Jimmy Walker
Encyclopedia
James John Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker and colloquially as Beau James (June 19, 1881 November 18, 1946), was the mayor of New York City
from 1926 to 1932. During a corruption scandal he was forced to resign.
, a Democratic assemblyman and alderman from Greenwich Village
, belying certain accounts of Walker's childhood that stated he grew up in poverty. Before entering politics, the young Jimmy Walker worked as a songwriter, his most popular composition being "Will You Love Me in December (as You Do in May)?" He attended Xavier High School (New York City)
, and New York Law School
.
Walker was a member of the New York State Assembly
from 1910 to 1914, and of the New York State Senate
from 1914 to 1925. He was President pro tempore of the New York State Senate
from 1923 to 1924.
In 1926 he became Mayor of New York City, having defeated incumbent John F. Hylan
in the 1925 Democratic primary with the help of Governor Alfred E. Smith and Tammany Hall
. The initial years of his mayoralty were a prosperous time for the city, with many public works projects. However, Walker's term was also known for the proliferation of speakeasies during the Prohibition
era. His affairs with "chorus girls" were widely known, and he left his wife, Janet, for showgirl Betty Compton
without impairing his popularity. He managed to maintain the five-cent subway fare despite a threatened strike.
Walker won re-election by an overwhelming margin in 1929, defeating Republican Fiorello La Guardia and Socialist Norman Thomas
. Walker's fortunes turned downward with the economy
– due to the stock-market crash of 1929
. Patrick Joseph Hayes, the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, denounced him, implying that the immorality of the mayor, both personal and political in tolerating "girlie magazine
s" and casino
s, was a cause of the economic downturn.
Increasing social unrest led to investigations into corruption within his administration, and he was eventually forced to testify before the investigative committee of Judge Samuel Seabury
, the Seabury Commission
. One of the specific allegations against him was an extortion scheme which utilized the court system as its enforcer. Innocent people were pulled off the street and accused of crimes they had not committed. "Professional witnesses" would testify falsely to their guilt, forcing the victims to either pay bribes or go to jail.
Facing pressure from Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Walker resigned from office on September 1, 1932, and promptly fled for Europe
until the danger of criminal prosecution appeared remote. There, he married Betty Compton.
After his return to the United States, for a time Walker acted as head of Majestic Records
. He died at the age of 65, in 1946. He was interred in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery
in Hawthorne, New York
.
, starring Bob Hope
. The film was based on a biography of Walker, also titled Beau James, written by Gene Fowler
. This same book was also the basis for Jimmy, a stage musical about Walker that had a brief Broadway run from October 1969 to January 1970, starring Frank Gorshin
as Walker and Anita Gillette
as Betty Compton. There is also a song about Walker in the stage musical Fiorello!
, "Gentleman Jimmy".
Footage of Jimmy Walker is used in the 1983 Woody Allen film, Zelig, with Walker being one the guests during Zelig's visit to Randolph Hearst's mansion, San Simeon.
The novel It Can't Happen Here
, by Sinclair Lewis, lists the exiles in Paris as "Jimmy Walker, and a few ex-presidents from South America and Cuba."
Mayor Walker was referenced in the December 6, 2010 episode of the ABC
(USA) television series, Castle
.
The political and criminal activity surrounding Walker's 1929 campaign features heavily in Tom Bradby's 2009 novel 'Blood Money'.
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
from 1926 to 1932. During a corruption scandal he was forced to resign.
Life and career
Walker was the son of Irish-born William WalkerWilliam Walker (politician)
William Henry Walker was an Irish-born member of the New York State Assembly and Alderman from Greenwich Village. A reform minded Democrat, he was the father of New York City mayor Jimmy Walker...
, a Democratic assemblyman and alderman from Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, belying certain accounts of Walker's childhood that stated he grew up in poverty. Before entering politics, the young Jimmy Walker worked as a songwriter, his most popular composition being "Will You Love Me in December (as You Do in May)?" He attended Xavier High School (New York City)
Xavier High School (New York City)
Xavier High School is a independent Jesuit university-preparatory high school for young men located at 30 West 16th Street, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1847, as the College of St. Francis Xavier by Father John Larkin, S.J...
, and New York Law School
New York Law School
New York Law School is a private law school in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. The school is located within four blocks of all major courts in Manhattan. In 2011, New York Law School...
.
Walker was a member of the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
from 1910 to 1914, and of the New York State Senate
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
from 1914 to 1925. He was President pro tempore of the New York State Senate
Majority Leader of the New York State Senate
The Majority Leader of the New York State Senate is elected by the majority of the members of the New York State Senate. The position usually coincides with the title of Temporary President of the State Senate, who presides over the session of the State Senate if the Lieutenant Governor of New York...
from 1923 to 1924.
