“Laughter
and gaiety follow wherever he passes,” the yearbook said of James Edward
Jacobs’.
Jim had a unique talent for turning his high school experiences into gold. As a
"greaser" during the golden age of rock and roll, he played guitar and sang with
various groups such as D.D.T. and the Dynamiters, and Lefty and the El Rays.
He was starting an acting career in Chicago when he met his writing partner,
Warren Casey. The team's most famous collaboration, "Grease," went from Kingston
Mines in Chicago to break performance records on Broadway, and inspired an
equally popular musical film version starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton
John.
Jim has returned to Taft several times for its 1983 and 1990 productions of
"Grease," and in 1998 with Frankie Avalon to set a hand jive record in the Taft
High School auditorium.