The Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound has unearthed a treasure trove of footage from Cas Walker's long-running local television show, and they want you to see it. TAMIS is holding a benefit performance in Maryville next month to screen the clips and host live music by local and regional perfomers connected to Walker's career.
From the press release:
The show will be held at the Palace Theater in Maryville on Saturday, June 6, from 7-10 p.m. A $10 minimum donation is requested.
From the press release:
Cas Walker wore many hats; grocer, politician, and long-time radio and television variety show host. Each job was done in Walker's unique tell-it-like-it-is style. Love him or hate him, Walker was a major force in Knoxville business and politics, and gave hundreds of area musicians a break on his long-running Cas Walker Farm and Home television program. Recently discovered film clips and rare video from Walker's long-unavailable local television program give testimony as to why Cas Walker's legacy endures almost a decade after his death. Featured are vintage commercials, musical guest spots (look for a young Dolly Parton!) and bloopers from Walker's surviving television programs. As an added bonus, TAMIS will be screening hilarious and previously lost Cas Walker television advertisements from the 1950s, unseen for over five decades. These vintage commercials feature the likes of Fred E Smith, Red Rector, and other well-known local entertainers.
Rounding out the program will be live country, bluegrass, and gospel musical performances from local musicians who played for Cas on his radio and television programs from the 1940s until the 1980s. Scheduled to perform are Cas Walker impersonator John Hitch (of local "Mayberry" fame), and wife Ruby, Luke Brandon, comedian Phil Campbell, western swing artists Sisters of the Silver Sage, Chet Atkins-style guitar picker Larry Oldham, Rita Cianciola, 90 year old Pappy "Gube" Beaver" (sponsored by Walker on WROL Radio in the 1940s), and legendary bluegrass band David West and the Cider Mountain Boys.
A special attraction will be the reunion of the surviving Randolph Family Band, a popular local radio act (WNOX, WROL) during the 1940s, along with a screening of a long-lost film made of the band in 1946 by Knoxville filmmaker Sam Orleans.
The show will be held at the Palace Theater in Maryville on Saturday, June 6, from 7-10 p.m. A $10 minimum donation is requested.
