January 25, 1948
By Newcomb (KFI Engineering)
JumpJump was the make-believe Elf that belonged to Mary Holiday. Sleepy Jim, the lion, was voiced by, Mary’s (real life husband), Harry. Together, **Mary and Harry Hickcox formed the cast for this children’s program sponsored by Holiday House, produced by Jack Hays and recorded at KFI in the early 50s.
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Each program focused on a Holiday. Some 52 of these were released at appropriate times during the year. These programs ran on KFI and the sponsor may have paid for time on other stations as well.
Note: At KFI, this JumpJump program was not broadcast ‘live’. It wasn’t convenient to bring the crew together for 15 minutes and a rehearsal, nor to reserve the recording room and its engineer, the Soundman, (Jack Hays) and the organist (Bob Mitchell). Instead, recording sessions produced several programs at a time. In effect, KFI used a disk, as did those other stations carrying their own schedule of JumpJump.
The Cast:
Even more important than the elf, himself,* JumpJump, was Mary Mc Connell Hickox, Holiday. (At KFI we knew her as Mary.) At this time, Mary wore her jet, black hair with one broad ‘streak’ of white. We hadn’t seen streaked hair before and Mary was striking, wearing the contrast, hairstyle.
Off the air, Mary moved purposefully, and managed the business of the show efficiently.
Mary was her pleasant, smiling self. On the Air, Mary became Mary Holiday. ** (Jump Jump called her that name and they were friends that understood each other.)
Harry was much like his Sleepy Jim character. That was, ‘bumbly’, and he missed some of his lines, was slow on his feet and his script. His words were spaced out in an e x a g g e r a t e d d r a w l.
When the script*** called for JumpJump to speak, he could either make a series of squeaks (called jumps) or speak in a very high-pitched conversational voice. The Jump sounds came from Jack’s sound truck. JJ’s Elf voice was Harry’s, altered in the recording room.
The idea, of purposely raising the playback speed, dates back to the German Signal Corps in W.W.1. KFI may have been the first in L.A. to use this idea in a sponsored program. (The “Chipmunks” are created artificially in a similar manner.)
Harry’s voice, recorded at 33 1/3 rpm and played at 78 rpm, was pitched too high. We found that the slow voice of Sleepy Jim doubled nicely. It was understandable and what was needed for an Elf, only three inches tall!
Production Audio Sample 2
*JUMPJUMP the ELF, HIMSELF
Mary often called him this. In print we can see elf in the word. (Above)
There are no pictures of Jumpjump. Radio only broadcast imaginary pictures, even when the people were real!
Mary had toy figures of this imaginary elf. I waited a long, long time before Mary brought one to the studio, for me! That was many years ago and now, I can’t find him! JJ is probably in a cup or in a coat pocket in the closet.
Everything about elves is pointy. Pointy hat, pointy, turned up, shoes, pointy eyes, pointy ears and a pointy nose!
My JJ elf had arms and legs of chenille wire. (Pipe cleaners). He could be bent and posed in many ways. He didn’t stand up very well. Maybe that is why he kept jumping!
It is difficult for old people to believe in elves, three inches high. I remember part of his theme song:
“My name is Jump Jump, Jolly little Jump Jump, My very best friend is Mary Holiday!”
Mary was our friend too!
Each of the Elf lines was pre-recorded before the program. This acetate disk was cut with separate tracks for each Elf speech.
(The recording engineer must be up-to-speed; stylus down and the acetate thread feeding into the sucker, before the program starts.)
We did it this way:
After contacting the recording engineer, the Mixer engineer keys (up) meaning, that the program starts at the next 60-second mark. RR engineer keys yes, two dots, he will be rolling at that second. Or he may key (no). The mixer engineer will then key dn (down) meaning will you be ready 30 seconds later? He answers yes or no. If yes, the mixer engineer will cue the announcer, and the program (organ) theme is started.
During the production of the program, the mixing engineer mixes the adjusted levels of the cast, the soundman and the live organ music by Bob Mitchell.
ALSO, he cues up the proper track of Jump Jump’s voice on a 78-rpm table. He slips the disk, (increasing finger pressure on the disk to hold it still, without slowing the table.)
Until the script dialogue fits the voice track. At that instant he releases the disk to speak as the cast speaks to J.J. “Hello Mary Holiday!” J.J. spoke about once a minute!
FACT: The only jumping being done was by the engineers!
Note: KFI engineers kept in contact by telegraph keys in all mixers, the recording room, the shop and the Engineer’s lounge. We used Morse code altered by our own abbreviations. We could hear our own initials sounded out in the hallways and work areas.
This proved to be very efficient. It was always available to us. The keys were at arms reach. Two dots meant yes. Studios were, A B C D E and L, RR. (recording room) NBC meant drop NBC. The key was used sparingly and always answered promptly. I can still recognize my own NBW sound and that of the other engineers that I worked with fifty years ago.
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Cueing Disks:
The disk is positioned so that its voice track is ¼ turn from the stylus. The disk is then at table speed when the track reaches the pickup.
45 and 78 rpm disks were marked to indicate the turns and fractions of turns before sound. Older pickups would not allow the disk to be backed up.
We changed the needle after 15 minutes use. One 33 1/3 rpm transcription held 15 minutes of program. We were able to synchronize two to make a 30-minute program.
** Microphone Presence:
Mary and Harry had this talent, that is, to be themselves before a Live, mike or camera. Studio A had seen a number of talented people, and I met with some of them. Ronald Coleman, Jimmy Stewart, come to mind. KFI Staff men like Pat Bishop, Dick Sinclair and Ted Myers plus others, projected themselves without artificiality. Others like Harry and Mary Hickox, Lohman and Barclay and years earlier, Amos and Andy, could also take on other characters at the mike. Many times the “pretend” character became famous, receiving more fan mail than the actor.
Note 2 There never was a ‘real’ Ma Perkins, or a ‘real W. Eva Sneider or a ‘real’ JumpJump.of Holiday House.
*** Mary has been given credit for writing the Jump Jump Script
Note 3: As mixing engineer, I was given a copy of the script and sat in the studio with the cast to mark my cues, during the run through. The soundman, announcer and organist held copies too. (I never thought to save one or that Mary had written it!)
(J.J.'s Photos Below, Courtesy of Marjorie Vickers)
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