V CT A X> FASHION LAWN AND GARDEN! JnL KAN T SOCIETY KANSAS CITY, JANUARY 29. 1956-SUNDAY SECTION C ... .p.a i.urd ARKS FOLK TUNES AND COMEDY MAKE SPRINGFIELD A TV CENTER # The Whole City Gets a Business Lift With BT HOWARD TURTLE. i£ Member of The Star's Staff.) Red Foley's "Jubilee'* Being Produced PRINGFIELD, MO., Jan. 28.-—A year ago last There—Putting On the Live Shows for fall, Ralph Foster, radio station owner, said to Television Attracts Visitors From Many E. E. (Si) Siman, young vice- president, "Si, go over to Nash­ States. ville and talk to Red Foley. Ask him to come to Springfield and help us get an Ozark show on television." "Okay," said Siman, "but he's 'Mr. Country Music' Could We offer enough?" "We can offer a chance to get on national TV. He can have a participation in the enterprise. If he puts it over, his possibili­ FRESH YOUNG FACES AND LIVELY DANCING are contributed by the Promenaders ties are unlimited." (above). Other, square dancers frequently seen are the "Tadpoles," a children's group from Si caught a plane. Soon he Camdenton, Mo, fz~—; — ~—\'r'-' •': VHTv" was talking on the telephone to Kentucky. Papa had a little the entertainer whose songs had country store. There were some gold 25 million phonograph rec­ people in town who always ords. thought they were better than "Why, Si," said Foley, "I ap­ the rest of us, and they moved preciate the invitation v, . but away and made some money up you know the capital of country north. Then they came back to music is Nashville—not Spring­ town. They were drivin' a big field. I have the top job on the car. And by this time they Grand OF Opry—and I wouldn't couldn't see us a-tall. I was just see any reason to make a a little barefoot kid. But I said to myself that if I ever had any change ..." success, I wasn't gonna be that Siman hung up the telephone. Way." "Talk to him again," said CROWDS GATHER OUTSIDE THE THEATER an hour I asked Red why he usually poster. "He may change his before the "Ozark Jubilee" begins. As many as thirty states ended his program with a hymn mind." have been represented in one audience. * or other spiritual note. "Well there's some religious Springfield a TV Producing: hollerin', stompin'-on-the-floor!mental old favorite, "When You Center. feeling in everybody. More than variety with planking banjo and Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big that, I think the spiritual phase- The persuasion went on for off-key fiddle? That's not the Red Ras«e." runs all the way through the three months. Foster's business style of the Ozark Jubilee. The show. Yes, there's lots of associates told him his idea was "It's the casual aspect that ill music here is softer, more sub-| this show over," says Les­ comedy, but to me, religion is wild. But he persisted, and to­ puts humility—and this show is for day Springfield is known as tele­ COMEDY AND GOOD LOOKS are part of the show. lie, played by stringed instai, ter E> CoXj a partner in the ments that have been carefully,enterprise. Mr. Cox is a mem- plain folks. That's why we have vision's country music capital. From left to right are "Goo Goo" Rutledge, comedian; Maxine an audience." The show is called the "Ozark tuned. ber of the board of curators of SPRINGFIELD REGARDS THE "JUBILEE" as a tourist Brown of Pine Bluff, Ark., singer, and Red Foley, known as Red Foley is out front, with the University of Missouri and Red says his turning point Jubilee,"i and the star is Red attraction and civic asset. Here, on a downtown sidewalk, came when a singing trip of "Mr. Country Music." his arm around Fran Allison,«head of several corporations, in- Foley, who finally changed his are (left to right) Ralph Foster, partner in Crossroads TV professors from Berea college mind. Fran is known on TV as part of'eluding a tractor agency. "You came out to entertain at a pie . . . ."