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{{short description|American singer-songwriter (1939–2009)}}
'''Jimmy Boyd''' is an [[United States of America|American]] singer and musician.
{{other people}}


{{Infobox person
He was born January 9, [[1939]] in an old farmhouse in [[McComb, Mississippi]]. In [[1941]] his father Leslie Boyd put his wife Winnie, their two sons Kenneth four years old, and Jimmy two years old on a [[train]] bound for [[Riverside, California]]. Having sold everything they owned, and only having enough [[money]] for his wife's ticket and the two [[toddler]] boys, Leslie rode the rails. He [[hitchhiking|hitchhiked]] on freight trains to join his family in [[California]], something he had done growing up through the [[Great Depression|Depression]]. Hoboing from [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana]] and as far as [[West Texas]], picking [[cotton]] to help support his own family of twenty-one brothers and sisters. The family after being sent back to Mississippi a year earlier by the Welfare Department for not having any skills to get a good job. Leslie had been a farmer when the draught hit and there were no more [[crop]]s, he picked cotton, he could pick over five hundred pounds of cotton a day himself, and was paid twenty five cents. Although there was no cotton in [[California]] to pick, this time they were determined to stay. Leslie got a meanial job cleaning up construction sites.
| name = Jimmy Boyd
| image = Publicity photograph of musician Jimmy Boyd from the 1960 film "Platinum High School".jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Publicity photo of Jimmy Boyd for the 1960 film ''[[Platinum High School]]''
| birthname = James Devon Boyd
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|1|9}}
| birth_place = [[Jayess, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|3|7|1939|1|9}}
| death_place = [[Santa Monica, California]], U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
*Actor
*musician
*singer
}}
| yearsactive = 1951–1983
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Yvonne Craig]]|1960|1962|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Anne Forrey|1980|1984|end=div}}
}}
| children = 1
}}


'''Jimmy Devon Boyd''' (Born James Devon Boyd, January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his 1952 recording of the song "[[I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus]]."
Leslie and Winnie ocassionaly took the kids with them to a Country and Western dance, held in a barn in [[Colton, California]] a few miles from Riverside. Jimmy's older brother Kenneth, about nine years old at the time, went up to the bandstand and told the band leader he should hear his little brother sing and play the guitar. Texas Jim Lewis, the band leader, called little Jimmy up on the stage. Jimmy sang and played and the crowd went wild. After the dance was over, Texas Jim Lewis and the manager of a local radio station came to Jimmy's parents and asked if he could come sing every Saturday night, and be a part of the hour long radio show they planned to broadcast from the dance. They offered to pay Jimmy fifty dollars every show. Fifty dollars was a lot of money for the Boyds, but Jimmy enjoyed performing and would have done it for nothing.


==Early years==
Leslie had cataracts in both eyes and had to have surgery. Cataract surgery in the forties was a serious operation, and had to be done in Los Angeles. While in L.A. they were told about auditions being held for the Al Jarvis Talent Show on KLAC-TV.
Jimmy Boyd was born in 1939 in [[Mississippi]] into a musical family, with father Leslie Boyd and mother Winnie Boyd. His father, in turn, was from a family of 21 children of musician Bill Boyd. The family relocated to the [[San Fernando Valley]] of Southern California when Jimmy was a pre-schooler. Jimmy briefly sang with "Texas Jim Lewis and his Lonestar Cowboys". At an early age, he won a local talent show that led to television appearances, including ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', as well as ''[[The Frank Sinatra Show (1950 TV series)|The Frank Sinatra Show]]'' on CBS-TV.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jimmy Boyd Obituary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40916265/jimmy-boyd-obituary/ |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=10 March 2009}}</ref>
Jimmy auditioned for Al Jarvis and was such a hit they put him on the show that night.


=="I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"==
Jimmy to his astonishment won the talent show, and the next day Al Jarvis and KLAC were literally deluged in telegrams and telephone calls from viewers. Upwards of twenty thousand telegrams and phone calls.
Boyd recorded the song "[[I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus]]" for [[Columbia Records]] in 1952, when he was 13 years old.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> 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.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> Boyd was presented with two [[Music recording sales certification|gold records]]. Boyd's record went to number one on the charts again the following year at Christmas, and continues to sell as a Christmas song. Cumulative disc sales by 1966 amounted to over 11 million copies.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| first=Joseph| last=Murrells| year=1978| title=The Book of Golden Discs| edition=2nd| publisher=Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| location=London| page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/59 59]| isbn=978-0-2142-0480-7| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/59}}</ref>


