star in 2004.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Racing Blood | David | |
| 1955 | The Second Greatest Sex | Newt McClure | |
| 1960 | Platinum High School | Bud Starkweather | |
| 1960 | Inherit the Wind | Howard | |
| 1960 | High Time | Robert Higgson | |
| 1961 | The Two Little Bears | Johnny Dillion | |
| 1970 | Norwood | Jeeter | |
| 1975 | That's the Way of the World | Gary Page | |
| 1978 | Mean Dog Blues | Sonny | |
| 1983 | Brainstorm | Col. Howe | (final film role) |
References
- ^ a b Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ Kim, Wook (2012-12-14). "Yule Laugh, Yule Cry: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Beloved Holiday Songs". Time. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Nelson, Valerie J. (2009-03-13). "Jimmy Boyd, at 70; singer famed for Christmas classic". Boston Globe via Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Nelson, Valerie J. (2009-03-09). "Jimmy Boyd dies at 70; singer of 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Video on YouTube
- ^ Hevesi, Dennis (2009-03-09). "Jimmy Boyd, Actor and Child Singer, Dies at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Nelson, Valerie J. (2009-03-09). "Jimmy Boyd dies at 70; singer of 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
External links
- Jimmy Boyd at IMDb
- Jimmy Boyd at AllMovie
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1939 births
- 2009 deaths
- American male child actors
- American child singers
- American country singer-songwriters
- American male film actors
- American male singer-songwriters
- Male actors from Mississippi
- Deaths from cancer in California
- Dot Records artists
- Jubilee Records artists
- Singer-songwriters from California
- People from Riverside, California
- Vee-Jay Records artists
- 20th-century American singers
- Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
- 20th-century American male actors
- Country musicians from California
- Country musicians from Mississippi
- 20th-century American male singers