(and he turned to his poles, between which were the Kukla, Fran and Ollie show.jean be at ease in your living productions; Irving G. McNayr, Springfield city manager; Because of the "Jubilee," companions), "I want you to stretched banners bearing the supper in the 1-room country She is a guest of the Jubilee, aifi room as you watch it." Red Foley, Jubilee master of ceremonies, and Rusty Draper, school he attended. Red was in Springfield now produces jrnore meet my wife, and my brother, names of their home towns. her role is that of "Auntj The lights flashed out over coast-to-coast television enter­ They were prepared to unroll country music recording star. the fourth grade- His father, a Jacob, and his wife." Fanny." | the crowd. Out came the ban- fiddle player, had taught him tainment than any American the banners, they said, and hold "Bless yo're heart," Red tsjners that I had noticed among arriving. After many greetings, showed the lines that indicated city with the exception of New The Lieser brothers, farmers to play a guitar. The boy played them up when the TV cameras saying, "we're really proud jo the guests in the lobby. Monti- Red sat down across the table. his age of about 45. York, Chicago and Hollywood. on large acreages, said they roamed over the crowd. and sang at the social. After­ planned to spend the night in have you come all the way down cello, New York, was" emblaz­ He is a man of medium height, ward one of the professors said The city of more than 90,000 Irving G. McNayr, tall, slim oned before the viewers of the Red Foley's Story. here to be on our show". ruddy face, san$y hair and an to the elder Foley, "That boy population tallies its fresh in­ Springfield and drive on the fol­ city manager of Springfield, Aunt Fanny sparkles. "Red, [nation. So were Quincy, 111., "I want to tell you somethin' come at more than a million easv smile. has talent. He ought to go to lowing day. started through the entrance she says, "I'm having such 'a Salt Lake City, Fort Smith, that happened to me when I dollars, plus the publicity bene- W. R. Seymour of Des Moines, door and paused. Had he no­ school in town." good time I think I'll just Ark., and others, "We've been waiting for you," was just a kid." he said. "These Mr. Foley took/ the youth to la., introduced his wife and their ticed any effect from the Ozark stay..." Corny? Yes, in a way, but said Foster. "You put over the school in his model T Ford. By As Springfield residents travel traveling companions, Mr. and Jubilee in Springfield? Jubilee on on the national net­ people after the show tonight "Now that you've come ill i fun for millions, wanted to see me, and I wanted the time he was a freshman in on vacation, they are reminded Mrs. Vyrle Courtney of Des "No question about it," he this way," says Red, "I thi|k After the show, Foster and work. You should have come to Berea college, R,ed had ^n offer all across the country that they Moines. said. "It helps the city spirit., the party earlier." to see them, and I think I should "It's more than a 700-mile we ought to have a little song.' j Cox gave a fried chicken party. to play his guitar and sing on are from "the town of the Ozark Only last week the chamber of The orchestra starts softly,jit was a merry crowd, and Red Here Foley became serious. have. It goes back to when I the "National Barn Dance m Jubilee." Visitors to the show round trip," said Seymour, "but commerce voted a citation. Flis face, for the first time. was a boy living outside Berea, m .4-M.wit rttrA*i«irif.ll+ Q'Vli-l Ctf\ hn m (y and Fran and Red sing the sent ii Foley and Mrs. Foley were late (Continued on Folloioincf Pape.) lula nits vuteif to annex terri­ in one night's audience/ n i • 6 teiepnxpie.'v tory equal to what it previously [HE JttiNU LYL AND It is estimated that 15 to 18 Other couples In the lobby had, and we have voted 10 mil­ million persons watch the Ozark from Des Moines included Mr. lion dollars in sewer bonds and Jubilee each week on television, and Mrs. Robert Carter, Mr. $nd 11 million in electric utility giving a national rating close Mrs. Arthur Krampe, Mr. and bonds. Springfield is on the to the top. As many as 20,000 Mrs. Frank Courtney and Mr. move, and this show helps ..." and Mrs. Fred Crane. THE bllAIN of DlCK letters are received after one We went around to the back show. The program runs an Three young women came from New Richland, Minn., 542 alley and in through the coun­ hour and a half on three Satur­ try-style stage entrance. This miles away. day nights a month, and a half- consists of a rope hanging from hour on the fourth Saturday when "What's the