Jumping Jubilee

In Angels Camp, Calaveras County, Calif., last week there was a lot of hopping being done. Local businessmen were holding the ninth Annual International Jumping Frog Jubilee. For Calaveras County miners the jubilee, inspired by Mark Twain's fabulous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," is the sports event of the year. On Angels Camp's main street thronged 35,000 spectators, including overdressed cinema celebrities to watch the two-day classic. The rules: 1) three jumps to a frog, the total distance to count as official; 2) each frog might be shaken thoroughly to discover if he had been fed buckshot to hold him down.

Well-established favorite of the 300 pop-eyed entrants was Budweiser IV, descendant of Budweiser I, a 1932 champion now regarded as the Man o' War among leapfrogs because of the long line of winners he has sired. In fine fettle and raring to go, Budweiser IV was counted on to smash the 13 ft. 5 in. mark set last year by Emmett Dalton, a mud-colored hoptoad reared on the late Will Rogers' Claremore, Okla. ranch. When the leaping subsided, it was announced that not Budweiser IV but the 1936 winner, Zip, had broken the world's record, hopping the mighty hop of 15 ft. 10 in. He was promptly acclaimed the jumpingest frog in Calaveras or any other county.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.