DID YOU KNOW.....?

Since Leo Jackson died last year, the fan club has frequently received requests from fans for unknown or rarely published  information and/or stories about Jim Reeves and the people who were associated with him.  The 'DID YOU KNOW?' section has been added to the website  today and  there will be regular updates and the newest  entry will appear on top. Nowhere else will you be able to read those stories and facts.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ...?

Did you know that  within 24 hours after returning from a  successful tour of South Africa, Jim Reeves and the Blue Boys left for a tour which ended with a 2 week engagement at the Mint Club, Las Vegas, at the end of September 1962?

DID YOU KNOW THAT  JIM REEVES AND GINNY WRIGHT ALMOST RECORDED A SECOND DUET?

Did you know that  Jim Reeves and Ginny Wright almost recorded a second duet after their hit “I LOVE YOU’?  They were to record “I’M IN HEAVEN’, and even practised it at Jim’s house, but when Ginny arrived at the recording studio, Tom Bearden instead of Jim, was her recording partner. Fabor Robinson and Jim Reeves had  some disagreements earlier that day and Fabor decided to replace Jim Reeves with Tom. It is Ginny Wright's opinion  that the record had a much smaller success than it would have had, if Jim had sang on it.

DID YOU KNOW THAT  JIM REEVES WAS ONCE WAS MEMBER OF A TRIO?

At the start of his singing career , Jim was member of a trio, he was known as Sonny Day, the two other members were  Fred Ledbetter, aka. Cole Knight, and Al Courtney. They performed locally and occasionally on radio.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ON 3 DECEMBER 1959,  JIM REEVES PERFORMED AT A CAMPUS?

Did you know that on December 3, it was 50 years ago that Jim Reeves, and some other country acts entertained at a banquet in the Vanderbilt University in Nashville. It was the first time that Grand Ole Opry artists appeared on the campus.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM RECORDED A CHRISTMAS SONG WHICH IS KNOWN BY TWO TITLES?

Did you know that Jim Reeves recorded a Christmas song which is known by two titles? 'Mary's Boy Child' is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It was first recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1956, for his album An Evening with Belafonte.  The song was also recorded by Mahalia Jackson in 1956 but titled as 'Mary's Little Boy Child'. Jester Hairston is given credits for text and music for both titles by the US Copyright office.

On the 'Twelve Songs of Christmas'  album, the song is listed as 'Mary's Little Boy Child' on the US version, and 'Mary's Boy Child'  on the UK release.

Jim Reeves recorded 11 Christmas songs in two sessions on 19 and 25 October 1962. They first appeared on a South African Jim Reeves album; RCA 31.672 'MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JIM REEVES', due to Jim's huge popularity there after a very successful tour in that country.  Click  here to read about more about the South African release.

Jim recorded the song 'Silver Bells' on 5 July 1963, to make it a twelve song album for Christmas 1963 release in the USA.
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT ON 15 OCTOBER 1955 JIM REEVES PERFORMED ON THE "OZARK JUBILEE" TV SHOW?

On 15th of October 1955, Jim Reeves sang "Yonder Come A Sucker" on what likely was his very first appearance on the "Ozark Jubilee"  television show. The show was hosted by Webb Pierce, who replaced Red Foley. This was the first of quite  a few appearances in that show, which was renamed "Country Music Jubilee" in July 1957, and "Jubilee USA" in  August 1958.  In June 1958 Jim replaced Red Foley as host for a few  weeks. 
 

DID YOU KNOW TOM PERRYMAN WAS THE FIRST WHO PLAYED JIM REEVES' RECORD AM I LOSING YOU?

Did you know that Tom Perryman was the first deejay to play Jims "AM I LOSING YOU" record? Jim had recorded the song earlier that evening  in RCA Studio B and took an acetate record of it  to Tom, who played it at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning at his all night show at WSM Radio.   The song was the biggest self penned hit for Jim Reeves.

DID YOU KNOW JIM REEVES HELPED A BLIND GIRL?

As was his custom after a performance, Jim Reeves was signing autographs. The autograph line moved along, and when it became her turn, a woman asked Jim if he would autograph a photo for her blind niece. Of course, he did.