chance for stand­ •3ke Stow of Chester Gould, ing room?" asked a tall soldier the top of a portal like a barn the Grand 01 Opry takes the from the 6th armoured division door. Pull on the rope and a other hour. at Ft. Leonard Wood. wooden block on the inside teatov Of America's Ac& Detective We drove down to Springfield "Fifty cents," called out the swings up, releasing the catch. last week end, 180 miles south­ girl in the ticket window. Inside, we introduced our­ east of Kansas City. As we ar­ "Gimme four," said the selves. At this point the "coun­ rived, the downtown section was soldier, and he and his buddies try-style" atmosphere mostly Of the Comic Sections- crowded with cars, especially stepped aside, grinning. vanishes. The scenery is Ozark- around the square. Near by The uniforms of fourteen ian, but the Jubilee has a New could be seen the Jewell theater sailors denoted the naval air York- atmosphere in its back­ marquee. Although show time station at Hutchinson, Kas. A stage management. was an hour away, crowds al­ man in the crowd was from Hali­ Lights are bright, but not ready were in the lobby and fax, Nova Scotia. Others were blinding. Technicians are wheel­ lined up on the sidewalk. from Dodge City, Tulsa, Monti- ing large TV cameras about. In­ Visitors From Far-Away' States. cello, N. Y., Kansas City, side a glassed-in room, tech­ We parked the car and decided Youngstown, O., Stillwell, Ok., nicians stare intently at dials, to find out if anyone was here Quincy, 111., Grady, Ark., Musko­ projectors and screens, some­ from out-of-state. A tall blond gee and Pueblo, times waving frantically. Many man of middle-age stood on the Waving for "Folks Back Home." have headphones over their DICK TRACY'S CREATOR is the former Oklahoman, fringe of the crowd. Was his Members of the crowd seemed ears. Outside the glass enclos­ SHAKE V M6/A*3L£S A/JRS, 0££ATHL£55 . 3"B £Y£$ . TH£ Chester Gould,, shown here at his drawing table where the home nearby? to have arrived with "funny- ure the crowd is seen, filling sleuth's adventures are recorded for an estimated 60 million bones" already tickled. There all the 1,100 seats and standing SHOIA/ "No," replied Edmund Lieser P^JRU/VEFACE /MA HONE V readers of the 409 newspapers in which the strip appears. were men in caps and jackets, at the rear. Occasionallv some- in a clipped, Scandinavian ac­ him scant remuneration. And? cent, "my home is Regal, Min­ and others in business suits. one walks down the aisle with heroics are also followed by fans after eighteen years of dating f or med Capone into a voodoo Many of the women wore furs. a» camera to snap a picture of BY PETE COUTRAS. in forty-three foreign countries, if ever any thoughts of graft Dick (a romance which culmi­ nesota." (Service of the Chicago Tribune-New York (oh, horrible world!) have as­ image named Big Boy and into "How far away is that?" Some had orchids. performers on the brightly- News. Syndicate.) proving that Tracy's derring-do nated in marriage at the read­ is by no means a purely domes­ sailed him, Tracy, for one—and it he.jabbed a pen dipped heavily "It's 725 miles." "When they flash the lights lighted stage. The audience AST summer, when the ers' insistence) Tess must have on the crowd," Sam Shouse was tic subject. Gould, for another—have been into an acid ink. 'You mean to tell me you seems to be a part of the show. heat popped the corn realized an honest cop's wife saying, "I'm gonna wave my If Tracy's fame seems at patently successful* in' smother­ dosen't covet mink. Big Boy was the "bad man" came here just to see the Jubi­ And over all is the music—a / right off its stalks in Illi­ ing them. lee?" hat at the TV camera. The tuneful array of sentimental old times to inflate his ego, he may in a cartoon Gould entitled L nois, Chester Gould This rock-bound integrity is Mr, Gould's Estate. 