1950's and 60's - Jumpin' Jack O'Brien Photo Gallery - click on image to view Photo Gallery by Don Boyd at pbase.com

1950's and 60's - Jumpin' Jack O'Brien Photo Gallery - click on image to view

Many thanks to Jumpin' Jack O'Brien for contributing these images of his exciting life in South Florida, for corresponding with me via e-mails and for being a friend of mine on Facebook.

TV producer Chuck Stewart has a great black and white Jack O'Brien video posted on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFUUglrY7RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFtyLFqiQNg (The Best of Jumpin' Jack O'Brien)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K79hXEipNCI (Scuba Weather/WPLG)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUGWuoZRk4U (A Municipal Auto Sales spot)

March 19, 2012: I read with much sadness on Facebook that Jumpin' Jack O'Brien has passed away in the Nashville area. Click on the "obituaries" image at the bottom to read his obituaries. This Facebook page has a recent photo of Jumpin' Jack and many comments: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2707811425795&set=a.1123114369359.2018517.1572092919&type=1&ref=nf

1957 - Deanna Briggs being crowned as Miss Miami Beach 1957 by Marcia Valibus, Miss Miami Beach 1956	1957 - Deanna Briggs, Miss Miami Beach 1957 (center) - to become Mrs. Jack O'Brien	1957 - Miss Florida Pageant - Deanna Briggs 12th from left	1957 - Miss Florida Pageant - left half of image	1957 - Miss Florida Pageant - Deanna Briggs 2nd from left - right half of image
1957 - UM Miss Florida 1957 contestants Dorothy Steiner, Deanna Briggs, Rhona Berube, Adrianne Goyette and Rosemary Morris	1957 - Deanna Briggs, the future Mrs. Jack O'Brien, as Miss Transportation 1957 in Dade County	1957 - Deanna Briggs, Miss Miami Beach 1957, and the local Jaycees	1960s - Jumpin' Jack O'Brien belting them out on his TV show	Jack O'Brien doing a live commercial for Municipal Auto Sales in the back lot of WTVJ-TV Channel 4 (Jack's story below)
Jack O'Brien doing a Municipal Auto Sales commercial	1960s - "Jumpin" Jack O'Brien promotional photo	1960s - Captain Jack with Banjo Billy and Jumpin' Jack O'Brien	1960s - Jumpin' Jack O'Brien and flying pies	1960s - "Jumpin" Jack's Channel 10 Sell Sheet with Lester the Lazy Lion and Jack E Parrot
1960s - Membership cards for Jumpin' Jack's "Four O'Clock Club" and "Jumpin' Jack's Club" on Channel 10	1966 - partial page of an advertisement of WLBW-TV Channelo 10 in Miami	"Jumpin'" Jack O'Brien in a recent family photo prior to his passing on March 19, 2012	March 2012 - Obituaries for "Jumpin" Jack O'Brien

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Don Boyd		23-Mar-2012 01:15
Rest In Peace, Jumpin' Jack O'Brien! I am very sorry to read of your passing this week. Thank you for the many great memories over the years. You will never be forgotten by many people who lived down here during your reign of entertainment. Don

Don Boyd		20-Feb-2012 06:57
A great belated Valentine's Day message from Jumpin' Jack on Facebook that I discovered tonight for the first time: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack O'Brien Tuesday, February 14 at 8:07am near Nashville, TN "If you were my girl"....... It was six o'clock in the morning on February 14th 1958…I was still half asleep. ‘cause to ME it was still time to be in the arms of Morpheous back in my two room garage apartment in Coral Gables…not getting made up for my first modeling job ever at the Beau Rivage Hotel on beautiful Miami Beach. But there I was…it’s amazing what you will do for money when you don’t have any! There were four girls there and three other guys brought in from New York. They (all three) were a bit “swishy” to say the least, but they were also “sweet” and sweet is important at six in the morning…at least to me it is. The girl sitting in the room across from me was as cute as she could be, with her hair set up in curlers and a darlin’ nose…and she was slim…I like SLIM! She was not interested in what I liked or didn’t like and the next thing I knew I was paired up with Miss Shapely of 1958 who tipped the scales at around 135 or 140 and my assignment was to pick her up and carry her from the surf to a dry spot on the beach. Did I mention that the temperature that morning was around fifty and we were all in bathing suits. Yup, it was the first cold front of the year movin’ though…did I Mention that I hate cold? Well I do! Joyce (Miss Shapely) was HEAVY and I sunk deeply into the famous Miami Beach sand as I carried her to and fro...hither and yon…back and forth while Milton Green, world famous photographer, got the shot that he wanted and I got a back ache and knee pains and, oh yes MONEY! The morning shoot was over and we could go…BUT we had to come back for “The Around The Fire Night Shoot, at dusk! Who said being a male model was easy??? I brought my bongo drums just in case Milton would pay more for music, but I ended up making seven dollars from the seven other models. If I would promise not to sing ever again if they were in hearing distance. The shoot didn't take long and I didn’t have to pick up Joyce at all…we just sat around the fire as Milton shot away and when the words “it’s a Wrap” echoed down the beach we headed for our cars and suddenly there was the slim girl from the morning standing there in front of me. Remember it was Valentines Day, so I asked her where her boyfriend was taking her and she said “He’s in Tallahassee…he’s a lawyer." And I said those famous words that will echo along the sand dunes of Miami Beach FOREVER! “If you were MY girl I’d NEVER leave you alone on Valentines Day!” And then I added “I am the track announcer at The Miami Beach Kennel club…if you aren’t going anywhere tonight would you like to sit up in the announcers booth and watch the dogs run…and me announce?????" And there was a long pause (at least it seemed long) and then she said :”yes, I would love to!” We’ve been married now for 53 years…our courtship deserves a story all of its own, so that will be up next here on A VALENTINES DAY TO REMEMBER! Jack ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What a GREAT story Jumpin' Jack! : ) Don

