Jim was sent to St. John's Military Academy in Wisconsin for officer training; duration: from 1938 to 1940. He entered one week before he turned 16 years old. He would be drafted in the U.S. Army in 1943 for about three years service up to January 14, 1946.
Do we known anything about Jim's stay in that academy? Anyone?
Jaime L. Buege Director of Public Affairs and Communications
Dear Mr. Buege, In 1938, we have, James Hobson entered at age of 15 yr. 51 weeks, your academy. In 1943 he was drafted in the U. S. Army. James (Jim) passed away on April 26, 2013. We have celebrated his life partly in a formal service on May 23, 2013. We are tracing his life in the open-public discussion thread "James Hobson" in the USHawks.org forum beginning at post: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1185
and have hope that you may now release information about Jim's stay at the academy. We give a link to your academy. We in hang gliding seek to know Jim's life better, as he was at the cusp of the hang gliding renaissance that had starts in 1960, at least. Jim was perhaps unique in the way his hang glider project was shared to the world in Sport Aviation magazine and on an episode in 1962 of the Lawrence Welk Show.
More about 1933, if caption is correct, and the an early "hang" sky rider for Jim. He with brother John and perhaps two other boys built their version of the sky ride of the Chicago World's Fair "Century of Progress. They configured a pulley up in a tree and lined a rope that bridled a barrel; they were to pull on the line to hoist each other up into the sky. Lois was first test pilot; she was hoisted high and the rope broke and the sky rider device came down really fast; her uncle Jack helped to break the fall some. Here is a clip with Jim in the DIY sky rider hung by a single hang line:
Attachment:
File comment: The sky rider of Jim's 10 or 11 year old making. Lois spoke "10" and the caption on photo read "11" for Jim's age. Lois5Jim11in1933SkyRideMade.jpg [ 27.34 KiB | Viewed 9248 times ]
Jill is the daughter of the pilot-artist Zack Mosley of the long series mainly known as "Smilin' Jack". http://www.smilinjackart.com/about.htm We asked her to review her collection of her dad's art for possible contenders for what the friends of Jim Hobson mentioned about one of Jim's sources of inspiration. Her recent reply:
Curator of Smilin' Jack artJill Mosley wrote:
Hi Joe, It is possible that Jim Hobson was inspired by the Smilin' Jack 1938 episode, where Jack, alias Powder, builds a glider out of bamboo and fabric in order to escape from Death Rock prison. The book, " Hot Rock Glide " is a collection of those comic strips from 1938. Thank you for your request. Sincerely, Jill Mosley
JamesHobson1940yrbkentryStJohnsMilitaryAcademy.jpg [ 706.95 KiB | Viewed 8819 times ]
Some progress from time James Hobson was in St. John's Military Academy:
Librarian wrote:
Our archive alumni files include a file on James Hobson. I have attached copies of two articles about him. One was published in our alumni newsletter in 1959. The other is an alumni news release from 1979-80, announcing that he would be honored as a "distinguished alumnus" at the 1980 graduation exercises.
You are welcome to use any information from these two documents, with a note that they are "courtesy of St. John's Northwestern Military Academy." However, I ask that you do not post the documents online, as they are owned by the school and any reproduction would be a violation of copyright.
I have also included a copy of Hobson's yearbook entry. You may certainly post this online; it is outside of copyright and I suspect readers would enjoy learning a bit about his military school years!
Though the two documents she shared with me won't be published by me, she indicated that I could use any information found in the documents for sharing. I will study them and make notes for sharing in this thread. Also, I suspect that the documents may already be published on the Internet someplace for linking; I will search for such.