'Well, it's worth it! We're on folks back home are gonna be songs, done in melodious style. well be forgiven this human "Plain-Clothes Tracy." The strip watching for me." stayed cool, calm and collecting. frailty. His stretch of unstinting hardly calculated to keep Faring much better financial­ was to be the forerunner of our way to Florida, but we ly is Gould who, if he is not a planned to be here on a Saturday Sam said he was from Canton, It's Not Old Hillbilly Music. Thanks to the spacious *pool in service for the unnamed city Mrs. Tracy, the former Tess 7 Truehart, swathed in mink. But millionaire, makes a very rea­ comic strips w hose comic con­ night. We never miss a week I Mo., 313 miles away, Remember the old-time hill­ his back yard—of which he has which employs him has brought tent was nil. It also marked the seeing this show on TV. Here j A few others carried two short billy radio music? A whoopin', sonable facsimile of one with his acres and acres—he was able to 14-room house perched rather first time violence was dealt drown his perspiration. nobly on his 130-acre estate in with on a funny page. ; For this, Gould shall be for­ Woodstock, 111.,, a rural area in His Struggle for Recognition. ever indebted to Dick Tracy, undulating country seventy miles Despite the fact he was draw­ north of Chicago. There are ing ads for a rival outfit, Gould America's Number One detec- two cars in the garage and a tivevlt was Dick, after all, who forwarded his new strip to Capt. jeep for overseeing purposes. Joseph Medill Patterson, pub­ made the pool and all those There is also a bridle path on lisher of the News. For ten happy acres possible. the grounds which Gould used years, Gould had been submitting But- then, Gould has certainly to ride regularly with his daugh­ ideas to Patterson. For ten reciprocated. He has extricated ter, who is now married. Gould years, he'd been getting reject the slick sleuth from more than gets his exercise these days slips. one hot spot in the latter's amaz­ tending the thirty-five head of '"These rejects," reminisces ing career. Gould's unflagging cattle which he raises each year. Gould with the glow of a man determination to keep his meal Three mornings, a week, Gould— mellowed by success, "were ticket alive, aided and abetted whose rugged frame belies his building blocks for me. They immeasurably by Tracy's un­ 54 years--also jogs a few miles were sacred bits of material, erring marksmanship, has been, in the company of his frolicsome 1 First, there w^ere the flat re­ instrumental in helping the Ian- cocker spaniels, Hey and Cap­ fusals. Then, the meaningless tern-jawed detective celebrate tain. ' rejections. Pretty soon, I was the start of his twenty-fifth year Obviously, Gould's better fixed getting encouraging letters even of criminology. It was twenty- than Tracy. Just as obviously, if my ideas were not yet being four years ago last October when he works twice as hard. Along accepted. But I never despaired. Dick first started playing cops- with helping Dauntless Dick es­ I knew I had to make it." and-robbers, aligning himself, of cape from his myriad predica­ Then one August afternoon in course,.with the forces of right­ ments, Gould must also — for 1931, Gould made it. He was at eousness. continuity's sake—do the schem­ his drawing board in the adver­ His Exploits in The Star. ing for those forces operating tising department of a Chicago On Sundays, Tracy toils in outside the law; Gould receives newspaper when he was sum­ color for the News syndicate. considerable advice from the moned to the phone. It was his Weekdays, he works in black police. wife, Edna. She had a telegram and white. It is estimated that When Gould introduced Dick from Ne*w ^York and would he 60 million amateur criminolo­ Tracy to a gangster-plagued like her to read it to him ? Would gists, amateur criminals and just public in 1931, Al'Capone and he! It,read: plain readers follow the exploits his ilk were riding the crest of YOUR PLAIN-CLOTHES TRACY notoriety. Among the more HAS POSSIBILITIES STOP of this latter-day Sherlock WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU WHEN Holmes who has disdained style vexed citizens was Gould him- I GO TO CHICAGO STOP PLEASE changes for a quarter of a cen­ self. CALL TRIBUNE OFFICE MONDAY. tury to keep the faith with his But what could an average ABOUT NOON FOR .AN. APPOINT­ citizen, armed solely with a MENT. snap-brim hat and dark suit. CHESTER GOULD is shown using the 2-way short-wave The telegram was signed' by Double-breasted, of course. radio in his car, with which he can communicate'iwith local sense