In Popular Culture
A romanticized version of Walker's tenure as mayor was presented in the 1957 film Beau James, 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 William 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.
Read more about this topic: Jimmy Walker
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or culture:
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)
“Popular culture is seductive; high culture is imperious.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)