CBS faced a dilemma in 1971. Sure, they were the top-rated network. Sure, they were making untold millions in advertising revenue. But their audience was old enough to remember WWII, many even recalling the hard times of the Great Depression. CBS execs would have preferred a younger demographic. So they did what any clueless bunch of corporate clods would do: they unceremoniously dumped a batch of well-performing shows because their audience was too old.
The victims of what became known as "the rural purge" included The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Sullivan, and a relative newcomer called Hee-Haw.
Hee-Haw was a variety show that had a distinct country flavor. Hosted by Buck Owens and Roy Clark at the peak of their popularity in 1969, it was kind of like Laugh-In set in a cornfield. It was also a hit.
But, of course, seeing how the target audience wasn't precisely 24.879 years old, the show had to go. But Hee-Haw's producers felt like they had a winner, and offered the intact show to any stations that would like to syndicate it.
The result was phenomenal. Not only was it grabbed up by stations all over the country (including decidedly non-rural L.A. and New York City), but it remained on the air for another 22 years. Not bad fora show deemed by CBS to be not worth keeping.
Hee-Haw was a montage of acts that became very memorable to its fans. Some people became fans despite themselves, sneering at a corny, countrified variety show until they saw enough episodes to get hooked themselves.
A group that never lost their animosity was the critics as a whole. They didn't like the clean, simple humor. They didn't like the the country music, which was years from being popularly embraced itself. And, horror of horrors, the Politically Correct among them decried the perpetuations of stereotypes.
Oh well, we simple, homespun, unsophisticated fans all over the country tuned in anyway.
Among the acts that we came to know like a a comfortable old pair of shoes was KORN News (performed by Canadian Don Harron as Charlie Farquharson); Pickin' and Grinnin'; Gloom, Despair and Agony On Me; The Fence (somebody would tell a bad joke and get smacked in the wazoo by the fence); Hey Grandpa! What's for supper? (Grandpa Jones would then recite a short poem describing a calorie-loaded Southern dinner); and, of course, my favorite: Samples Sales.
Samples was a former stock car driver who garnered a novelty hit in 1966 at the age of forty by telling a story about a really, really big fish. A local Georgia celebrity, he was added to the cast and his bumbling misdelivery of lines became an audience favorite years before Andy Kauffman.
One I recall was when he asked Buck Owens "How come some women are called amazin'?" Buck's reply, delivered through unsuccessfully stifled laughter was "That's because so many of them are named Gracie! You know, (singing) Amazin' Gracie, how sweet thou art . . ."
Samples was supposed to say "Amazon," not "amazin'."
The beautiful Hee-Haw gals added to the festivities, including Barbi Benton, Misty Rowe, Lisa Todd, Gunilla Hutton, and many others. In addition, Grand Ole Opry queen Minnie Pearle, comedienne Roni Stoneman (who frequently played a nagging wife), and telephone-operator-gogo-dancer-turned-comedienne Lulu Roman rounded out the female cast.
And let's not forget Stringbean, whose life took a tragic twist. One of his gigs was playing a scarecrow with a cawing crow on his shoulder in the Cornfield segment. After his death, the now silent crow remained as a memorial.
The show probably stayed on too long. Many of the original female leads had to deal with aging issues after twenty years. So did the males, for that matter. Plus, Buck Owens, half of the starring cast, split in 1986. A disastrous attempt to reinvent the show as more appealing to younger audiences was made late in the game. It didn't go over well, particularly with long-term fans.
But when a Boomer pours himself a good glass of bourbon and puts his feet up and recalls pleasant memories of the past, one of them is surely Hee-Haw, even if he once watched it from a Brooklyn tenement.
Comments (9)
My 2nd cousin was one of the Hee Haw honeys during the 1990-91 season. Vicky Bird was her name. This was the last season before the show was reinvented. I'm not being critical, but Misty's last name is Rowe, not Rhodes. During the 1978-79 season, there was a spinoff named Hee Haw Honeys. One of the beauties on this show was none other than Kathy Lee Gifford. But she was not married yet. So they called her Kathy Lee Johnson. During the 1992-93 season, they showed Classic Hee Haws. Roy, Grandpa, or Cathy Baker would do a new open, a new station Id, and a new close each week. Vicky also told me that Hee Haw would film all of their shows in two weeks during the month of August.
