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Porter Wagoner Show, TheFirst Aired in 1961 By the mid-1950s, the novelty medium of television was the obvious tool for product marketers to reach a wider audience than ever before. All kinds of advertisers were keen to sponsor shows to promote their wares to the vast new audiences. The Chattanooga Medicine Company had been keeping southerners regular with Black Draught laxative and women's troubles forgotten with the 20% alcohol formula of Wine of Cardui for many years. However they saw an opportunity to increase their sales through television using the down-home appeal of country music. Red Foley's Ozark Jubliee was already successfully broadcasting, and Tex Ritter's Ranch Party had had a successful run, and there was ample room on the airwaves for yet another showcase of country music talent, and so auditions were held for the new Chattanooga Medicine Co. vehicle. One of the hopefuls was Porter Wagoner - others included Webb Pierce, Carl Smith and the Wilburn Brothers, who eventually got their own show. Sales of Black Draught laxative were to increase tenfold thanks to the immediate success of "The Porter Wagoner Show". Porter's natural talent, with his friendly, honest and trustworthy appeal combined with his showy rhinestone-laden outfits (Hollywood's Nudie suits), which even on black and white TV were a shimmering feature of the show. Despite Porter's initial nervousness, the obvious sincerity of his performances and a stellar line-up of regular and guest musicians, won audiences over and the show began it's phenomenally successful run in 1960, backed up by regular tours by the TV show's troupe. Porter noticed how many more fans they attracted in areas that received the TV signal. The show initially broadcast to eighteen stations, but pretty soon became syndicated nationwide. Aside from Porter, cast members included:- T Tommy Cutrer, Announcer Don Warden on Steel Guitar; Speck Rhodes, Double Bass and Comedian whose routine mainly consisted of social satire telephone commentary with an unseen girlfriend "Sadie"; Little Jack Little, Fiddle (early) Buck Trent, Banjo; Mack Magaha, Fiddle (later) (Pretty Miss) Norma Jean, girl singer (guitar) (until 1967) Dolly Parton, girl singer (1967 on) The half hour shows (made on a budget of $700 - $800 each) usually included about eight songs and a couple of commercials, performed by Porter and the cast. Who could forget the jingle:- "Black Draught makes you feel fresh and clean inside!" Norma Jean, the first girl singer on the show says that the cast used to joke that they were the regular members of the Porter Wagoner Show. The show was taped twice, once with commercials and once without, so that stations could insert their own commercials as required. The Show also produced and sold booklets for fans to purchase which featured photos and stories on the cast members enjoying time off with their families. These were however finally noticed by the authorities and deemed to be commercials over and above the acceptable time allowed during the show and were discontinued. Porter became known for his hard-working professional attitude. As well as taping the shows, the troupe was touring throughout the USA and Porter was producing lots of records, often uncredited. The workload took its toll on some. Norma Jean took a spell to spend some time with her daughter Roma, and was temporarily replaced by Jeannie Seeley. In 1967, Norma Jean departed from the show permanently "to spend more time with her family" (but in reality she was frustrated at Porter's refusal to divorce his long-separated wife (Ruth), and fulfil his promise to marry her because it would negate his wholesome image in the eyes of the TV audiences). Norma Jean was replaced by Dolly Parton. Dolly's songwriting talent had hugely impressed Porter (His introduction to her first appearance on the show performing Dumb Blonde: "She ain't no dumb blonde") and they began to perform duets of hers and others' songs, eventually becoming one of the most popular duet singing teams ever recorded. By the early 70s with the rise of her solo career Dolly began to feel that the routine of the Porter Wagoner Show was stifling her ability to grasp other opportunities to improve her career and so she engineered to leave the show in 1974. Porter felt betrayed by her decision as he had worked long and hard to establish Dolly's career, and now she wanted to leave him behind. Many lawsuits followed, souring the relationship until, in 1988 they reunited at the Ryman Auditorium (home of the Grand Ole Opry, 1943 to 1974) for an episode of the "Dolly" TV special, which returned her to Nashville audiences in the familiar role of duet singer she had first stepped into on the Porter Wagoner Show. By 1974, The Porter Wagoner Show's innocence and good humour that had been its backbone began to lose it's appeal in a more cynical and sophisticated world that had been shocked by the realities of war and corruption. The Show has since been featured on US cable TV and even broadcast via the Internet on Willie Nelson's website. Porter Wagoner continues to be one of the hardest working men in the music industry with weekly Grand Ole Opry appearances and almost continuous production of recordings for new and established country artists. If you want to review individual episode synopses, go to http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/ and search for "Porter Wagoner Show". 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