of outrage and a drawing pen, do to stifle this wave of J. M. Patterson. The Tribune Tracy sweats out his living in police in Woodstock, 111. The creator of Dick Tracy gets alluded to was the Chicago 409 papers (including The Kan- adult delinquency? Concluding considerable advice from the authorities on how criminal rationally that the nation's top- Tribune, of which the late Col. sas City Star) in the U. S. and Robert R. McCormick, Captain HOME TOWN PRIDE manifests itself as signs are held up before TV cameras by Canada. These papers represent forces operate—and on how iron-jawed Tracy can squelch ranking gangster was beyond (Continued on Following Page,) capacity audiences. a circulation of 24 million, His i 11 £v* I •*• * physical retribution, Gould trans- k Folk Tunes at Springfield TV Center you tell us where the Jewell (Continued From, Preceding Pase,)theate r is?" Chicago. He was 20 years old. "Yes," said the operator, "it's His first pay was $25 a week. right across the street. But if Soon he got an increase to $75. you're looking for entertainment, I'd advise you to go to a movie. Before long he was a radio star. That's just a Hillbilly show over In the ensuing twenty-five years there!" he has been among the leaders Hillbilly or not, Springfield is in country music's rise to a 350- satisfied. million-dollar-a-y ear industry. C. Frank Knox, president of Foley, himself, has been esti­ the Union National bank, says mated in income brackets as that when he goes to New York high as $75,000 annually. on business, he finds his town is famous for the Jubilee, and Foster's Success With Radio. it's not a hillbilly connotation, By contrast, Red's boss, Ralph either. Foster, started in the tire busi­ Dr. Durward G. Hall, president ness in St. Joseph, Mo., and of the chamber of commerce, opened up an early-day 15-watt says, "This town is bustin' out radio station in a back room. all over. We have inquiries by His investment was $1,000. When which four new- industries may not selling tires, he did some be brought here. Hillbilly? Well, singing on the stage and radio. if we are, we're proud of it. In 1932, a partner moved to When we have distinguished California.' Foster sold out the visitors, at the chamber of com­ tire shop and established the merce we pin a hillbilly medal first radio station in Springfield, on them!" KWTO. Country music became his principal feature. Many of his young singers went on to na­ tional prominence. He estab­ Sidelights on lished a transcription service and last year 1,000 radio stations Toll Roads were broadcasting country music From the Tulsa World. programs recorded in Spring­ Hotel men in a big meeting field. It has been estimated his recently paid most attention to various enterprises did a Vk* toll roads. They have various million-dollar gross last year. complaints—that the superhigh-* A few years ago Foster leased ihe Jewell theater and started Tl! utting on country-style stage NDWS, released locally on tele- ision. "The secret of success," says Foster, "is to find a need and fill it. We had an instant suc­ cess with our country shows. I knew they'd be popular nation­ ally, and you see what hap­ pened." When Foster contracted to spend $100,000 fixing up tjie Jew­ We Will b ell theater stage, including a mam maze of TV electronics, his friends frankly told him he was losing his good judgment. And Kmmm Cit his ideas about making Spring­ field, a national television cen­ ter were wild. When he finally persuaded the American Broadcasting com- pany to give the Jubilee a net­ -BEJr ORE YOU B i work trial, cable facilities were and quality-for-qr not available in Springfield, and the first shows were given at . . . you may do \S the University of Missouri sta­ hundreds of floor tion, KOMU-TV, in Columbia. Even today, after a full year our reputation ba of success, some of the Spring­ guarantee of sati field natives have less regard for the Jubilee than have resi­ * * t dents of California or Massa- Around the studios, they tell about the first time network of­ ficials' from New York visited Springfield, They wanted to see first-hand what brought about the national response to Ozark Jubilee. At the hotel, they said to the elevator operator, "Can T^AA^AAAAAAA