Later, there was an article about this particular blind girl in her hometown South Carolina newspaper. She was ten years old, and had been blind from birth. Her eyes were "undeveloped".  Recently, her left eye had begun to shrivel, both eyes hurt, and the headaches she'd been having were blamed on her eyes. Her doctors decided that the best thing to do would be to remove her eyes and replace them with plastic ones. The article was published on the day of her surgery.

Besides mentioning that the girl attended the school for the deaf and blind in Spartanburg, the article also told about her singing in church the previous Sunday, how she loved to play house and play with her dolls, and that Jim Reeves was her favorite singer. She said that she had an autographed picture of Jim which she treasured.

Near the end of the article, the girl's mother said that her daughter wanted a braille watch, but the family had been unable to find one for her.

A disc jockey at a small radio station in the blind girl's hometown cut out the article and sent it, along with a letter, to Jim Reeves. The DJ wrote that the little girl loved the songs by "My Jim Reeves", as she called him. The DJ asked Jim to send the girl a card or "...a small record with you saying a prayer for her recovery."

Jim responded to the DJ's letter about the little blind girl by going beyond what had been asked of him. Although it took several weeks, Jim did what the girl's parents had been unable to do: he found and bought the little blind girl a braille watch and had it sent to her.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES SOLD PUZZLES?

Along with the photos and tourbooks and songbooks which Jim Reeves sold at his performances, he also sold puzzles. Inside a tiny envelope with "Jim Reeves and The Blue Boys" printed on the outside, was a paper "T" puzzle. The puzzle consisted of several odd-shaped pieces of paper with the object of the puzzle being to arrange the pieces to form the letter "T". In October, 1962, Jim ordered 3,000 of the puzzles from a printer in California

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES HAD A "RUN-IN" IN PRINTER'S ALLEY?

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES ENJOYED NASHVILLE'S MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL?

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM BULLEIT HELPED TO BOOK JIM REEVES ON THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE IN 1951?

Jim Bulleit helped to book Jim Reeves on the Louisiana  Hayride on July 14, 1951? In January 1951, KWKH hired Jim Bulleit, who had started his own  Bullit record label in 1946,  as a full-time artists' service representative.   In 1952  Jim Bulleit quit and moved back to his family in Nashville. In the brief period he was at KWKH, he had helped to book several important acts such as JIM REEVES, Slim Whitman, and the Wilburn Brothers.

This very interesting and important information had first been published in a 1995 Ph. D. dissertation "LOUISIANA SATURDAY NIGHT: A History of Louisiana Country Music"  by Steven R. Tucker, and quoted in the book "LOUISIANA HAYRIDE - Radio & Roots Music Along the Red River" by Tracey E. W. Laird, which was published in 2005.  I sincerely hope that this info is useful for a Jim Reeves biographer who, for a number of years,  has been struggling to finish his book and apparently is quite unaware of this information.

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE FIRST 'THE JIM REEVES SHOW' WAS BROADCAST ON OCTOBER 7, 1957?

Did you know that the first 'The Jim Reeves Show' was broadcast on 7 October 1957 over ABN ? It ran for 21 weeks on weekdays (105 one hour episodes)  till 28 February 1958. The ARMED FORCES RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE is known to have transcribed  74 condensed episodes  of 25 minutes each on 16" discs for transmission to American Forces serving abroad.

DID YOU KNOW THAT IN 1965 JIM REEVES' FANS   COULD LOOK FORWARD TO A BOOK ON JIM'S LIFE?

Did you know that Jim Reeves' fans could look forward to a book on Jim's life? In April 1965 Mary Reeves reported in an interview that she soon would begin work on the book. The title would have been derived from the conversation Jim was having with the tower at the Nashville airport at the instant the plane went down.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ....?

Did you know that on May 26, 1962, Jim Reeves appeared on the Harvey's Record Department portion of the Grand Ole Opry. He sang both sides of his new RCA Victor release, "Adios Amigo", and "A Letter To My Heart." The single was offered free along with an autographed  photo of Jim, with each purchase from Harvey's of Reeves' album, "He'll Have To Go."  Harvey's is a well known department store in Nashville.

DID YOU KNOW THAT EDDY ARNOLD REPLACED JIM REEVES ON ONE EPISODE OF THE ABN 'THE JIM REEVES SHOW' ?