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.
Al Jarvis had a five hour talk show everyday on KLAC with a few regulars on it, including Betty White called "Make Believe Ballroom". Jarvis immediatly announced Jimmy would be a regular on the show. The Frank Sinatra Show CBS soon followed, then Columbia Records and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", which to date has sold over sixty million records. Jimmy had several other number one records teaming up with Frankie Laine "tell Me A Story" "Dennis The Menace " with Rosemary Clooney. Jimmy showed he had comedic talents in TV series including, Bachelor Father, Date With The Angels, Betty White Show, Broadside, My Three Sons, Mother Inlaws etc. And a list of films
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.<ref>{{cite news| last=Kim| first=Wook| title=Yule Laugh, Yule Cry: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Beloved Holiday Songs| language=en| magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| date=2012-12-14| url=https://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/17/yule-laugh-yule-cry-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-beloved-holiday-songs/slide/i-saw-mommy-kissing-santa-claus/| access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref><ref name=lat>{{cite news| last=Nelson| first=Valerie J.| title=Jimmy Boyd dies at 70; singer of 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'| language=en| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| date=2009-03-09| url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jimmy-boyd10-2009mar10-story.html| access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref>
(see IMDB) including "Inherit The Wind" with Spencer Tracey.

==Other recordings==
Boyd's next-biggest hit was "[[Tell Me a Story (Terry Gilkyson song)|Tell Me a Story]]," a duet with [[Frankie Laine]], which peaked at number 4 on the charts during 1953.
The same year, he recorded "Dennis the Menace," a duet with [[Rosemary Clooney]], which peaked at [[Rosemary Clooney discography|number 23]] on the charts.

One of his surviving performances available online is with [[Betty White]] on ''[[The Betty White Show (1952 TV series)|The Betty White Show]]'' in the mid-1950s.<ref>{{YouTube|EEifjymF6K8}}</ref>

==Acting career==
In 1956, Boyd played [[Huckleberry Finn]] in the [[United States Steel Hour]] production of [[Frank Luther]]'s musical adaptation of [[Tom_Sawyer_%281956_musical%29|"Tom Sawyer"]]. Boyd reprised the role a year later when Luther adapted [[Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn|"Huck Finn"]] as a musical.

Boyd was a regular cast member on the situation comedy ''[[Date with the Angels]]'', starring [[Betty White]], playing the role of Wheeler. After the show was cancelled midway through its only season (1957–58), he went on to become a regular on ''[[Bachelor Father (American TV series)|Bachelor Father]]'' for the remainder of its five-year run (1957–62). The popular situation comedy starred [[John Forsythe]] and featured [[Noreen Corcoran]] and [[Sammee Tong]]. Boyd played the role of Howard Meechum, awkward classmate and sometime boyfriend of Corcoran's character Kelly.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |title=Jimmy Boyd Obituary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40916265/jimmy-boyd-obituary/ |access-date=11 March 2023 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=10 March 2009}}</ref>

During the same period, Boyd appeared in several films, often in dramatic roles. These included the role of schoolboy Howard in [[Inherit the Wind (1960 film)|''Inherit the Wind'']] (1960), a drama starring [[Spencer Tracy]], based on the [[Scopes trial|Scopes Monkey Trial]] of 1925.<ref name="auto"/>

Boyd's acting career was interrupted by military service when he was drafted into the [[United States Army|US Army]] in 1960. Later in the 1960s, he went to Vietnam, but as a celebrity rather than a soldier, appearing alongside other actors and singers in two [[United Service Organizations|USO tours]].<ref name="auto"/>

==Personal life and death==
In 1960, Boyd married actress [[Yvonne Craig]] (later TV's ''[[Batgirl]]''). The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. Boyd married a second time in 1980 to Anne Forrey. They had a son together, but divorced in 1984. He remained single for the rest of his life.<ref name="ny_times_obit">{{cite news| last=Hevesi| first=Dennis| title=Jimmy Boyd, Actor and Child Singer, Dies at 70| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=2009-03-09| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/arts/10boyd.html?partner=rss&emc=rss| access-date=2009-03-15}}</ref>

Jimmy Boyd died of [[cancer]] in 2009 at the age of 70.<ref name=lat/>

==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) jointly received a star in 2004.

