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| Chattanooga Daily Times September 19, 1953 |
The Tennessee Hayloft Jamboree, a live stage show from Chattanooga, Tennessee, still misses a well-grounded documentation. Although the show does not share the historial importance with such formats as the Grand Ole Opry or the Louisiana Hayride, it is nevertheless an interesting part of local Tennessee music culture and worth a detailed story as well.
According to Billboard and other newspaper ads, the show began its run on July 25, 1953, at the Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium. The show lasted three hours; one our was broadcast through a network of six different stations from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Another one-hour portion was carried by WGAC in Chattanooga.
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| Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium 1940s or 1950s postcard |
Headliners of the show were local acts, although an advertisement for the debut show promised "big names in the entertainment world" and "over 100 stars with 25 acts". Among those "stars" were Bob Sanders and the Tennessee Valley Play Boys, the Hixson Playboys, the Little Haskett Brothers, and the Signal Mountain Gang. Though, the show's cast was made up of 42 different local singers and bands. Les Morrison, from WDXB in Chattanooga, was "heading the details," according to Billboard (whatever that means).
The Jamboree cast also set out to play personal dates in the region in addition to its regular Saturday night shows. In October 1953, the show moved to a new location, the Hayloft Playhouse, on 9th and Pine Streets in Chattanooga. Two months earlier, Les Morrison, P.H. Parker, and W.P. Grueter had formed the Tennessee Hayloft Jamboree corporation to "promote radio, television, and stage shows, buy and sell radio and television time and act as booking and promotion agent". This company was headquartered in the Dome Building in downtown Chattanooga.
The show aired at least until 1954, judging from a 1954 article in Cowboy Songs No. 32 by Bobby Gregory. If anyone has more information or memories he would like to share, please leave a comment below or feel free to send me an email (adress can be seen on my profile page).
Sources
• Various Chattanooga Daily Items newspaper items
• Billboard July 1953
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