"May I jump once more? I don't think that I have expressed myself completely."—[a:Romain Gary|32807|Romain Gary|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1565824824p2/32807.jpg]

Covering the gamut of movie stars, singers, authors, diplomats, painters, composers, scientists, and so on, Halsman collected these images and his thoughts surrounding the defining principles behind his jumpology theories and tucked them sweetly into this wonderful book.

I have long been fascinated with Halsman's work and specifically his Jump series — which caught my eye randomly, and I think from a photograph of Audrey Hepburn I had happened upon. His idea behind it, from an impulsive decision, developed into an entire theory for him. Not only did his own inhibitions disappear to be replaced with faith, but he realized that deep down, "people wanted to jump and considered jumping fun." Halsman felt that jumping had therapeutic value. And noticed that if his sitters were self-conscious and tense, once he asked them to jump, "the mask fell." Those same subjects became less inhibited and more relaxed — in other words, ultimately more photogenic.

"Often the photograph of a jump does not transmit its symbolic message immediately. A closer scrutiny will show, however, that every element in the jumper's body — his arms, his legs, the position of the body, the expression of his face — reveals definite character traits."

Yes, he was met with the refusals — those not wishing to jump for camera or at all, perhaps — but he estimates only one or two percent overall. But an overwhelming number of his subjects did, thankfully.

Some authors included: [a:Mike Wallace|3246|Mike Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207584587p2/3246.jpg], [a:Walter Kerr|125460|Walter Kerr|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Max Lerner|57211|Max Lerner|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Abe Burrows|488692|Abe Burrows|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Bennett Cerf|106015|Bennett Cerf|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], [a:John Steinbeck|585|John Steinbeck|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1182118389p2/585.jpg], [a:Aldous Huxley|3487|Aldous Huxley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1547138835p2/3487.jpg], [a:Ben Hecht|113541|Ben Hecht|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1309669220p2/113541.jpg], [a:Marcia Davenport|78901|Marcia Davenport|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1345905347p2/78901.jpg], [a:Randall Jarrell|46110|Randall Jarrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1380181335p2/46110.jpg], [a:François Mauriac|61023|François Mauriac|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1419495337p2/61023.jpg], and [a:Shepherd Mead|223329|Shepherd Mead|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1274494314p2/223329.jpg].