266:, Sunday afternoon and holiday performances were held outdoors at Sierra Creek Park in the Santa Monica Mountains beginning in the summer of 1955. A daily version began airing on another Los Angeles television station. Then, in 1957, Wagnon arranged with Screen Gems to film a series of 39 half-hour television shows featuring the
66:
barn dance programs at the old Town Hall building, situated at 400 South Long Beach
Boulevard in Compton, near Long Beach. Wagnon acquired Phillips' lease and commenced promoting a combined dance-and-show, featuring any and all country & western recording artists working in the area and available
313:
LP album in 1958, featuring many of the regular cast members of the series. That same year, however, brought changes to the program. NBC radio had discontinued carrying the
Saturday night shows, and rising union scale rates made it impossible for Wagnon to keep the huge cast of recording artists on
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was to be dropped in
December, 1960. The final performance at the Compton Town Hall was on January 14, 1961. Other live country and Western music shows were seen on California television at various points in the 1960s, but none featured the large cast of recording artists which Wagnon assembled in
282:. While many traditional country and Western musicians had been mainstays of the radio and television cast for years, the series readily embraced rock ´n roll and enthusiastically presented singers from the new genre. Eddie Cochran performed on February 7, 1959.
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series. By
September 1953 the show was "a regional NBC TV'er," and "the longest c.&w. West Coast TV'er, with net plans in the works. The Armed Forces Television Service made 16mm
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of the shows and broadcast them on stations throughout the world, from
Greenland to Saudi Arabia to the Canal Zone. As the show expanded, new talent joined the cast - with
251:, superb steel guitarist Marian Hall, Billy Hill and Fiddlin' Kate on violins, PeeWee Adams on drums, Jimmy Pruitt on piano, and other excellent musicians who created a
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Wagnon instructed the performers to play only music which could be danced to, and to keep individual songs short and plentiful, in order to satisfy everyone's tastes.
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290:. Traditional country entertainers, singing cowboys, and rock singers never shared the spotlight in a more harmonious manner than on the
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and his combo were brought in to film guest spots on the Screen Gems series, and The
Collins Kids were given co-star billing with host
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was heard on KXLA, and Wagnon approached KFI with a proposal for a
Saturday night broadcast. The latter was carried by portions of the
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shows featuring Tex Ritter, The
Collins Kids, and Town Hall regulars, thus drawing them away from the KTTV Saturday night telecasts.
842:
676:
The
Encyclopedia of Country Music. Compiled by staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame. 1998. Oxford University Press. page 542.
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in ballrooms between
Bakersfield and Sacramento for several years when he decided to extend his operations to Los Angeles.
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From 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. PT on Saturday nights, Los Angeles television station KTTV carried the live
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the Compton stage week after week. The band was made smaller and many regular cast members departed in 1958.
322:, talented vocalists/instrumentalists/composers, joined the much smaller cast as band members and soloists.
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Competition for television viewers was more intense as the new decade began, and KTTV gave notice that
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network. Country singer Wesley Tuttle was hired as director/musical director of the series, and
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on Saturday nights. An estimated 3,000 patrons could be accommodated in the Town Hall Ballroom.
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breaking all attendance records during a 1954 performance. Other notable guest stars included
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325:
The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team began playing in Los Angeles in April 1958, drawing many
278:. He opted to capitalize on the TV Westerns craze of 1957 by calling the syndicated series,
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patrons to the nearby Coliseum. In 1959, the new Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series.
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In late December 1958 the newly opened Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas began to put on
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274:, Wagnon had named his series after Linkletter's popular radio/television program,
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was contracted to write the scripts for the KFI/NBC series. The cast featured
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the 1950s, glimpses of which may be seen today on films of the syndicated
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Promoter William B. Wagnon, Jr., had been booking such acts as
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The television series was broadcast by KTTV-TV in Los Angeles.
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Wagnon's series continued to expand in the 1950s. Billed as
36:
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series and on DVD releases of the surviving kinescopes of
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35:
The first radio broadcast was in Autumn 1951 by stations
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sound also heard on many country sessions produced by
736:
Country Song Round-Up, Number 33, July–August, 1954.
823:
Encyclopedia of Country, Western & Gospel Music
204:Guest stars were plentiful, with an appearance by
829:
754:Bond, Johnny. Reflections, 1976, JEMF Press.
