| Hee Haw, a country version of Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, was a staple of syndicated television for more than 20 years. It began as a weekly series on CBS in 1969, but the network cancelled it in 1971 as part of an attempt to cleanse its schedule of rural-flavored shows (other casualties included The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres). |  |
On occasion, serious music segments were featured, such as a singer-songwriter segment (which featured an artist singing one of his biggest hits and then performing a song he wrote that became a hit for someone else). The final segment of each show featured the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet – originally, hosts Owens and Clark, along with Grandpa Jones and Kenny Price – singing a gospel song.
Virtually every major country superstar appeared on Hee Haw at one time or another – Charley Pride, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Sonny James, Ernest Tubb, Charlie Rich, Ray Price, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Statler Brothers, Alabama, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill ...and many more.
From: TV.com
| Hee Haw opening
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Linked from nostalgia and retrospection posts:
• VARIETY SHOWS
• 1970 TV Guide Covers
• 1973 TV Guide Covers
1 comments:
Despite the wholesomeness of the show, here have been many tragedies on "Hee Haw" - LuLu Roman was suspended from the show because of drug abuse, "Hee Haw" honey Marianne Gordon suffered a nasty divorce from singer Kenny Rogers, and Junior Samples died of a heart attack in 1983 while still a regular on the show. However, there was actually a "Hee Haw" murder that some people don't know about.
David "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife Estelle lived in a small cabin near Ridgetop, Tennessee, (with Grandpa Jones also of "Hee Haw" as a neighbor). Despite his success, Stringbean lived rather frugally, with his one indulgence being a Cadillac. He had survived the Depression and didn't trust banks. The word around Nashville was that Stringbean and his wife kept all their money at the cabin.
Two thugs decided to find out if that was true. On the night of November 10 1973, cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown hid in his house for hours, waiting for him and Estelle to return from a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
Upon arrival, they shot the couple dead. The bodies were discovered the next morning by Grandpa Jones. The cousins, both 23 at the time, were convicted of the murder. For their killings, they left the cabin with only a chainsaw and some guns. However, in 1996, twenty-three years after the murders, $20,000 was discovered behind a brick in the chimney of the modest cabin. The paper money had deteriorated so much that is was not usable.
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