Did you know that Eddy Arnold replaced Jim Reeves on  one episode of the ABN 'The Jim Reeves Show'? Jim reported ill with the flu and Eddy Arnold was invited to replace him.  It must have sounded funny to the audience to hear Eddy, "The Tennessee Plowboy' making jokes about situations in Jim's  birthplace, Carthage, Texas.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ....?

Did you know that in April, 1957 RCA Victor artists Jim Reeves, Del Wood, Hank Locklin, Janis Martin, The Browns, and the Wagonmasters embarked on a European tour, giving approximately 30 concerts for both military and civilians. Before leaving for Europe, they did two shows, one in the armory at Akron, Ohio  and one  in Toledo.  And they also appeared on the NBC-TV's TONIGHT show.
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES PERFORMED OTHER ARTIST'S SONGS BEFORE HE HAD HIS OWN SONGS?

In 1952, a year before Jim Reeves had his first hit record, he performed the popular songs of the day which had been made famous by established singers. To help him remember the lyrics to the songs he performed, he carried a little black notebook which contained the typed and hand-written words to many songs.

Within the notebook are the words to many country and western songs, but also there are several "pop" songs as well. The notebook is arranged  alphabetically by song title. The first song in the notebook is the same song which Jim recorded about eight years later for his RCA LP, "The Intimate Jim Reeves": "Almost".

The established artist  who had more songs in Jim's book than any other was Hank Williams. Hank was still living at the time, and his popularity was reflected by all the aspiring artists like Jim Reeves who performed Hank's songs. The following Hank Williams songs were in Jim's song notebook in 1952:

1. Baby, We're Really In Love
2. Cold, Cold Heart
3. Half As Much
4. Hey, Good Lookin'
5. I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You
6. I'm Sorry for You, My Friend
7. Jambalaya

Jim also performed songs by Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell, Carl Smith, and several other country music singers, as witnessed by their songs appearing in Jim's song lyric notebook.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that the Vickers Viking  airplane in which Jim Reeves, Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer and the Blue Boys were flown during their South African Tour in 1962, has been preserved.  A two part article about that tour by Mr. David Davies, was published in the latest two issues of the fan club magazine. Mr. Davies mentioned several incidents with the airplane during that tour. In January 1963, the airplane was put on the roof of a petrol station near Johannesburg. It was removed and taken to the Jan Smuts airport for restoration in March 1987 where it still stands as a tatty hulk.

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE ABN RADIO JIM REEVES  SHOW WAS ALSO TRANSMITTED IN EUROPE?

Did you  know that the US ARMED FORCES RADIO TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE produced 25 minutes  editions of the ABN RADIO JIM REEVES SHOW for transmission on  AFN radio stations outside the USA? The program was broadcast in Europe too and  attracted little or no attention from the then few European Jim Reeves fans. It did not got mentioned in any of the  European 'Hillbilly Music' magazines of that era or in any other European country music magazines since. Possibly the 'pop' content of the programs was the reason for this. 
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES WAS A DEPUTY SHERIFF?

C.V."Buster" Kern was the sheriff of Harris County, Texas (Houston is the county seat) from 1949 until 1972. Sheriff Kern had a custom of deputizing celebrities who visited Houston. He presented them with gold deputy sheriff's badges. Among the celebrities who became Harris County deputies and received gold badges were actor James Cagney, comedian Milton Berle, Elvis Presley, and Jim Reeves.

During a visit to Houston in March,1960, Jim was made a deputy by Sheriff Kern. The badge which the sheriff gave to Jim reads, "Deputy Sheriff, Harris County, Texas, Jim Reeves". Jim also received a matching pair of cuff links (with the Harris County Sheriff's logo) at the time. The Badge and cuff links have survived, and are in a private collection.

In a photo taken on the occasion, Jim is wearing the black and white houndstooth coat which can be seen on the " Gentleman Jim" LP, among others. Sheriff Kern is placing the badge on Jim's left coat lapel, and Mrs. Kern is standing between the two men.