62:, himself a bandleader had been promoting
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853:1961 American television series endings
653:"hillbilly-music.com - Town Hall Party"
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848:1953 American television series debuts
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539:
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838:American country music radio programs
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718:Video and interview of Feb 7, 1959
169:was hired as master of ceremonies.
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78:A Friday night radio version of
56:Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
843:Country music television series
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745:Billboard Jul 30, 1955. page 20
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727:Billboard Sep 26, 1953 page 52
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201:being among the most popular.
25:program, firstly broadcast on
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39:in Pasadena, California and
777:"Franchise Timeline - 1890s"
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599:(Oct. 58, July 59, Nov. 59)
259:in Hollywood in the 1950s.
43:in Los Angeles, California
10:
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154:, Shirley Adams, comedian
373:Les "Carrot-Top" Anderson
148:Les "Carrot-Top" Anderson
104:Wesley and Marilyn Tuttle
270:cast. A close friend of
60:Burt "Foreman" Phillips
766:. Johnny Bond. p. 169
264:Town Hall Ranch Party
50:Founding and synopsis
802:The Tex Ritter Story
707:The Tex Ritter Story
230:Sons of the Pioneers
165:Hollywood Barn Dance
74:NBC radio broadcasts
818:Hillbilly-Music.com
657:Hillbilly-music.com
64:country and Western
479:Cousin Herb Henson
387:Jenks "Tex" Carman
173:Television program
120:Jenks "Tex" Carman
804:, 1976, Chappell.
696:1976, JEFM Press.
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499:Mary Jane Johnson
487:Hoosier Hot Shots
394:(Nov. 58, Aug 59)
144:Mary Jane Johnson
138:(Margie Warren),
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199:The Collins Kids
21:was an American
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518:Skeets McDonald
503:Jerry Lee Lewis
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350:Town Hall Party
341:Town Hall Party
334:Town Hall Party
311:Town Hall Party
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294:and syndicated
292:Town Hall Party
268:Town Hall Party
253:Town Hall Party
241:Town Hall Party
222:Smiley Burnette
191:Skeets McDonald
179:Town Hall Party
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116:Rose Lee Maphis
80:Town Hall Party
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18:Town Hall Party
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800:Bond, Johnny.
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195:Dortha Wright
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152:Pee Wee Adams
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23:country music
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784:. Retrieved
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693:
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672:
660:. Retrieved
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629:Gene Vincent
616:George Jones
597:Gene Vincent
584:Merle Travis
579:Gordon Terry
570:Bonnie Sloan
543:Carl Perkins
469:Freddie Hart
453:Tommy Duncan
365:PeeWee Adams
349:
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302:1958 to 1961
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284:Carl Perkins
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249:Merle Travis
240:
238:
226:Jimmy Wakely
214:Gene Vincent
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178:
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140:Freddie Hart
132:Merle Travis
108:Tex Williams
79:
77:
69:
53:
45:
34:
17:
16:
15:
786:28 November
694:Reflections
662:28 November
608:Mac Wiseman
603:Slim Willet
566:Tommy Sands
548:Wayne Raney
474:Bobby Helms
465:Marian Hall
417:Alvis Coker
408:Patsy Cline
392:Johnny Cash
377:Johnny Bond
346:Ranch Party
309:released a
296:Ranch Party
280:Ranch Party
276:House Party
210:Johnny Cash
160:Jay Stewart
100:Buddy Dooly
96:Johnny Bond
88:Johnny Bond
832:Categories
639:References
556:Tex Ritter
531:Billy Mize
523:Joe Maphis
483:Billy Hill
444:Eddie Dean
434:Ted Daffan
398:Jim Reeves
356:Performers
316:Billy Mize
288:Tex Ritter
245:Joe Maphis
234:Jim Reeves
218:Eddie Dean
206:Gene Autry
183:kinescopes
156:Texas Tiny
128:Jim Pruitt
124:Eddie Kirk
112:Joe Maphis
92:Tex Ritter
31:television
624:Hank Snow
508:Bob Luman
496:Myrna Jay
439:Dick Dale
327:Town Hall
84:NBC Radio
29:and then
574:Tom Tall
781:Mlb.com
298:shows.
37:KXLA-AM
680:
197:, and
41:KFI-AM
27:radio
788:2021
678:ISBN
664:2021
318:and
232:and
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