In 1926 he became Mayor of New York City, having defeated incumbent John F. Hylan
John F. Hylan
John Francis Hylan , nicknamed "Red Mike", was the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925.-Biography:Hylan was born in Hunter, New York a town in upstate Greene County where his family owned a farm. Hylan married young, became dissatisfied with farm life and moved to Brooklyn with his bride, and...
in the 1925 Democratic primary with the help of Governor Alfred E. Smith and Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
. The initial years of his mayoralty were a prosperous time for the city, with many public works projects. However, Walker's term was also known for the proliferation of speakeasies during the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
era. His affairs with "chorus girls" were widely known, and he left his wife, Janet, for showgirl Betty Compton
Betty Compton
Betty Compton was a stage actress who married New York City mayor Jimmy Walker in 1933. She was born as Violet Halling Compton in Sandown, Isle of Wight....
without impairing his popularity. He managed to maintain the five-cent subway fare despite a threatened strike.
Walker won re-election by an overwhelming margin in 1929, defeating Republican Fiorello La Guardia and Socialist Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
. Walker's fortunes turned downward with the economy
Economic system
An economic system is the combination of the various agencies, entities that provide the economic structure that defines the social community. These agencies are joined by lines of trade and exchange along which goods, money etc. are continuously flowing. An example of such a system for a closed...
– due to the stock-market crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
. Patrick Joseph Hayes, the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, denounced him, implying that the immorality of the mayor, both personal and political in tolerating "girlie magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s" and casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s, was a cause of the economic downturn.
Increasing social unrest led to investigations into corruption within his administration, and he was eventually forced to testify before the investigative committee of Judge Samuel Seabury
Samuel Seabury (judge)
Samuel Seabury was an American lawyer and politician from New York.-Life:He was the son of William Jones Seabury, professor of canon law and descendant of Bishop Samuel Seabury, and Alice Van Wyck Beare. He graduated from New York Law School in 1893, and was admitted to the bar in 1894...
, the Seabury Commission
Seabury Commission
The Seabury Commission investigations into the New York magistrate's courts and police department in the early 1930s led to wholesale changes in the method of arrest, bail and litigation of suspects in New York City....
. One of the specific allegations against him was an extortion scheme which utilized the court system as its enforcer. Innocent people were pulled off the street and accused of crimes they had not committed. "Professional witnesses" would testify falsely to their guilt, forcing the victims to either pay bribes or go to jail.
Facing pressure from Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Walker resigned from office on September 1, 1932, and promptly fled for Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
until the danger of criminal prosecution appeared remote. There, he married Betty Compton.
Majestic Records
Majestic Records was a mid-20th century New York City based record label. The label enjoyed its greatest commercial success in the 1940s, until over-ambitious expansion and an inability to keep distributors supplied with pressings of discs resulted in financial problems, and the label folded in...
. He died at the age of 65, in 1946. He was interred in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
The Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, United States, as a Roman Catholic burial site...
in Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 4,586 at the 2010 census.-History:...
.
In popular culture
A romanticized version of Walker's tenure as mayor was presented in the 1957 film Beau JamesBeau James
Beau James is a 1957 film based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Gene Fowler.The movie stars Bob Hope as Jimmy Walker, the colourful but controversial Mayor of New York City from 1926-32. American prints of this film are narrated by Walter Winchell; in Britain, the film was narrated by...
, starring Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
. The film was based on a biography of Walker, also titled Beau James, written by Gene Fowler
Gene Fowler
Gene Fowler was an American journalist, author and dramatist.He was born in Denver, Colorado. When his mother remarried, young Gene took his stepfather's name to become Gene Fowler. Fowler's career had a false start in taxidermy, which he later claimed permanently gave him a distaste for red meat...
. This same book was also the basis for Jimmy, a stage musical about Walker that had a brief Broadway run from October 1969 to January 1970, starring Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
as Walker and Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
as Betty Compton. There is also a song about Walker in the stage musical Fiorello!
Fiorello!
Fiorello! is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, a reform Republican who took on Tammany Hall. The book is by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, drawn substantially from the 1955 volume Life With Fiorello by Ernest Cuneo, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock...
, "Gentleman Jimmy".
Footage of Jimmy Walker is used in the 1983 Woody Allen film, Zelig, with Walker being one the guests during Zelig's visit to Randolph Hearst's mansion, San Simeon.
The novel It Can't Happen Here
It Can't Happen Here
It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical American political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 by Doubleday, Doran. It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement "patriotic" and creates his own militia and takes unconstitutional power after winning election —...
, by Sinclair Lewis, lists the exiles in Paris as "Jimmy Walker, and a few ex-presidents from South America and Cuba."
Mayor Walker was referenced in the December 6, 2010 episode of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(USA) television series, Castle
Castle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
.
The political and criminal activity surrounding Walker's 1929 campaign features heavily in Tom Bradby's 2009 novel 'Blood Money'.
See also
- List of mayors of New York City
- List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s - 11 Jan. 1926, 20 May 1929.
- New York City mayoral elections