# Jumping Jacks
**Jumping Jacks** is a 1952 American musical comedy from [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) starring the comedy team of [Dean Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/dean-martin) and [Jerry Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-lewis), directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Hal B. Wallis. Martin plays infantry paratrooper Cpl. Chick Allen, who summons his former nightclub partner, the bumbling entertainer Hap Smith (Jerry Lewis), to Fort Belding to help stage a soldier revue. Because the post's commander, Brig. Gen. W. W. Timmons (Ray Teal), has banned "amateur" shows, Hap enters the base under the assumed identity of a real soldier, Dogface Dolan (Richard Erdman), and finds that playing a GI is harder than he imagined.[1](https://tv.apple.com/st/movie/jumping-jacks/umc.cmc.4ov9xh7jpda1w82wd8y6dm1mi)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | United States June 11, 1952; United Kingdom November 3, 1952; France September 18, 1953; Germany April 17, 1970[2](https://www.blu-ray.com/Jumping-Jacks/1125870/) |
| Director / producer | Norman Taurog; produced by Hal B. Wallis for Wallis-Hazen, Inc., distributed by Paramount Pictures[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS) |
| Writers | Robert Lees, Fred Rinaldo, and Herbert Baker (screenplay); Brian Marlow (story)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS) |
| Running time | 96 minutes, black and white[4](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/jumping-jacks) • [5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/jumping-jacks-0000-00/2) |
| Principal cast | Dean Martin (Cpl. Chick Allen), Jerry Lewis (Hap Smith), Mona Freeman (Betsy Carter), Don DeFore (Lt. Kelsey), Robert Strauss (Sgt. McClusky)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS) |
| Songs | "I Can't Resist a Man in Uniform," "The Parachute Jump," "The Big Blue Sky Is the Place for Me," "I Know a Dream When I See One," and "Keep a Little Dream Handy," music and lyrics by Mack David and Jerry Livingston[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS) |
| Box office | About $4,000,000 in distributor rentals in the U.S. and Canada[6](https://www.historysbestsellers.com/on-this-day/july-23/jumping-jacks) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Hap Smith has a new act since his former partner Chick Allen joined the army: with his new partner Betsy Carter, he performs a clownish parody of a soldier. When Chick, organizing a soldier show at Fort Benning, realizes he needs his old partner's help, Hap gets onto the base by impersonating the hapless real soldier Dogface Dolan. Circumstances force the masquerade to continue, creating what one synopsis calls an increasingly tangled Army-sized snafu, and the untrained comedian must convince his friend's superiors that he is skilled in parachuting, leading to misunderstandings that place him deep in enemy territory.[2](https://www.blu-ray.com/Jumping-Jacks/1125870/) • [5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/jumping-jacks-0000-00/2)
## Production
**Origins of the script.** According to a February 1952 Hollywood Reporter news item, producer Hal Wallis purchased a completed screenplay from Paramount titled *Ready, Willing and Four F* and used it as the basis for the story. The screenplay had been written in 1943 by Fred Rinaldo, Robert Lees, and Brian Marlow; Rinaldo and Lees received screenplay credit on *Jumping Jacks*, while Marlow was credited as story writer.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
**Army cooperation.** The film concludes with a written statement that parts of the picture were photographed with the facilities and personnel of the Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, particularly the Airborne Department of the Infantry School, assisted by [United States Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-air-force) units stationed there. A June 1952 Daily Variety news item reported that Brig. Gen. Frank Dern, deputy chief of the Army's information office, praised the comedy and predicted it would "contribute to troop morale within the Army."[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
**The HUAC dispute.** Despite the Army's endorsement, the Hollywood Reporter's "Rambling Reporter" column condemned the picture because the writers Lees, Rinaldo, Marlow, and Richard Weil, credited onscreen with additional dialogue, had been implicated as Communists during the Congressional hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In the 21 February 1952 issue of HR, the 'Open Forum' column carried a reply from Wallis's lawyer, [Lloyd Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/lloyd-wright), who observed that apart from Weil, every writer implicated, among them the late Marlow, had contributed to the 1943 screenplay without receiving any of the proceeds from its sale; Wright added that HUAC had named Weil only as one of 150 individuals present at a meeting with Communists.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
A December 1951 Los Angeles Times news item reported that Lt. Ellen de Beruff, a WAC stationed at Fort Benning, had been selected to play a part in the film, but her appearance in the final film has not been confirmed.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
## Reception and place in the Martin and Lewis series
*Jumping Jacks* proved a hit at the box office, earning roughly $4,000,000 in distributor rentals across the U.S. and Canada, an impressive sum for a comedy film in 1952.[6](https://www.historysbestsellers.com/on-this-day/july-23/jumping-jacks) The Harvard Film Archive calls it the most successful of the duo's military comedies, with Jerry flailing in army gear while Dean croons "Do the Parachute Jump."[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/jumping-jacks-0000-00/2) It belongs to a run of "humor in uniform" pictures the team made after becoming top-billed stars: *At War with the Army* (1950), *Sailor Beware* (1952), and *Jumping Jacks* (1952).[7](https://www.avclub.com/where-to-start-with-jerry-lewis-considerable-oft-misu-1798234735) One of its better-remembered sequences is a musical number in which Lewis plays parachute strings like a harp and dances with a mop.[7](https://www.avclub.com/where-to-start-with-jerry-lewis-considerable-oft-misu-1798234735)
The film also affected the release of another [Martin and Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-and-lewis) picture. *The Stooge*, which Jerry Lewis later cited as his favorite onscreen pairing with Dean Martin, had been filmed before *Jumping Jacks* but was shelved for two years in favor of one of the duo's more commercially successful military comedies.[5](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/jumping-jacks-0000-00/2)
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 54% from one review, with more than 100 audience ratings on the Popcornmeter.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jumping_jacks)
## Notes on the record
Sources differ slightly on the running time: Paramount and Apple TV list 96 minutes, while the AFI Catalog entry reads "92 or 96 mins" and blu-ray.com lists 95 minutes.[4](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/jumping-jacks) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS) • [2](https://www.blu-ray.com/Jumping-Jacks/1125870/) Reviews and publicity material list Mona Freeman's character as "Betty," but she is called "Betsy" in the film itself.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
## References
1. [Jumping Jacks, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/st/movie/jumping-jacks/umc.cmc.4ov9xh7jpda1w82wd8y6dm1mi)
2. [Jumping Jacks (1952), blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/Jumping-Jacks/1125870/)
3. [Jumping Jacks (1952), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50529-JUMPING-JACKS)
4. [Jumping Jacks, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/jumping-jacks)
5. [Jumping Jacks / The Stooge, Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/jumping-jacks-0000-00/2)
6. [Jumping Jacks, History's Best Sellers](https://www.historysbestsellers.com/on-this-day/july-23/jumping-jacks)
7. [Where to start with Jerry Lewis' considerable, oft-misunderstood filmography, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/where-to-start-with-jerry-lewis-considerable-oft-misu-1798234735)
8. [Jumping Jacks, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jumping_jacks)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1950s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license