Posted by David Holley | April 23, 2008 3:38 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 03:38
Thanks for the great info, David! And you're correct about Misty's last name, which I have fixed in the article.
Posted by Ron Enderland | April 23, 2008 11:16 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 11:16
Ah, the memories of watching this show on Sunday nights at my grandparents' home! They simply loved it.
One point, however... you posted, "singer-turned-comedienne Lulu Roman, who had one of the 60's most memorable pop hits, To Sir With Love rounded out the female cast."
I think we're talking two different Lulus. The Lulu of "To Sir With Love" fame is Scottish singer Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, who is clearly quite a different person from the Lulu Roman of "Hee-Haw" fame.
Otherwise--- thanks for bringing back another great childhood memory!
Posted by Kenosha Mom | April 23, 2008 11:38 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 11:38
Wow, I am cowed, Kenosha Mom. I typically research each piece to within an inch of its life, bit I ALWAYS knew that Lulu Roman sang To Sir With Love!
Thanks for the correction, which I have also made in the article.
Posted by Ron Enderland | April 23, 2008 11:48 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 11:48
It would have been funny if Lulu Roman sang "To Sir With Love" to Junior Samples or Charlie Farquharson. Anyway, I grew up in and around the Bronx but liked the music on Hee Haw.But the reason I usually tuned in was watching the Hee Haw Honeys. Got to meet Grandpa Jones in person in the early 80's in connection with my part-time job at a country station. Funny guy and great person off stage as well.
Posted by David S Paleg | April 23, 2008 5:21 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 17:21
There, there, Ron... you are doing a great job with your website, and are entitled to an oversight once in awhile. Besides, wasn't it worth the wait to utter the colorful phrase, "telephone-operator-gogo-dancer-turned-comedienne"? How many times in your life do you get to say that?
After I posted my earlier comment, I remembered one of my favorite old groaners that used to regularly pop up on Hee-Haw. A man says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do that!" and the doctor replies, "Well, then, don't do that!" I still resurrect that one when one of my kids exaggerates some trivial physical discomfort.
And I can't help but observe that Hee-Haw's core demographic back in the day (which would have included my grandparents) is now the same one that flocks to certain shows down in Branson, MO. Some things never change.
Posted by Kenosha Mom | April 23, 2008 9:42 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 21:42
I remember Hee-Haw.
I write a boomer consumer blog called The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide at http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com.
Rita
Posted by Rita | April 28, 2008 6:01 AM
Posted on April 28, 2008 06:01
BR459 is an icon! I remember thius show and remember not liking it at first, until I started liking Country music! And then I began to like it do to the top Country acts that played on it! It was somewhat inocent it's humor and fun, and yes sometimes not politically correct as they say today, but that's the way it was! The sas part about Hew Haw is that many of these people that were on the show and many Country performers have passed on! Stringbean goes way back! Roy Clark was from my neck of the woods back then! I will watch HeeHaw whenever I see it here and there! Grandpa Jones is another classic! Opps, I sometimes hit the wrong keys on my keyboard here and there is no way to fix! I am using a pda here! Sorry for the sp errors!
Posted by Rivers End | January 6, 2009 8:33 AM
Posted on January 6, 2009 08:33
I remember Archie and the other guy always singing that
“where oh where, are you tonight
Why did you leave me here all alone
I searched the world over
And I thought I found true love
But you met another and
Pfffff . . . you were gone.
Their singing and that song were great. I liked Hee Haw as a kid and later with the hot chicks, too.
I still think the Beverly Hill Billies was one of the best sitcoms ever made, along with WKRP, Simpsons, Married with Children.
Sullivan might have been on his way out. Tastes were changing. But why rush things. Corporate Execs can be so stupid.
And I liked some of Roy’s stuff. I remember one in particular, I Never Picked Cotton. My mother loved his Yesterday, When I Was Young. Some good times at times.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 5, 2009 12:06 AM
Posted on June 5, 2009 00:06