Jimmy O'James is a ventriloquist who first appeared in the second book in the Goosebumps Series 2000 series, Bride of the Living Dummy, as well as its television adaptation. He is a former owner of Slappy and the only one to own Slappy more than once.
History[]
Bride of the Living Dummy[]
Jimmy O'James is a teenage ventriloquist who works with Slappy. He performs at the Little Theater, where the dummy constantly insults Jimmy, which Jimmy tries to laugh off, but his disturbed and upset face tells a different story. Slappy also ends up insulting Katie and Amanda Zinman. After the show, Katie and Amanda run off to find Jimmy and Slappy and tell him how mean he was. Their older sister Jillian gives chase, but soon finds Slappy and Jimmy arguing in Jimmy's dressing room. Jimmy passes it off as him practicing with the dummy. After the encounter with Jillian, Jimmy throws Slappy in the dumpster behind the theater, where Harrison Cohen, Jillian's friend, finds it. He brings Slappy to Jillian, where the dummy once again seems to cause mischief. Harrison and Jillian later find Jimmy leaving the magic shop, but when they tell him that they have Slappy, he runs away in a panic.
In the television adaptation, Jimmy discovers Slappy's trunk in a pile of debris. He also finds the card containing the magic words. He reads them aloud, which awakens Slappy. Slappy gives Jimmy an offer he can't refuse, and the pair work together in a ventriloquist act. Jillian spies on Jimmy and Slappy arguing, to which he denies. However, instead of throwing Slappy out, he mails the dummy to Jillian's house instead. When Jillian finds him later, she sees the broken remains of other dummies (One being Rocky), which Jimmy tells her were Slappy's rivals. When she asks how to defeat him, Jimmy tells her that nothing cannot destroy Slappy's evil spirit. She tries to give Slappy back, but inside the case is her dog Kevin instead.
Slappy's Nightmare[]
Jimmy is once again in possession of Slappy as the pair continue to perform ventriloquism. After Slappy ruins yet another performance, Jimmy tells the dummy that he's had enough. Just then a dummy case arrives in Jimmy's dressing room. Inside is Wally, an exact replica of Slappy made by the same evil toy maker. Jimmy begins to read a magic spell to put Slappy into permanent sleep, but the dummy begs to be spared. Jimmy tasks Slappy with performing three good deeds in one week or else he'll be put to sleep forever. He then gives Slappy to a girl named Georgia Boonshoft, much to the annoyance of her younger sister Stella. Despite Slappy's attempts at good deeds, his work is always sabotaged. At first, he believes this to be the work of Stella, but Slappy soon discovers that Wally was the one behind the sabotages. After Georgia destroys both dummies, Slappy wakes up back in Jimmy's dressing room, just as Jimmy receives Wally and begins to read the spell.
General information[]
Physical appearance[]
In the books, Jimmy is a big and broad-shouldered teenager that was older-looking with short brown hair and a big smile on his face. He likes to dress up as his dummies.
In the TV show, he is an older, untidy man in his early fifties with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wears outfits similar to his dummies.
In Horrortown, Jimmy wears the same attire as Slappy minus the red flower pin. He also has blue eyes, well-kept blond hair and has a tendency to sweat when he gets nervous.
Personality[]
Jimmy seems like an overall good person who due to unfortunate circumstances becomes the slave of Slappy. He tries to grin and bear Slappy's constant abuse, but he often has enough and isn't afraid to fight the dummy when necessary, eventually being so tired of Slappy's abuse that he uses a permanent sleep spell on him.
Appearances[]
Books[]
Television and film[]
Trivia[]
- Jimmy is the first character in the Living Dummy books to appear in more than one of Slappy's stories. He is also the only character to date, not counting Britney Crosby and Molly Molloy appearing in Enter HorrorLand and Ray and Brandon Gordon appearing in The Horror at Chiller House.
- Jimmy's age is in constant debate. In the book, he is said to not look much older than Jillian's teenage babysitters and at some points, he is referred to as a man and "Mr. O'James." It's implied that he is in early twenties. In the television series, the actor playing him was 51 at the time of filming.
- In the television series, Jimmy's name is misspelled as "Jimmie."
- Jimmy O'James' last name is similar to the last names of the previous owners of Slappy from Night of the Living Dummy III, the O'Dell family.
- Jimmy is mentioned in the reworked version of Goosebumps HorrorTown's It Came from the Internet event. Rachael mentions Greg renting a tape called "Jimmy O James and Friends".