HOBSON, James James Hobson was born on December 30, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois to John Surtees Hobson Sr. and Mary Ellen Jones. James attended public school, St. John's Military Academy and Purdue University. Drafted into the army in 1943. He was assigned to the 397th Field Artillery in France, Italy and Germany and was awarded the Bronze star for stopping an artillery barrage. He also attended Signal Corps Motion Picture School in London and was discharged in 1946. In the same year, he attended the Pasadena Playhouse where he met Elsie Holmes, a talented and successful actress in stage and movies from Yazoo City, Mississippi. They married in 1950. James began his career as a cameraman for Channel 13, KLAC TV in 1949. He made the transition to producer director in 1952 with "The Liberace Show". He became director of "The Lawrence Welk Show" in 1955 and in 1962 became the producer/director of the Welk show until his retirement in 1986. After Elsie Hobson died in 2001, James met actress, singer and writer Ashley Aarons. In 2005, they founded " Coffee Dog Productions" and he produced a catalogue of songs and a musical in pre-production entitled, "Dance Myself Free". His hobbies included building a "Rogallo Wing Hang Glider", sailing and collecting model airplane engines. James Hobson died in his wife's arms in Santa Monica on April 26, 2013. Services will be held on Thursday, May 23rd at 12:00 noon at the Old North Church, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90068. For information, contact: (323) 769-7342
People, so far, signing a guestbook on one site: Note: that particular guestbook will be going offline on Jun18, 2013, most likely. + Ron Brooks, ARCADIA, California + Jerome Blumenthal, Parachute, Colorado + ~ Mel Morehouse, Camarillo, California
In 1979-80, there was a NEW RELEASE about James Hobson with the title: "JAMES HOBSON HONORED ALUMNUS AT ST. JOHN''S" Some key notes: 1. The estimate of audience for the weekly Welk Show was about 60,000,000 viewers. What the exact figure was for those that saw his hang glider in 1962 on the show is not known to me.
2. While Jim attended St. John's, he was a member of the Cadet Choir~ Glee Club, and Swaggerstick Club, a dramatics organization. He was on the varsity track, tennis, and golf teams and served on the Honor Guard. He won the Winter Drill competition during his senior year.
3. President Norbert Smith of the Old Boys Association presented the "Honored Alumnus" award to James Hobson.
4. At the time of this commencement honoring, James had already almost two decades since his "Rogallo Hang Glider" and almost one decade since he visited the Low & Slow and Self-Soar Association office.
5. Old Boys' Day on May 31, and Commencement on June 1. This must be 1980, as the librarian's copy of the NEWS RELEASE was for "1979-80 class event.
6. A "Biography of Jim Hobson" was given to the school for inclusion in the NEWS RELEASE. The biography was produced by DON FEDDERSON PRODUCTIONS,Syndication Division, in Studio City, CA 91604. Recent link for that lead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Fedderson The wiki writes: " He [Fedderson] also syndicated The Lawrence Welk Show, following ABC's cancellation of the series in 1971." So, it seems the biography was released to anyone that wanted the facts on the biography of James Hobson.
7. Fertile to my sense of Jim was a conclusion paragraph from Don Fedderson Productions:
Don Fedderson Productons wrote:
Jim will still talk airplanes, sports cars or sail-boats at the drop of a hint, but his active participation these days is rather limited. After all, as producer-director of the Lawrence Welk Show he is holding down a full-time job. Make that two jobs "
===============Seeking contact with THE OLD BOYS' ASSOCIATION, INC. OF ST. JOHN'S MILITARY ACADEMY Company Name: THE OLD BOYS' ASSOCIATION, INC. OF ST. JOHN'S MILITARY ACADEMY Company Age: 71 Years, 1 Month ======================================== The school was depicted in Apollo 13 as the school where Jim Lovell's son attended, though school itself was not shown on film.
Some flavor of Jim's school at the military academy: St. John's Northwestern Military Academy
Old Boys Alumni Association (OBAA) of St. John's Northwestern Military Academy They might want to know that one of theirs was in the few in 1962 that had a very simple "Rogallo Hang Glider" and showed it to about 30 or more million people in 1962 (estimate from the 60,000,000 reported above in a post on Jim. Such exposure is no tiny matter in preparing minds for the growth of an activity.
[ ] One day the organ The Beacon might carry a hang glider history article on James Hobson. Sample contemporary issue: http://www.sjnma.org/alumni/SJNMA%20Bea ... 13-WEB.pdf Anyone want to write up the article and submit it to the editor?
I am not sure what the "S" stands for, but I believe it has meaning to designate the class; for James Hobson at the military academy he is S1940. But there is alos N#### and H#### for other people, so I do not understand the prefix system yet; I have written to the editor asking for a legend. In the The Beacon magazine, old graduates are written about while their names are mentioned followed by "S####" for the year. On page 26 of the above sample issue is a list of officers of the Old Boys Alumni Association (OBAA). None show being in Jim's class.
[ ] One day the organ