diff --git a/actionview/lib/action_view/helpers/javascript_helper.rb b/actionview/lib/action_view/helpers/javascript_helper.rb
index 830088bea33215dfd5a15d8ecd3f0feb4bbd955d..f80d0bd4ed365f3faf8b63e3518c90c37cf4c85f 100644
--- a/actionview/lib/action_view/helpers/javascript_helper.rb
+++ b/actionview/lib/action_view/helpers/javascript_helper.rb
@@ -25,12 +25,13 @@ module JavaScriptHelper
       #
       #   $('some_element').replaceWith('<%= j render 'some/element_template' %>');
       def escape_javascript(javascript)
-        if javascript
-          result = javascript.gsub(/(\\|<\/|\r\n|\342\200\250|\342\200\251|[\n\r"'])/u) { |match| JS_ESCAPE_MAP[match] }
-          javascript.html_safe? ? result.html_safe : result
+        javascript = javascript.to_s
+        if javascript.empty?
+          result = ""
         else
-          ""
+          result = javascript.gsub(/(\\|<\/|\r\n|\342\200\250|\342\200\251|[\n\r"'])/u) { |match| JS_ESCAPE_MAP[match] }
         end
+        javascript.html_safe? ? result.html_safe : result
       end
 
       alias_method :j, :escape_javascript
diff --git a/actionview/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb b/actionview/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
index a72bc6c2fe5181a3e6d17bd08a8c5e9e6c02e611..80de541bf182014681f4a11362afc8b61a46b1c8 100644
--- a/actionview/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionview/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ def teardown
 
   def test_escape_javascript
     assert_equal "", escape_javascript(nil)
+    assert_equal "123", escape_javascript(123)
+    assert_equal "en", escape_javascript(:en)
+    assert_equal "false", escape_javascript(false)
+    assert_equal "true", escape_javascript(true)
     assert_equal %(This \\"thing\\" is really\\n netos\\'), escape_javascript(%(This "thing" is really\n netos'))
     assert_equal %(backslash\\\\test), escape_javascript(%(backslash\\test))
     assert_equal %(dont <\\/close> tags), escape_javascript(%(dont </close> tags))