BW - EP143—003: September 1957—Pat Buttram, Labor Day, And Just Entertainment

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

Labor Day is a U.S. federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. As trade unions and labor movements reached their peak during the Industrial Revolution, the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the U.S. officially celebrated Labor Day. On Labor Day in 1957, LIFE Magazine’s cover featured Major David Simons and his hot air balloon flight, also talking about the asiatic flu threat. Meanwhile, The Saturday Evening Post wrote about the drastic toll life without parole prison sentences wrought and a warden’s plea for drastic reform in the American concept of punishment. Originally hosted by Gene Autry, Just Entertainment was in 1957 hosted by sidekick Pat Buttram. Pat Buttram was born in Addison, Alabama on June 19th, 1915. The seventh child of a Methodist minister, he was set to follow in his father’s footsteps when, just before his eighteenth birthday, he attended the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. Station WLS sent an announcer to the fairgrounds for a remote broadcast interviewing fair attendees, and the announcer picked Pat as a "typical" visitor from the South. To everyone's delight and surprise, his comic observations and bits of country wisdom kept the announcer and the audience in stitches. WLS hired him for their National Barn Dance program, giving him a nation-wide audience. Pat soon became friends with Gene Autry. He went to Hollywood in the 1940s, appearing in more than forty Gene Autry pictures and became a regular on the Melody Ranch radio program. He later played Mr. Haney on CBS-TV’s Green Acres. #countrymusic #geneautry #patbuttram #oldtimeradio #otr #1950s #podcast #radio #audiofiction #grandoleopry #radiodrama #goldenageofhollywood #western #yellowstone #laborday