‘Jimmy the Crow” belonged to Hollywood animal trainer Curly Twiford who stole the bird from a nest in the Mojave Desert in 1934 ……
By Paul Miller, Lloyds
In the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey needed $8,000 to save his business and to prevent him from going to jail. He approached the town’s richest man, Mr. Potter, for a loan, offering a life insurance policy worth $15,000 as collateral.
Mr. Potter responds: “You’re worth more dead than alive.”
Unsurprisingly, insurance played a part in the production of the film too. You may recall that one of Uncle Billy’s pets was a raven. It appears in the Bailey Building and Loan, sat on the counter.
That bird was ‘Jimmy the Crow’. It belonged to Hollywood animal trainer Curly Twiford who stole the bird from a nest in the Mojave Desert in 1934 and trained it to perform an assortment of tricks, such as typing and opening letters. He even managed to teach Jimmy to ride a tiny motorcycle. Unsurprisingly, these talents would make him appealing to filmmakers and he went on to appear in over 100 Hollywood movies. Jimmy Stewart described him as: “the smartest actor on set”.
As he became more popular with the studio, MGM insured Jimmy for $10,000. Lloyd’s underwriters wrote the policy, one that would cover Jimmy’s $500 a week fee as well as Curly’s $200 fee, should the bird fall ill, refuse to perform, or forget his lines on set.
Jimmy appeared in every Frank Capra film from 1938 onwards including The Wizard of Oz. There are a couple of pictures of him in the comments.
Jimmy could do an assortment of tricks, such as typing and opening letters. He could even ride a tiny motorcycle.
