Lum and Abner
Encyclopedia
Chester Lauck
Chester "Chet" Lauck , played the character of Lum Edwards on the classic American radio comedy Lum and Abner.Chester Lauck was raised in Mena, Arkansas, where he met his future comedy partner Norris Goff...
and Norris Goff
Norris Goff
Norris Goff was an American comedian in radio and film best known for his portrayal of Abner Peabody on the rural comedy Lum and Abner....
that aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the showed proved immensely popular. In 1936, Waters changed its name to Pine Ridge after the show's fictional town.
Jot 'em Down Store
Created by co-stars Chester Lauck (who played Columbus Edwards "Lum" Eddards) and Norris Goff (Abner Peabody), Lum and Abner was as low-key as Easy AcesEasy Aces
Easy Aces, a long-running American serial radio comedy , was trademarked by the low-keyed drollery of creator and writer Goodman Ace and his wife, Jane, as an urbane, put-upon realtor and his malaprop-prone wife...
, as cheerfully absurdist as Vic and Sade
Vic and Sade
Vic and Sade was an American radio program created and written by Paul Rhymer. It was regularly broadcast on radio from 1932 to 1944, then intermittently until 1946, and was briefly adapted to television in 1949 and again in 1957....
, and exaggerated The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs is a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to 1946 on American radio, and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It was adapted into a 1948 play, Me and Molly, and a 1973 Broadway musical, Molly.-Radio:...
ethnic focus by amplifying the protagonists' regional identities. As co-owners of the Jot 'em Down Store in the fictional town of Pine Ridge, Arkansas
Pine Ridge (Lum and Abner)
Pine Ridge, Arkansas, was the fictional setting for the radio program Lum and Abner, which ran for 13 weeks every year from 1932 to 1954 on WNBC. It was based on the town of Waters, Arkansas, and some of its residents...
, the pair are constantly stumbling upon moneymaking ideas only to find themselves fleeced by nemesis Squire Skimp, before finally finding a way to redeem themselves. Lum and Abner played the hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
theme with deceptive cleverness. The hillbillies knew that the slickers would get what was coming to them sooner or later and either didn't mind or knew more than they let on that the slickers getting theirs was a matter of fortunate circumstance.
In addition to the title characters, Lauck also played Grandpappy Spears and Cedric Weehunt while Goff played Abner, Squire Skimp, Mousey Grey, Dick Huddleston, and most of the other characters.
Show history
Lauck and Goff had known each other since childhood and attended the University of ArkansasUniversity of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
together where they both joined the Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
Fraternity. They performed locally and established a blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
. Prior to the audition, the two men decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies, due to the large number of blackface acts already in existence. After only a few shows in Hot Springs, they were picked up nationally by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and Lum and Abner, sponsored by Quaker Oats, ran until 1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters, modeling many of them on the real-life residents of Waters, Arkansas.
WGN (AM)
WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois...
, one of the founding members of the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
. In 1936, Dick Huddleston of Waters petitioned the United States Post Office to changed the town's name to Pine Ridge. Postum
Postum
Postum was a powdered roasted grain beverage sold by the Kraft Foods company as a coffee substitute. The caffeine-free beverage mix was created by Postum Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and marketed as a healthful alternative to coffee...
cereal sponsored Lum and Abner in 1938–40, before Alka-Seltzer
Alka-Seltzer
Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company. It was developed by Treneer in Elkhart Indiana. Alka-Seltzer is marketed for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, sour stomach, indigestion, and hangovers,...
picked up the duo. Miles Laboratories, manufacturers of Alka-Seltzer and One-A-Day Vitamins, became the longest-running sponsor, backing the program from 1941 until 1948. Over the course of its life, Lum and Abner appeared on the two other major radio networks in addition to NBC and Mutual: CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(formerly NBC Blue), .
In 1948, the show changed from a 15-minute "comedic soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
" to a 30-minute self-contained show. New writers were added, including Flying Tiger ace Robert T. Smith
Robert T. Smith
Robert Tharp Smith was born in York, Nebraska. His family moved to Red Cloud from Hooper, Nebraska in 1927 when his father, Earl W. Smith, was hired as Superintendent of Schools. He graduated Red Cloud High School in 1935. Smith attended the University of Nebraska before joining the U.S...
, along with an orchestra and a live audience. The new format was unpopular and the series came off the air in 1950. Lauck and Goff experimented with other formats during the hiatus, finally changing back to the original format in 1953, but the revived show was discontinued the following year due to competition from television and Goff's failing health. The team broadcast more than 5,000 shows, of which over 1,630 episodes exist today.
Films
Like several of their contemporaries, Lauck and Goff had the opportunity to bring their characters to life in movies. The Lum & Abner radio show of March 29, 1940, "The Store Closes to Shoot a Movie," announced a break in the radio series in order to make the first film, Dreaming Out LoudDreaming out Loud
Dreaming out Loud may refer to:* Dreaming Out Loud , a 1940 film directed by Harold Young* Dreamin' Out Loud, a 1996 album by Trace Adkins* Dreaming Out Loud , a 2006 album by The Radiators...
, which was released the same year. Six other films were later produced, the last being Lum and Abner Abroad (1956).
As well as inspiring the program and its characters, Pine Ridge is also home to the Lum and Abner Museum, which opened in the 1970s and currently features on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. A replica of the Jot 'em Down Store stands adjacent to the Museum.
The National Lum and Abner Society
The National Lum and Abner Society, formed in 1984, published a bimonthly newsletter, "The Jot 'Em Down Journal," until 2007. Between 1985 and 2005 the organization held 20 annual conventions (skipping 2004) in Pine Ridge and Mena, Arkansas, playing host to numerous veterans of the "Lum and Abner" radio programs and motion pictures. Since 2007, the NLAS has existed as an organization with free membership with its "Jot 'Em Down Journal" transferred to the NLAS website. The first NLAS "Reunion" took place in June 2011 as part of the annual Lum and Abner Festival in Mena, Arkansas to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the "Lum and Abner" show as well as the 7th anniversary of the changing of the name of Waters, Arkansas to Pine Ridge. The NLAS has released the first CD volume of "Audio Jot 'Em Down Journals" for blind members, working through the Helping Hands for the Blind organization in California. This contains readings of the 1984-85 printed issues of "The Jot 'Em Down Journal." A second volume is in production at present. "Lum and Abner" is a registered trademark of Chester H. Lauck Jr. and is used by permission.Lum and Abner comic strip
Early in 2011, negotiations between Ethan C. Nobles of www.firstarkansasnews.net, the Chester Lauck family and cartoonist Donnie Pitchford resulted in a new comic strip series based on the classic radio programs and its characters. Beginning June 5, 2011, "Lum and Abner" officially began appearing at http://firstarkansasnews.net in a "Sunday strip" format with a new installment each Sunday. Additionally, each strip is accompanied by an audio dramatization with voices, sound effects and music, a feature designed with blind fans of "old time radio" in mind, but one that any reader may access. Readers may sign up for a free e-mail subscription by visiting GoComics. The comic strip made its newspaper debut in "The Mena Star" of Mena, Arkansas on Thursday, July 28, 2011. It has since been signed by two more Arkansas papers, "The Saline Courier" of Benton and "The Standard" of Amity.Watch
- Watch Dreaming Out Loud 1940
- Watch The Bashful Bachelor 1942
- Watch So This Is Washington 1943
- Watch Two Weeks to Live 1943
- Goin' to Town 1944
- Partners in Time 1946
- Lum and Abner Abroad 1956