Cinematic Slang: Sleeper Jump


Recently, while watching The Death Kiss (1933), a thriller starring Bela Lugosi, David Manners and Adrienne Ames, we heard a slang phrase that was new to us:sleeper jump. Can you guess its meaning?

In the scene in which the term is used, a detective is investigating a murder that has occurred on a set at a movie studio. The detective asks where he can find the makeup man, who might have info that would be beneficial to his investigation.

“The make-up department,” answers the film’s director. “Clear round the end of the block, just the end of F street.”

“Sounds like a sleeper jump,” says the detective.

“I’ll show you if you like,” says the director and off they go.

The context suggested to us that sleeper jump might refer to distance, that the detective was quipping that the makeup department sounded it was quite a distance away, far enough to take an overnight train with a sleeper car.

That was just a guess, but it appears we nailed it.

Turns out, “sleeper jump” was also a term used by vaudeville performers to refer to the least desirable dressing room that typically went to the lowest-billed performer, a dressing room that was several floors up, requiring a climb up multiple flights of stairs (while hauling a heavy wardrobe trunk). And while you can’t take a train to the fifth floor of a building, the idea is the same: a destination that requires something of a slog to reach.

So there you have it—a new vintage slang term. Your homework assignment is to use the term sleeper jump whenever the opportunity presents itself.

10 Things You Should Know About Guy Kibbee

Here are 10 things you should know about Guy Kibbee, born 138 years ago today. Kibbee was one of Hollywood’s busiest character actors in the 1930s and ’40s.

10 Things You Should Know About Wallace Ford

Here are 10 things you should know about Wallace Ford, born 125 years ago today. Despite a difficult childhood, Ford achieved success on the stage, in pictures and on television and was said to be as nice a guy as you’d ever hope to meet.

10 Things You Should Know About Gene Raymond

Here are 10 things you should know about Gene Raymond, born 114 years ago today. He was a child actor who managed to continue his career into adulthood, on Broadway, in pictures and on television.

10 Things You Should Know About Barbara Stanwyck

Here are 10 things you should know about Barbara Stanwyck, born 115 years ago today. For our money, she was the finest actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age.