On the back of the picture, in Jim Reeves' handwriting, is the following caption:
"Sheriff Buster Kern pinning badge on Jim Reeves deputizing him as a member of the Harris County Sheriff's Dept. Mrs. Kern looks on. Houston, Texas, Rice Hotel, Thursday March 24, 1960."
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT MARY REEVES HIRED SOMEONE TO PROMOTE THE JIM REEVES MUSEUM WHEN IT FIRST OPENED?

Fredda Lee was employed to publicize the new Jim Reeves Museum at Nashville, Tennessee. She went to to television and radio stations all across America. In the early 1980's, Fredda logged thousands of miles working for Mary by talking about the museum devoted to Jim.

Almost everywhere she went to be interviewed about the museum and Jim Reeves, whether it was a radio station or a TV station, her promotional work was recorded. Now, almost 30 years after the Jim Reeves Museum first opened, many of those audio tapes and video tapes still survive. Unfortunately, The Jim Reeves Museum itself has not survived.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION FROM THE COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION?

Jim Reeves and several other country music performers participated in a couple of C&W shows sponsored by The Country Music Association. The shows were intended to promote country music.

Afterwards, Jim received a certificate from the CMA, dated February 22, 1964, "...for his generous contribution of time and talent in our mutual cause for the broader acceptance and progress of country music."

The certificate was signed by Frances Preston, as Chairman of the Board of the CMA. It was also signed by the then President of the CMA, Tex Ritter. As many fans know, Tex and Jim were both natives of Panola County, Texas.

 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES MADE A PILOT FOR A TV SHOW?

During Jim's time as a professional singer, several country music performers had television programs. Pee Wee King was a TV pioneer in 1947 with his TV show in Cincinnati. Red Foley's nation-wide show began in 1955. Tenn. Ernie Ford's show originated in California in 1956. "Eddy Arnold Time" was filmed in Chicago in 1955. Flatt and Scruggs had their TV show beginning in the late 1950's. Jimmy Dean's first program was in the '50's. Porter Wagoner's show began in 1960.
The Wilburn Brothers Show started in 1963.

All of these country music shows enjoyed varying degrees of success either on a network basis or in syndication. Yet, the pilot for The Jim Reeves Show did not sell. From the documents which survive, it seems that there was little or no interest in Jim's show among TV executives or advertisers.

One possible explanation for the failure of The Jim Reeves Show pilot to sell has little to do with Jim Reeves himself. The format of the pilot, it's production values, and the general show environment may have caused it to go unsold.

Jim Reeves was a major star and was quite popular by the time the pilot was made, so it seems doubtful that he was the reason the show was rejected. If you compare Jim's pilot with the successful TV shows of his contemporaries, there are some differences, however.

On the successful country music shows of the day, almost all of the music was performed live using singers and musicians, and very little lip-synching. Jim just talked and lip-synched. Most of the other shows had an ensemble-like cast: the star, the musicians, and often a comedian. Jim's show had Jim and a couple of guests. The guests also lip-synched their songs. There was often lively, humorous interaction between the cast members throughout these other shows. Jim talked to the camera or introduced his guests. Most of the other shows had relatively higher production values than Jim's show. The other guys had nicer sets, better visuals, etc. Jim had a slide projector, slides, and a screen.

It is unfortunate that a performer of Jim's stature did not have a better media vehicle to take him before the TV public. If only...

If Jim had performed his songs live with The Blue Boys; if there had been a first class TV "set"; if he would have used a comedian, such as Archie Campbell or Minnie Pearl; if...

But it happened the way it happened. And the powers that be were not interested.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES WAS AN OUTSTANDING PLAYER ON HIS CARTHAGE, TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM?

Did you know that Jim Reeves was an outstanding player on his Carthage, Texas high school baseball team?

Although he was 85 years old at the time, Jim's coach, Mr. E. B. Morrison, remembered Jim well when asked about him. "Jim Reeves was one of my players. He was an all-state pitcher." said Morrison.

In those days, "The boys didn't get letters for playing baseball. I did have three boys who won all-state honor for baseball and did receive awards. They got little gold baseballs."

Jim Reeves won his little gold baseball in 1941, and it was engraved to him and recognized his outstanding achievement. That particular little gold baseball has survived and is in a private collection.

 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES GAVE A NEW RCA TELEVISION TO AN ELDERLY LADY?

