Sonny Jim
Posted by James Briggs on March 16, 2008 at 12:34:
When I was born, back in the early 1930s, my father greeted me at first sight with 'hello, sonny Jim'. As a result I was baptised James, but why did my father use the expression? There are 100s of google hits for 'sonny jim', but almost all relate to modern-day singers or songs - long after my time! I found only one site which gave a suggestion of what I'm after 'Sonny Jim, used by older people to address youngsters'. No origin though. Does anyone have any idea where the phrase came from? I suspect that it comes from a 1914 film character of that name, with 11 episodes recorded between 1914 and 1915. The character was played by Bobby Connelly. Can anyone tell me more?