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1954|| ''[[Racing Blood (1954 film)|Racing Blood]]'' || David ||
|-
|1955|| ''[[The Second Greatest Sex]]'' || Newt McClure ||
|-
|1960|| ''[[Platinum High School]]'' || Bud Starkweather ||
|-
|1960|| ''[[Inherit the Wind (1960 film)|Inherit the Wind]]'' || Howard ||
|-
|1960|| ''[[High Time (film)|High Time]]'' || Robert Higgson ||
|-
|1961|| ''[[The Two Little Bears]]'' || Johnny Dillion ||
|-
|1970|| ''[[Norwood (film)|Norwood]]'' || Jeeter ||
|-
|1975|| ''[[That's the Way of the World (film)|That's the Way of the World]]'' || Gary Page ||
|-
|1978|| ''[[Mean Dog Blues]]'' || Sonny ||
|-
|1983|| ''[[Brainstorm (1983 film)|Brainstorm]]'' || Col. Howe || (final film role)
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0101808}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Jimmy}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:American male child actors]]
[[Category:American child singers]]
[[Category:American country singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Male actors from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in California]]
[[Category:Dot Records artists]]
[[Category:Jubilee Records artists]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from California]]
[[Category:People from Riverside, California]]
[[Category:Vee-Jay Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Mississippi]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:Country musicians from California]]
[[Category:Country musicians from Mississippi]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:People from McComb, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]

Latest revision as of 17:14, 22 December 2024

For other people named Jimmy Boyd, see Jimmy Boyd (disambiguation).
Jimmy Boyd
Publicity photo of Jimmy Boyd for the 1960 film Platinum High School
Born
James Devon Boyd

(1939-01-09)January 9, 1939
Jayess, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedMarch 7, 2009(2009-03-07) (aged 70)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
  • singer
Years active1951–1983
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1962)​
Anne Forrey
​
​
(m. 1980; div. 1984)​
Children1

Jimmy Devon Boyd (Born James Devon Boyd, January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his 1952 recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

Early years

[edit]

Jimmy Boyd was born in 1939 in Mississippi into a musical family, with father Leslie Boyd and mother Winnie Boyd. His father, in turn, was from a family of 21 children of musician Bill Boyd. The family relocated to the San Fernando Valley of Southern California when Jimmy was a pre-schooler. Jimmy briefly sang with "Texas Jim Lewis and his Lonestar Cowboys". At an early age, he won a local talent show that led to television appearances, including The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as The Frank Sinatra Show on CBS-TV.[1]

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

[edit]

Boyd recorded the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" for Columbia Records in 1952, when he was 13 years old.[2] 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.[2] Boyd was presented with two gold records. Boyd's record went to number one on the charts again the following year at Christmas, and continues to sell as a Christmas song. Cumulative disc sales by 1966 amounted to over 11 million copies.[2]

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.[3][4]

Other recordings

[edit]

Boyd's next-biggest hit was "Tell Me a Story," a duet with Frankie Laine, which peaked at number 4 on the charts during 1953. The same year, he recorded "Dennis the Menace," a duet with Rosemary Clooney, which peaked at number 23 on the charts.

One of his surviving performances available online is with Betty White on The Betty White Show in the mid-1950s.[5]

Acting career

[edit]

In 1956, Boyd played Huckleberry Finn in the United States Steel Hour production of Frank Luther's musical adaptation of "Tom Sawyer". Boyd reprised the role a year later when Luther adapted "Huck Finn" as a musical.

Boyd was a regular cast member on the situation comedy Date with the Angels, starring Betty White, playing the role of Wheeler. After the show was cancelled midway through its only season (1957–58), he went on to become a regular on Bachelor Father for the remainder of its five-year run (1957–62). The popular situation comedy starred John Forsythe and featured Noreen Corcoran and Sammee Tong. Boyd played the role of Howard Meechum, awkward classmate and sometime boyfriend of Corcoran's character Kelly.[6]

During the same period, Boyd appeared in several films, often in dramatic roles. These included the role of schoolboy Howard in Inherit the Wind (1960), a drama starring Spencer Tracy, based on the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.[6]

Boyd's acting career was interrupted by military service when he was drafted into the US Army in 1960. Later in the 1960s, he went to Vietnam, but as a celebrity rather than a soldier, appearing alongside other actors and singers in two USO tours.[6]

Personal life and death

[edit]

In 1960, Boyd married actress Yvonne Craig (later TV's Batgirl). The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. Boyd married a second time in 1980 to Anne Forrey. They had a son together, but divorced in 1984. He remained single for the rest of his life.[7]

Jimmy Boyd died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 70.[4]

Awards

[edit]

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) jointly received a star in 2004.

Filmography

[edit]
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

[edit]
  1. ^ "Jimmy Boyd Obituary". The Los Angeles Times. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-2142-0480-7.
  3. ^ Kim, Wook (2012-12-14). "Yule Laugh, Yule Cry: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Beloved Holiday Songs". Time. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  4. ^ a b 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.
  5. ^ Video on YouTube
  6. ^ a b c "Jimmy Boyd Obituary". The Los Angeles Times. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  7. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (2009-03-09). "Jimmy Boyd, Actor and Child Singer, Dies at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
[edit]
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