On October 21, 1963, an 81 year old woman living in Houston, Texas wrote a letter to Jim Reeves asking for his help in obtaining a television set. She did not ask Jim to buy her a TV and give it to her for free. Apparently, the woman's reasoning was that since Jim "worked" for RCA, he might be able to help her get an RCA TV at a discount. She wrote: "I can
pay by the month a small amount...I was hoping that you could get one cheaper than I can."

It appears that Jim soon contacted the RCA distributor in Houston and made some secret arrangements to surprise an old woman.

On October 30, 1963, one of the female employees from the Houston distributor delivered a brand new RCA TV and TV stand to the elderly lady's modest home, set it up, and showed her how to operate the TV.

In his letter to Jim, an employee of the Houstion RCA distributor wrote that the elderly lady who received the gift from Jim "...was thrilled beyond words."
 

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that after Jim Reeves appeared on Lawrence Welk's television program in 1958, Mr. Welk sent Jim a thank you note?

In his thank you note to Jim Reeves, Lawrence Welk expressed his appreciation to Jim for appearing on his TV show. Welk said that they "all" enjoyed Jim's performance. And Welk further said: "...your wonderful cooperation made it a pleasure to work with you."

An interesting feature of Lawrence Welk's personal stationery is a silhouette of Welk and his accordion standing in a champagne glass with bubbles all around.
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES HAD AT LEAST THREE MANAGERS?

Did you know that Jim Reeves had at least three managers? Early in his career when he was with Abbott Records, Jim signed a management contract with Fabor Robison, owner of Abbott Records. After the acrimonious split with Robison, Jim next hired Herb Shucher to manage his career. By that time, Jim had signed with RCA Records. The business association between Jim and Herb lasted a few years, but was eventually dissolved. Many fans may not know that Jim had a third manger by the name of Jim Barry. Barry's tenure as Jim Reeves' manager was short. The few photographs of Barry taken with Jim show Barry dressed in a dinner jacket and wearing a bow tie, which is quite similar to the attire worn at the time by his boss.
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT CHEYENNE HAD ORIGINALLY ANOTHER  NAME?

Did you know that when one day Mary Reeves bought a Collie and called him Tango. Jim was out on a tour and when Mary phoned him and mentioned the name of dog. Jim told her that he didn't like that name. They decided that since he was in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the dog would be  called Cheyenne instead.
 

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES RECEIVED AN AGRICULTURE CLASS AWARD?

Most fans are aware that Jim Reeves grew up on a farm in Texas, but did you know that Jim received an award while in high school for his work in an agriculture class? In 1940 Jim received a certificate of achievement from his high school chapter of the Texas Future Farmers of America for his outstanding work in class. The certificate still exists and is part of major private collection of Jim Reeves memorabilia.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM WORE A HAIRPIECE?

Most Jim Reeves fans know that he wore a hairpiece. The hairpieces which he wore during the last few years of his life were top quality, coming from a California maker.

However, some of his earlier "rugs" did not look so good. In fact, one hairpiece in particular may have played a small part in Jim's missing out on what could have been a significant career advancement.

In 1957, Jim's hit record, "Four Walls", opened many doors for him. One door led Jim to New York City and a meeting with talent agents from an internationally known agency and representatives of corporate America. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce Jim to the corporate reps. Unfortunately, the meeting did not go well for Jim. Later, in his analysis of the meeting, one of the agents stated some reasons why he thought Jim was passed over, and the hairpiece was mentioned. The agent suggested that Jim get a new and better-looking hairpiece.

It is clear from the surviving documents that the hairpiece was only a minor factor in the New York meeting not going well. But it appears that from the time of the meeting onward, the quality and appearance of Jim's hairpieces improved. He seems to have heeded the advice of the New York talent agent.

DID YOU KNOW THAT JIM REEVES HAD MORE THAN ONE SECRETARY?

Did you know that Jim Reeves had more than one secretary? Most long-time fans are aware that Joyce Gray (later Joyce Jackson) was Jim's secretary for several years. But before Jim hired Miss Gray to take care of the office work of correspondence, filing, typing, etc., another woman had those responsibilities. Although it was only for a short time, Shirley O'Daniel handled the secretarial work before Joyce Gray took over.