Figure 1.--This image shows Jacki Jenkins photographed about 1944. Notice the stripped "T"-shirt with suspender pants. Not very stylish, but certainly the way many American boys dressed in the 1940s. |
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Jackie was a freckled-faced little charmer of MGM films in the 1940s. Jackie was one of the most unpolished-looking youths ever to appear before the camera, this freckled, buck toothed, red headed youngster enjoyed a brief, but high voltage career at MGM in some outstanding 1940s films. Apparently, Jackie was playing on a California beach when he was spotted by a MGM director. The director asked him if he wanted to be a movie actor. Jackie relied, No, I'd rather play." His mother, however, thought it a splendid idea. Insouciant cuteness was Jackie's stock in trade, and the asset was well displayed in several MGM offerings. Jackie received good reviews for "My Brother Talks to Horses" (1946). He looked rather cute done up in a sailor suit in the color musical "Summer Holiday" (1948) playing Mickey Rooney's younger brother. That was the same part that Mickey had played in an earlier version called "Ah, Wilderness" (1933). His most famous film was "National Velvet (1944)". Jackie became the most destinctive child star of the mid-1940s. His face was widely recognized. His career, however, was very brief.
Jackie's father was a captain in the U.S. Ferry Command and his mother was actress Doris Dudley. The family moved a great deal in his earlier years, including a stint in the West Indies.
Jackie was born August 19, 1937, in Los Angeles.
Jackie was a freckled-faced little charmer of MGM films in the 1940s. Jackie was one of the most unpolished-looking youths ever to appear before the camera, this freckled, buck toothed, red headed youngster enjoyed a brief, but high voltage career at MGM in some outstanding 1940s films. Apparently, Jackie was playing on a California beach when he was spotted by a MGM director. The director asked him if he wanted to be a movie actor. Jackie relied, No, I'd rather play." His mother, however, thought it a splendid idea.
His studio publicists emphasized his precociousness. One magazine reported, "His weekly allowance of 5 cents, and every cent he can wrangle on the side, goes for comic books. He can't read, but the pictures fascinate him. .... He's completely unself-conscious and once went to a rodeo with his pants half ripped off. They caught on the bus. And pooh-pooh to those who gazed upon the rear of one Jackie Jenkins. To those he `gives looks.'"
Jackie did not charm everyone. Even before he became a star, the Santa Monica beach guard dubbed him "the holy terror." Darryl Hickman, who attended the MGM school with him recalls him as "the most miserable kid I've ever known." Anotgher student (the girl who played the brt opposite Shirley Temple) at the MGM School alsp though that he was a rotten kid. She was on a TV show about movue kids, but didn't provide any details. One director reported that Jackie was a typical average kid. He had no real interest in films. He had trouble learning his lines. It was his mother who insisted that he work in movies.
Jackie's most famous film was "National Velvet (1944)". Jackie received good reviews for "My Brother Talks to Horses" (1946). He looked rather cute done up in a sailor suit in the color musical "Summer Holiday" (1948) playing Mickey Rooney's younger brother. That was the same part that Mickey had played in an earlier version called "Ah, Wilderness" (1933).
Thus Jackie joined Mickey Rooney in "Human Comedy" (1943). The movie is still considered memorable Americana. Jackie's performance caused quire a stir. One magazine gushed, ... the screen's newest menace, the freckled-faced guy who as Ulysses, stole Mr. Saroyan's hit picture right out from under the noses of seasoned veterans .. the baby faced wonder American audiences took one look at and loved." MGM was delighted, they now had a child star who wasn't the aristocratic, sensitive type (Freddie Bartholomew) or a beautiful, well bread youngster (Elizabeth Taylor). Butch was more in the tradition of Mickey Rooney, a down-to-earth, all American kid. MGM quickly signed him to a term contract.
Nutch's most famous film was "National Velvet." Insouciant cuteness was Jackie's stock in trade, and the asset was well displayed in several MGM offerings. In "National Velvet" (1944) he played the younger brother who swallows his tooth, but manages to retrieve it. The film was Set in England. He wears short pants. He began his career with Elizabeth Taylor, at the time still a child star.
In "An American Romance" the rambunctious boy played the son of a steel tycoon.
In the Americana-flavored "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (1945) he appeared with Margaret O'Brien, then the top child star on the Culver City lot. Residents of Benson Junction, a small Wisconsin town, share their joys and sorrows. The movie is based on George Victor Martin's popular 1940 novel by the same title. The small real life farming community of Benson Corners, Portage County, Wisconsin was Martin's inspiration for the book. It is a paean to small town America. The screenplay was the work of Dalton Trumbo. It was his last film before being blacklisted because he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1947). He subsequently won two Academy Awards under other names. Margaret O'Brien insisted later that the movie was largely ignored because of Trumbo's political difficulties. Trumbo was an undeniably brilliant screen writer. Had his career ended here, America would have losr several important films. He like many other liberal Americans were, however, unaware of 1) the threat posed by the Soviet Union, 2) the terrible crimes being committd by the NKVD, and 3) the extent of the Soviet espionage effort. While the excesses of the Cold war anti-Communist effort are widely discussed today, the threarts and dangers are comminly minimized. The plot is about the Norwegian-American residents of a small Wisconsin farming community. It is a look at the joys and tragedies of life as seen through the eyes of a widowed, Norwegian born Wisconsin farmer ovingly raises his daughter. The film is set in contemprary times during World War II
Jackie in "My Brother Talks to Horses" (1946) had a key part. In fact the film revolved around him. The idea of the film was that he had a way with animals. He wears several different knicker outfits. The family is on hard times and the soles of his old shoes keep flapping.
Boys' Ranch" was developed as a vehicle for MGM's new child star--Jackie "Butch" Jenkins. James Craig has the role of baseball player Dan Walker who decided to set up a Texas ranch for disadvantaged city kids. Butch of course plays Butch, a particularly precocious boy. Two misbehaving orphans are given a chance to reform by working on an cattle ranch run for boys. Skip Homeier is the child lead--Skippy, a juvenile delinquent who wants nothing to do with the ranch. Another boy at the ranch is Darryl Hickman This is of course a formula film, a remake of "Boys' Town", "Lord Jeff", and others. This version with Butch has a lighter vein. There are a series of trials and tribulations, but Skippy is of course eventually won over. Like "Boys' Town", there was aeal life basis for the film. The movie was filmed on location at an actual boys' ranch in Oldham County, near Amarillo, Texas.
Jackie became the most destinctive child star of the mid-1940s. His face was widely recognized. His career, however, was very brief. Some child stars grow up weak to temptation, others can not replace outgrown cuteness with other talents. Still others mature as to mundane a personality to capture audience interest. In the case of Jackie, the nemesis was two-fold: a vocal studder and a mother who could clearly foresee the dangers Hollywood held. But when Jackie's school work began to suffer from his film career and a stutter began increasingly to invade his line delivery, his mother, who had a first hand knowledge of show business, withdrew him from the acting field. The fans protested, but she held firm. Jackie confides that "I never regretted leaving the film business and am very grateful for my mother taking me away from it. I enjoyed the first few years of acting in movies, but I certainly don't miss it." If I heard a TV item correctly, like many other child stars, he has gotten into trouble, I think for shop lifting. I haven't been able to confirm this yet.
Jackie now supervises a Texas water system and owns car washes.
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