Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Is Jimmy Darmody Based on a Real Person?

Jimmy Darmody was based on the real-life Jimmy Boyd, who was almost definitely not the Commodore's son. Boyd, who may or may not have been a Princeton dropout and World War I veteran, emerged as an assistant to Nucky during the bootlegging period, though not as early as the show suggests (1920). Initially a bellhop at the Ritz, Nucky's residence, Boyd rose up the ranks, becoming the leader of the Fourth Ward and unofficial overseer of all of Atlantic City's political wards.

When Nucky was deposed of power, Boyd was insulated from any charges and was an important bridge between the old regime and the new: that of Frank "Hap" Farley. Boyd, in addition to the head of the Fourth Ward, was also the clerk of the Board of Freeholders, the equivalent of a County Board of Supervisors. When Farley came into power, Boyd took a more important role in the Republican Party.



Farley wanted to remove himself from the extortion and racketeering that funded the party, so he left the illegal activities to Stumpy Orman, who collected from the brothels, gambling halls and numbers (illegal lottery) rackets. If someone tried to start a new venture without clearing it by Orman, he would close them down, controlling who the Vice Squad raided. On the other hand, Boyd was the COO of party affairs. He controlled patronage (political appointments), saw that public employees donated back to the party, and ensured that said employees were also active in donating their time to party causes. For a while, it seemed like the ward system was infallible.

While Boyd wasn't the type to stick-up bootlegging gangsters, he was a schemer who came up with ways to earn extra money. Because a city ordinance regarding boardwalk sales gave an advantage to veterans, Boyd teamed up with a veteran who would gladly "share profits" if he were the sole veteran licensed to sell ice cream. Boyd partnered with a Jewish lawyer who had connections to the ice cream supply in Philadelphia. The supplier agreed to work with just the endorsed veteran's enterprise. With everyone else locked out of the game or with costs prohibitively high, the monopoly flourished for years with a healthy chunk of the profits reverting back to Boyd.

The Efficient Drinker Blog has a more complete discussion of Boardwalk Empire characters and their real life counterparts.

12 comments:

  1. Jimmy Boyd comes up in google as the guy who sang "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus"! There are no references online that he was a gangster. R u sure u have the right name?

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  2. Yep. Try a more specific search, like including Atlantic City, or just get the book! Most of what's written here is based on the book.

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  3. So, he wasn't murdered by Nucky as happened in the show, right??

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  4. They actually talk about Jimmy Boyd in the show, so I dont believe this assessment is correct

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  5. If Jimmy is based on Jimmy Boyd then it's a loose adaptation. Jimmy Boyd seems like a mixture of Jimmy (in small amount) and the young Paddy Ryan, whom Nucky appointed to be the 4th Ward boss -- an appointment that, as you know, doesn't sit too well with Jimmy.

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  6. The commentaries suggest Darmody is a composite of several Great War vets who came home to nothing and so many turned to some racket. The problems with Boyd are already illustrated above--wikipedia also says not real if that's trustable to you

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  7. Yeah jimmy boyd is metioned in an episode or 2 I donk think james darmody is jimmy boyd so many vast reasons why not

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  8. No Jimmy Boyd is talked aboutin numerous epsiodes, he is not the same person as dormandy.

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  9. I’ve watched and read a lot of mob stuff...I remember seeing on a police or fbi wall chart of mobsters...maybe one of the Italian mafia families and their associates def before the 50s...far down the list was a picture of a guy and under it his name says jimmy Darmody...I will try to find it, though there is no info on this guy, there was a guy called jimmy Darmody who wasin organised crime...

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  10. James H. Boyd was born in 1906 -- too young to have enrolled in Princeton in 1916 or dropped out in 1917 to enlist in the Army.

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