American Notes CONTESTS

When the huge foreign-born challengers showed up at Angels Camp, Calif., they filled U.S. competitors with dread. Back home in Cameroon, it was said, giant African frogs routinely leap up to 40 ft. How could such a performance fail to win the Calaveras County Frog Jump Jubilee?

But when the hopping began, the two aliens, sponsored by animal importer Andy Koffman, managed nothing better than a puny 7-ft. 10-in. leap in the finals -- even though one of them jumped twice. Winner of the spirited annual commemoration of Mark Twain's yarn The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Help Mr. Wizard, a homegrown Concord, Calif., bullfrog who jumped a quite respectable 19 ft. 3 in. The prize for the best alibi went to Koffman, who insisted that his big frogs, accustomed to the equatorial tropics, just got cold feet. Said he: "They're not used to the weather we've had here."