Susan Ellis		08-Oct-2011 22:14
I still have my membership card from about 1964! Very cool to see Jumpin Jack remembered.

Guest		14-May-2011 05:36
Jack could you do a where they are now from the channel 10 days with photos ?

Guest		15-Apr-2011 06:40
Banjo Billy is alive and well. And a nice guy.

Steve		23-Mar-2011 21:33
I watched that show almost every day. I had my birthday at Banjo Billy's fun boat. When Al Alligator would show up, the Captain would NEVER see the gator. So I got up and grabbed the puppet and told the Captain, "he's right here...he's right here..." I was kicked out and had to sit in the lobby.

Jayme Harpring		09-Nov-2010 02:27
Banjo Billy was a friend of my dad, Jim Harper, who was a disc jockey on WINZ radio in the late 1950s and early 1960s. When I was around 5, he asked Banjo Billy to come and play at my birthday party. All of us kids were so thrilled when he showed up (it was a surprise to me, too!) Those were sweet days in old Miami.

Guest		19-Mar-2010 00:00
My sister was on the Banjo Billy show. I remember the theme song: "...clap your hands and stamp your feet, I'll do the strummin' you keep the beat. Hey, Mr. Banjo play a tune for me." I also remember, the Charlie Baxter Show (Banjo Billy was Channel 10 the ABC affiliate, Charlie Baxter was on channel 7 (WCKT) the NPC affiliate, and Skipper Chuck on Wometco's CBS channel 4). Charlie went on to, of course, M.T. Graves, as well as narrating a number of Planetarium shows at BCC.

Willy		26-Feb-2010 08:37
I remember the theme song like it was yesterday. Also diver Dan and that pesky Baracuda. I was on the Banjo Billy Show and Skipper Chuck. Great days my freinds.

Linda		24-Feb-2010 00:13
I was on the Banjo Billy show. I must have been about 3, was born in Miami in 1958. They brought puppies out, the whole thing scared me, there was no fun boat.

Gil		11-Feb-2010 23:14
to rich piels- i worked at a horse 'ranch' in teh late 50's in an area west of sweetwater - there were two draft horses there - they had been the team of horses in the run-a-way wagon in Wind Over The Everglades

Chuck Stewart		28-Jun-2009 21:41
Jumpin' Jack has a new Facebook group for all members. Check it out. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198631575566

Pokey		06-Feb-2009 21:32
Charlie If you are still out there, I also remember Jack from the old go kart days at Hialeah and Medley speedways, Would like to talk to you about the karting days I can be found on the Hialeah site most of the time take care Pokey

the bassest		28-Mar-2008 16:52
In the early 60's I was part of a great south Florida band known as Russ Samuel & the Vanguards. I remember having Jumpin' Jack O'Brien sit in with us one night on drums, the man could play. We had trouble getting our regular drummer back on stage so he could earn a few bucks.

Guest		25-Jan-2008 00:34
Jumpin' Jack's 4 o'Clock Club was the "babysitter" for thousands of us Miami kids who'd come home from school two hours before our parents got home from work. When people do a show like that, I wonder if they realize how those small viewers will keep all those good times inside them for the rest of their lives? Once when Jack O'Brien was doing sports on ch10 and discussing a grid team's fumble problems, he presented a solution by holding up a football with a handle attached. :D --X1

Don Boyd		02-Jan-2008 07:27
Hi Rich, I'm sorry to hear about your mom's present condition. I'll send you a private e-mail. Don

Rich Peil		02-Jan-2008 03:16
Hi! My name is Rich Peil, and my Mother was Miss Sarasota 1957. I am here in Sarasota with her right now as she is in a Hospice House in the last few days of her life. We have Mom's pictures from this 1957 pageant in her room, and many come in to see the album of their "local celebrity". If you would like more pictures or information, please send me an email. Mom was runner up in the Florida Pageant and went on to New York where she was in a couple of TV shows and one Movie "Winds Over the Everglades" She later went on to get married and settle down in Minneapolis and then in her 50's earn her Masters Degree and work for many years helping women in the end of their lives. She is a great lady who has touched so many!

Guest		22-Dec-2007 07:26
Hi Jack (take me to cuba) Do you have any tapes of your show or Banjo Billys Funboat? Is Banjo and Jack still with us. Could you post a new photo of yourself.

Guest		23-Nov-2007 22:02
Believe it or not, I actually had my 7th birthday party (1965) on the Banjo Billy Funboat TV show. Good god, this is amazing

charlie		21-Oct-2007 00:14
I remember waiting to start our go-kart race for Jack to arrive by heli to be in the race this was in the early 60's

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