Lum and Abner

Regional/rural situation comedy ( 1931 local - 1954 )

Norris Goff was Abner Peabody, and Chester Lauck was Lum Edwards… the owners and operators of Pine Ridge's own "Jot 'em Down Store." The Lum and Abner show was fifteen minutes that took us to back to the feeling of a rural America before music, radio and such made peace and quiet seem downright odd. For a general store, the "Jot 'em Down" was rarely bustling, so the silence was taken up with the events of the moment.

Intro music sets the stage, and we might be sitting by the cracker barrel, ready to "ketch up" on what Lum or Abner are up to…A quick scan of the show titles tells you this show was filled with funny episodes. It was, and some developed over days or even weeks

Amos and Andy, as played by Gosden and Correll were the direct predecessors of Lum and Abner, as Goff and Lauck did "blackface" comedy at first. But that comedy market, hard to believe today, was glutted with 'wannabe's," so they switched to the Lum and Abner "idee." An essential part of both shows is the no-audience first-person approach to story telling.

While Amos and Andy moved to Harlem, for years Lum and Abner changed "nary a thing"…until in '48, the show went to a half-hour, got a live audience and visiting star, an orchestra, and flopped. The boys did seven movies, too…even did one called "Lum and Abner Abroad." But it was in the "Jot 'em Down" with Lum and Abner just talking that the listening public really wanted to be. In its own way, Lum and Abner presented a perfect, and perfectly funny, little world of its own. It is pure storytelling, with plots that are always mischievous, and often bordered on the tall tale.