Jack Shannon

CHARACTER
Jack Shannon
Gender	Male
Nationality	American
Profession(s)	Accountant Musician Student

Jack Shannon was a friend of Indiana Jones, having been roommates during their studies at the University of Chicago, and jazz musician.

Biography

Jack Shannon was born into a family with connections to the Irish Mafia, the younger brother of Jerry and Harry Shannon. In 1921, he met and befriended Indiana Jones at the University of Chicago, where they shared an off-campus apartment and a mutual love of the city's growing jazz scene. Although the economics student's familial mob ties landed him a suspiciously well-paying accountancy position with a Chicago trucking company after graduation, Shannon was required to quit playing 'disreputable' music, where his aspirations truly lay, in exchange.

When Indy left to study at the Sorbonne in 1922, Shannon kept his promise insofar as playing his cornet at any of the Chicago clubs was concerned but practiced in private, accumulating numerous jazz records and saving his money. Once he could afford it, he quit his job and moved to France like his friend. There, he devoted himself full time to a Parisian jazz band, an eclectic group comprised of himself, a piano-playing Brooklynite whose professional experience had extended no further than bar mitzvahs and a native drummer of the city that hadn't even played jazz until he had listened to Shannon's collection. When the band struggled, Shannon theorized that it was due to its sole focus on instrumentals so he decided that the band needed vocals. Jack's band eventually hired a singer named Louise, who had a big booming voice and helped the band to succeed.

Jack eventually left the band in 1925 to move to London, where he aided Indy and his student Deirdre in their search to prove the existence of Merlin. However, the death of his father took Shannon back to Chicago and he played at a nightclub called The Nest.

Jones and Shannon joined forces again in 1927. Along with Katrina Zobolotsky and her father Vladimir, Shannon and Indy traveled to Mount Ararat where they discovered Noah's Ark.

On the trip, Jack and Katrina became romantically involved and his partner foresaw that they would eventually marry and have a son, Noah Indiana Shannon. They did, and soon after moved to San Francisco together where they lived for at least two years.

By 1930, Shannon was back at The Nest in Chicago but was running the nightclub himself.

Personality and traits

Jack Shannon was an accomplished jazz cornet player with red hair who stood over six feet tall.

Behind the scenes

"Jack Shannon is somewhat like an old friend of mine. We used to go out to bars for the music. He, however, never had the sort of spiritual conversion that Jack did in Genesis Deluge."

―Rob MacGregor on Jack Shannon's inspiration

Jack Shannon was created by Indiana Jones author Rob MacGregor, and debuted in the novel Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi. Shannon was referenced in all of MacGregor's subsequent books until the character fell out of use after Martin Caidin's follow-up: Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates. A friend of Indiana Jones called Jack also appeared in the introductory story of West End Games' Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Templars concerning the Ring of the Nibelung but it's unclear whether or not the two Jacks are intended to be the same individual.

MacGregor based Shannon partly on a couple of friends from his younger years with whom he went out to bars for the music. MacGregor's musician acquaintances, whose names were Jeff and Jay, grew up with him in Mississippi, United States of America, with McGregor creating Shannon as a combination of those two, incidentally dedicating one of his Indy books to them.

When asked if he believed that Jack Shannon was amongst the wedding guests in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, MacGregor affirmed that he would have liked to see that Jack was present during Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood's marriage, adding that he would certainly have included it himself had he written the novelization of the film.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants
• Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge
• Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy
• Indiana Jones and the Interior World (Hallucination)
• Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates

Sources

• The World of Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates and Other Tales
• Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide