Ozark Jubilee

Ozark Jubilee
Also known as	Country Music Jubilee Jubilee USA
Format	country music variety
Created by	Ralph D. Foster
Directed by	Bryan T. Bisney
Starring	Red Foley
Voices of	Joe Slattery
Theme music composer	Hank Garland
Opening theme	"Sugarfoot Rag"
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5 1/2
No. of episodes	297
Production
Executive producer(s)	Si Siman John B. Mahaffey
Producer(s)	Bryan T. Bisney
Camera setup	multi-camera
Running time	60 minutes; also 90 and 30 minutes
Production company(s)	RadiOzark Enterprises Crossroads TV Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC-TV
Picture format	black-and-white NTSC 4:3
Audio format	monaural
Original run	January 22, 1955 (1955-01-22) – September 24, 1960 (1960-09-24)
Chronology
Related shows	Five Star Jubilee Talent Varieties

Ozark Jubilee was an American network television and radio variety program during the 1950s which helped popularize country music in the United States and launched or advanced the careers of many significant recording artists including Brenda Lee, Wanda Jackson, Sonny James, Porter Wagoner and Jean Shepard. The weekly live prime time stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed Country Music Jubilee on July 6, 1957, and was finally named Jubilee USA on August 2, 1958.^[1]

Originating "from the heart of the Ozarks," Springfield, Missouri, the Jubilee was the first to present country music's biggest stars interspersed with a regular cast, drawing more than nine million viewers; and beginning in 1954, at least as many listeners on ABC Radio. Carl Perkins, performing "Blue Suede Shoes," made his TV debut on the series, which frequently showcased country and western, rockabilly and regional Ozark music. The host was Red Foley, at the time the nation's top country music star.

A typical program included a mix of vocal and instrumental performances, comedy routines, square dancing and novelty acts along with appearances by such guest stars as Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and Eddy Arnold. The audience was briefly part of the broadcasts when the Jubilee's cameras swung around to show the sold-out Jewell Theatre. Attendees were often nearly 90 percent out-of-state,^[2] and many would cheer and hold up signs or banners bearing the names of their hometowns. The genial Foley closed each show with a "song of inspiration" or a reading from his Keepsake Album, and his sign-off was "Goodnight mama, goodnight papa."

The final program aired September 24, 1960. That telecast, like the first in 1955, opened with Foley singing "Hearts of Stone." It was the 297th episode, which concluded with Foley performing "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You."

The series was named Best Country Music Show by Fame's annual TV critics poll in 1957 (TV Daily and Motion Picture Daily) and 1960 (Television Daily). In 1961, NBC-TV carried a spin-off, Five Star Jubilee.

Was the Jubilee "first?"

The first (and first live) country music program on network television was Village Barn on NBC from 1948-50, broadcast from a New York City nightclub. From the late 1940s through the 1950s, the U.S. networks carried a handful of other country music shows, including Hayloft Hoedown and ABC Barn Dance (ABC); Saturday Night Jamboree (NBC); and Windy City Jamboree and The Old American Barn Dance (DuMont). NBC and later ABC also aired Midwestern Hayride. The shows, however, were generally short-lived summer replacements and had few if any well-known performers.

Ozark Jubilee was the first network TV program to feature popular country music stars, and as a result, was the first country music program to attract a significant national viewership. At five-and-a-half years, it also holds the record for the longest-running country music series on network TV (Hee Haw was syndicated after two years on CBS, and Austin City Limits presents a much broader category of music).

ABC-TV schedules

(all times are Eastern Time -- all running times include commercial breaks)

• 1954-55 season (Ozark Jubilee) Starting January 22, 1955: Saturday, 9-10 p.m. Starting July 2, 1955: Saturday, 7:30-9 p.m.
  

  

  ABC-TV logo 1957 - 1961
• 1955-56 season (Ozark Jubilee): Saturday, 7:30-9 p.m.
• 1956-57 season (Ozark Jubilee) Starting October 4, 1956: Thursday, 10-11 p.m. Starting December 29, 1956: Saturday, 8-9 p.m.
• 1957-58 season (Country Music Jubilee): Saturday, 8-9 p.m.
• 1958-59 season (Jubilee USA) Starting September 29, 1958: Monday, 8-8:30 p.m. Starting November 1, 1958: Saturday, 8-9 p.m.
• 1959-60 season (Jubilee USA): Starting October 3, 1959: Saturday, 10-11 p.m. (final telecast September 24, 1960)

From October 15, 1955 to September 15, 1956, the program aired from 7:30-8 p.m. every fourth Saturday when ABC televised The Grand Ole Opry from 8-9 p.m. From March through September 1956, "Junior Jubilee" would air in the half-hour time slot.

Radio roots and Red Foley

During the 1940s and 1950s, Springfield broadcasters Ralph Foster and Si Siman produced nationally-syndicated radio shows through Foster's RadiOzark Enterprises, and aired them locally over his KWTO-AM. Their stable of country music shows began to grow, and Foster believed Springfield could dethrone Nashville, Tennessee to become the "crossroads of country music." He realized television was the key, and launched Ozark Jubilee on a local TV station in December 1953. He named his new company Crossroads TV Productions, Inc., with Siman and John B. Mahaffey (Foster's nephew) as managing vice presidents. A financial backer was local businessman Lester E. Cox.

Red Foley Jubilee publicity photo

Four months later, after extensive negotiations, Siman lured Red Foley from Nashville, Tennessee to host the show with a five-year contract. It was a major coup; Foley was considered by many to be America's top country music star. In 1946 he replaced Roy Acuff as emcee of the Grand Ole Opry segment carried by NBC Radio, and Foley's popularity during the following eight years was credited with establishing it as America's top country music show. Three months later, in July 1954, ABC-TV agreed to buy the Jubilee;^[3] and by August, ABC began carrying a radio version hosted by Foley that had begun on KWTO in July.

Ironically, publicity surrounding federal income tax evasion charges pending against Foley during 1960 influenced ABC's decision to cancel the program that year; although his first trial that fall ended in a hung jury, and after a second trial Foley was quickly acquitted on April 23, 1961.^[4] The previous October, ABC had begun airing the popular Fight of the Week in the Jubilee's former time slot.

To represent the regular performers on KWTO (and later the Jubilee), Foster established Top Talent, Inc., in partnership with Siman; and to publish their songs, Siman established Earl Barton Music, Inc. with partners Foster, Mahaffey and Cox. Foster, known by cast and crew as "the Skipper," made his only appearance on the final broadcast of Jubilee USA, singing "Woodman, Spare that Tree."

Performers

The Jubilee cast was headlined by Wanda Jackson, Norma Jean, Bobby Lord, Marvin Rainwater, Porter Wagoner and Slim Wilson, who was also front man for both the Tall Timber Trio, made up of Speedy Haworth (guitar), Bob White (bass guitar) and "Doc" Martin (steel guitar); and the Jubilee Band, composed of Haworth, Martin, White, Johnny Gailey (drums), Paul Mitchell (piano) and Zed Tennis (fiddle). Featured vocalists included Leroy Van Dyke, Suzi Arden, Chuck Bowers, Sonny James, Tommy Sosebee and Tabby West. Singers Hawkshaw Hawkins and Jean Shepard, who met on the show, later married.

Ozark Jubilee cast photo at the Jewell Theatre

The versatile Wilson was also half of the show's Flash and Whistler (with Floyd "Goo Goo" Rutledge); and Rutledge was half of Lennie and Goo Goo (with Lennie Aleshire), both country music comedy duos. Other comedians were Pete Stamper, Shug Fisher, KWTO's Bill Ring, Luke Warmwater and husband-wife sketch comedians Uncle Cyp and Aunt Sap Brasfield.

The cast also featured the Foggy River Boys, a singing quartet later known as the Marksmen (George Richardson, Les Robertson, Don Taylor and Earl Terry); Harold Morrison (banjo) and Jimmy Gatley (guitar), a bluegrass duo; and the Wagoner Trio, made up of Wagoner, Haworth and Don Warden (steel guitar). The house band was Bill Wimberly and the Country Rhythm Boys, a seven-piece group that initially alternated weekly with later-legendary session musician Grady Martin and his Winging Strings, composed of Hank Garland, Bob Moore, Tommy Jackson and Bud Isaacs.

The on-camera announcer was Joe Slattery, a former Pan Am and US Air Force pilot who later became president of AFTRA. Slattery also handled some live commercials, often appearing on stage with Massey Ferguson farm tractors and accessories. Substitute hosts included Wilson, Eddy Arnold, and Jim Reeves (May-July 1958). From January through at least July 1956, the first half-hour of the 90-minute programs was hosted by either Webb Pierce, Porter Wagoner or Sonny James.

The Jubilee featured two square dance groups: the Promenaders (with caller Leonard "L. D." Keller) and a children's group from Camdenton, Missouri, the (Lake of the Ozarks) Tadpoles (with caller Buford Foster). Two other groups, the Ozark Sashayers and the teenage Wagon Wheelers (with caller Gary Ellison), made guest appearances.

Foley's eldest daughter, Betty, also occasionally appeared, as did his son-in-law, Pat Boone. Willie Nelson and his later third wife, Shirley Collie, both auditioned for the show, but only Collie made it.^[5] Many of the regular cast were natives or residents of the Ozarks. They included:

Guest stars

Virtually every major country music star of the day appeared on the Jubilee during its five-and-a-half-year TV run. Among them were:

Other guests included Fran Allison in a recurring role as "Aunt Fanny"; actors Betty Ann Grove, Jim Brown, Duncan Renaldo, Eddie Dean, Dub Taylor and Tex Terry; nationally syndicated columnist Earl Wilson; and St. Louis Cardinals star Stan Musial.

The Jubilee and Brenda Lee

On February 23, 1956,^[6] 11-year-old Brenda Lee, living in Augusta, Georgia, turned down $30 to sing on a Swainsboro radio station to see Foley and a visiting Jubilee promotional unit at Bell Auditorium. A local disc jockey convinced Foley to hear her sing before the show. He was stunned and agreed to let Lee perform "Jambalaya" that night. Foley later recalled his reaction:

Brenda Lee publicity photo

I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I'd forgotten to get off the stage. There I stood...after 26 years of supposedly learning how to conduct myself in front of an audience, with my mouth open two miles wide and a glassy stare in my eyes. The way I stood back and enjoyed watching her work I felt guilty for not going out to the box office and buying a ticket.^[7]

Jubilee Producer-Director Bryan Bisney contacted her stepfather, Buell "Jay" Rainwater, who mailed him a tape recording of Lee singing "Jambalaya" on an Augusta radio show with a snapshot of Lee in Cincinnati, Ohio with Jimmie Skinner (who had appeared on the show in 1955). He booked her network debut for March 31, 1956 to sing "Jambalaya" on the first regular "Junior Jubilee" segment of the show.

The New York Journal American's Jack O'Brien began his April 1 column with, "I didn't catch the name of the 9-year-old [sic] singer on last night's Ozark Jubilee but she belts a song like a star."^[8] The show received three times the usual fan mail with nearly every letter asking to see her again. Lee's family moved to Springfield and "Little Miss Dynamite," signed to a five-year contract with Top Talent, made regular appearances on the program throughout its run.

Carl Perkins and "Blue Suede Shoes"

Carl Perkins on Ozark Jubilee

Carl Perkins and the Perkins Brothers Band made their TV debut on Ozark Jubilee on March 17, 1956, performing Perkins' then-current hit, "Blue Suede Shoes."^[9] The group included Perkins (lead guitar and vocalist), Jay Perkins (rhythm guitar), Clayton Perkins (bass guitar) and W.S. Holland (drums). Coincidentally, Elvis Presley performed the song that same Saturday night on CBS-TV's Stage Show, which overlapped the Jubilee from 8-8:30 p.m. ET (Presley first performed the song February 11 on Stage Show).^[10] An automobile accident enroute to New York prevented the group from next appearing on The Perry Como Show on March 24. Perkins returned to the Jubilee on February 2, 1957 to again sing "Blue Suede Shoes" and his then-current hit, "Matchbox."

Both Perkins and Presley were fans of the Jubilee.^[11] In 1955, Presley saw Charlie Hodge, his eventual friend and stage assistant, perform on the show. He first met Hodge when a Jubilee promotional unit later visited Memphis, Tennessee. That same year, Presley asked Bobby Lord to get him an appearance on the show, but Lord told Presley the producers viewed him as "a flash in the pan."^[12]

Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline made frequent appearances on the Jubilee, which gave her the opportunity to choose her own material for a national audience.^[13] She first appeared on March 2, 1957 and again on June 22. On August 10, 1957 she sang her single, "Three Cigarettes (In An Ashtray)," released two days later. Cline appeared again on February 21 and April 26, 1958. On November 7, 1959, she sang "Walkin' After Midnight" and "Come On In," then "Let's Go To Church" as a duet with with substitute host Slim Wilson. On December 7, she sang her then-single "Got A Lot of Rhythm In My Soul," and "Lovesick Blues," released in January; and sang duets with Ferlin Husky ("Let It Snow") and Foley ("Winter Wonderland"). On June 4, 1960, Cline soloed with "Lovesick Blues," and "How Can I Face Tomorrow," released in July; and sang "I'm Hogtied Over You" with Cowboy Copas and "Rueben, Reuben" with June Valli and Eddy Arnold.^[14]

"Junior Jubilee"

Every fourth Saturday from March 31 through September 15 (and on December 13), 1956, a special edition of Ozark Jubilee showcased young country music performers. Called "Junior Jubilee," it aired from 7:30-8 p.m. when ABC televised The Grand Ole Opry from 8-9 p.m., and was hosted by 10-year-old Oklahoma singer Libby Horne. Brenda Lee made her first appearances on the show. Other performers included eight-year-old singer Eva May "Cookie" McKinney, guitarist John "Bucky" Wilkin, 12-year-old fiddler Clyde Wayne Spears, singer-guitarist Mike Breid, seven-year-old Billy Joe Morris, Bobby Lanera, the Mobleys (a trio) and square dancers the Whirley-jiggers.^[15] "Junior Jubilee" first appeared as a segment on November 19, 1955 and returned as a portion of the November 8, 1958 episode of Jubilee USA.^[16]

Audience

During the program's 1955 premier, Foley asked, "If you folks want us to come and visit at your house like this every Saturday night, why don't you drop me a line in Springfield, Missouri?" In the next week 25,258 cards and letters arrived from 45 of the 48 states,^[17] and the show typically received 6,000 letters each week.^[18] By the end of 1955, the Jubilee earned a 17.5 Nielsen rating, and during that year the American Research Bureau (ARB) reported these achievements for the show:^[19]

• Largest male U.S. television audience
• 28% more per-set viewers than the average of all prime time shows
• Largest per-set U.S. television audience, 3.40 persons

By 1956, ARB estimated the show's weekly TV audience to be as high as 9,078,000.^[20] (The $64,000 Question had the most viewers, 16,577,500.)^[21] By 1958 the Jubilee was carried by 125 ABC affiliates,^[22] but it never won its time slot, competing with such heavyweights as The Perry Como Show on NBC and The Honeymooners, Perry Mason, and in 1960, Gunsmoke on CBS. Its ratings were also hampered when some major-market affiliates took advantage of network break-away and join cues to carry 30- or, when it was 90 minutes, 60-minute portions.

ABC promoted and sold the show as prime family entertainment. Sponsors included the American Chicle Co., Massey Ferguson, Pfizer (Rolaids), Anacin, Williamson-Dickie, and Sargent's Pet Care Products (Jubilee USA); and was sold nationally by Ted Bates & Company.

Ticket for the final Jubilee USA

Producers estimated 350,000 people (from as many as 30 states on some nights) attended the performances at the Jewell from 1954-1960. Visitors also came from Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Bermuda.^[23] Tickets had to be requested as long as six weeks in advance and it was believed to be the only network TV show with paid admission ($1.00 main floor, 75 cents balcony and 50 cents standing room). Second (non-broadcast) shows were frequently added to accommodate the demand during the summers.

The Jubilee regularly noted it was carried "coast to coast," and to promote the show, "personal appearance units" performed at state fairs and other venues in 42 states, Alaska (then a U.S. territory) and every Canadian province.^[24]

Production

Ozark Jubilee's first broadcast was on December 26, 1953 with an hour-long telecast from the studio of Springfield's KYTV-TV before a live audience.^[25] The radio version began from the 1,200-seat Jewell Theatre (a former movie theater) in downtown Springfield on July 17, and the TV show followed on September 4, 1954. ABC Radio began carrying 25 minutes of the program (hosted by Foley) nationally on August 7.

Red Foley with Bryan Bisney and Fran Allison during a 1956 rehearsal

ABC-TV began airing the show on January 22, 1955, but the first 14 national telecasts were staged at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri because a transmission line to ABC was not yet available from Springfield. Columbia had a line, however, installed for University of Missouri football games. After AT&T connected a line from Springfield to Kansas City (which could feed to the network via Chicago), and modifications were made to the Jewell (including extending the stage, upgrading the lighting grid and adding a control room), the program returned to the theater with the first broadcast April 30. The show was sent to KYTV by a microwave link from the station's remote truck. Rehearsals for Saturday shows were held on Fridays with run-throughs Saturday afternoons.

The program used equipment and staff from KYTV, which was then a duel ABC-NBC network affiliate. It debuted using two black-and-white RCA TK-11 cameras with a third added a year later. Vocals of some hit songs were lip-synched. Overhead shots of square dancing were accomplished using a large mirror angled above the stage. One show included a young elephant from a visiting Shrine Circus quietly performing on stage behind an "oblivious" Uncle Cyp. The program had two remote broadcasts: June 22, 1957 from the Oklahoma State Fair during the state's semi-centennial, and in 1959 from Detroit, Michigan.^[26]

In July 1957, Dan Lounsbery, producer of NBC's Your Hit Parade, was hired by ABC to spend several weeks with the show to improve the sets and pacing. July 6 saw the first program under the name Country Music Jubilee, which, according to ABC Vice President James Aubry Jr., "recognizes the wide popularity of country music."^[27]

The Jubilee's executive producers were Crossroads vice presidents Si Siman and John Mahaffey, and the producer-director was Bryan "Walt" Bisney. The co-writers were publicist Don Richardson and Bob Tubert. Bill Ring frequently served as associate producer. The original scenic designer was Don Sebring; his successor, Andy Miller, later did scenic design for nearby Silver Dollar City. During the Jubilee's tenure, Springfield ranked third in the U.S. for originating network television programming behind New York and Hollywood.

Five Star Jubilee

In 1961, NBC-TV carried a summer spin-off called Five Star Jubilee from March 17 - September 22. Starting in May, it was the first network color television series to originate outside New York City or Hollywood.^[28] The weekly program featured five rotating hosts: Snooky Lanson, Tex Ritter, Jimmy Wakely, Carl Smith and Rex Allen. Produced from Springfield's Landers Theatre, it was similar to Jubilee USA and featured some of the same performers, including the Jubilaires, the Promenaders and Slim Wilson's Jubilee Band. Barbara Mandrell made her network debut on the program.^[29]

Legacy

The Jubilee was culturally significant for giving millions of urban and suburban American viewers their first exposure to country music. As Webb Pierce put it in 1956, "Once upon a time, it was almost impossible to sell country music in a place like New York City. Nowadays, television takes us everywhere, and country music records and sheet music sell as well in large cities as anywhere else."^[30] In return, the Jubilee gave many of the biggest names in country music their first experiences performing on television. It also gave early national prominence to a number of women country music pioneers, including "Queen of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson, Norma Jean, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, Jan Howard, Jean Shepard and Kitty Wells (the show also featured a local African-American group, unusual for the era, the Philharmonics). It represented the peak of Red Foley's career, who had been America's top country star since World War II and who remains one of the biggest-selling country artists of all time. Finally, the Jubilee in many ways laid the groundwork for neighboring Branson, Missouri to become America's top country music tourist destination.^[31]

After cancellation by ABC, live performances from the Jewell Theatre continued over KWTO-AM (with 15 minutes carried by NBC Radio on Saturday afternoons through 1961) and groups of cast members continued making personal appearances.^[32] The theater was demolished five months later in February 1961;^[33] a marker in Jubilee Park, dedicated in 1988, notes its location at 216 South Jefferson Ave. Cast and production crew members held reunions at the 1988 dedication, in October 1992 and in April 1999.^[34]

The program was the subject of a 1993 book, Remembering the Ozark Jubilee, which contained a number of minor errors; the most significant was the common inaccuracy that the show reached 25 million viewers. In 2003, Ozarks Public Television released an hour-long documentary, Ozark Jubilee: A Living Legacy. Cast and crew gathered once again for its premiere at the Landers Theatre.

Kinescopes

A total of 42 complete kinescopes of the show are being preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Watch excerpts of Jubilee USA kinescopes on the Country Music Hall of Fame's Web site:
(Flash Player - these do not open in a new window; to return to this page use your "Back" button.)

• Red Foley, "Chattanoogie Shoeshine Boy," June 20, 1959
• Bob Wills (with Cecil Brower), "Fiddle Breakdown," June 27, 1959
• Little Jimmy Dickens, "Hannah," August 1, 1959
• Buck Owens, "Above and Beyond," April 2, 1960
• Brenda Lee, "Jambalaya," April 9, 1960 (not her debut)
• Gene Autry, "Back in the Saddle Again," September 10, 1960

Longer excerpts, including other performances and show segments, are available on YouTube.

See also

• The Eddy Arnold Show
• Talent Varieties

Country Music portal

Television portal

Notes

References

(Chronological)

• "Tin Pan Alley in the Ozarks" (January 3, 1955), Broadcasting/Telecasting, p. 35
• Adams, Val "A.B.C. to Offer 'Ozark Jubilee'" (January 4, 1955), The New York Times, p. 28
• Weekly program listings (1955-1960), TV Guide, Vols. 3 - 8
• "The Red Foley Story" (March, 1955), Country & Western Jamboree
• "Quiet-Men Listening" (March 21, 1955), Newsweek, p. 102
• Jenkins, Dan "Ozark Jubilee" (review) (April 16, 1955), TV Guide, p. 19
• Ozark Jubilee Souvenir Picture Album (first edition, 1955)
• Turtle, Howard "Ozarks Folk Tunes and Comedy Make Springfield a TV Center" (January 29, 1956), Kansas City Star, p. C1
• Terry, Dickson "Hillbilly Music Center" (February 5, 1956), St. Louis Post-Dispatch "The Everyday Magazine," p. 1
• "Ozark Jubilee" (February 13, 1956), Available on ABC-TV, Vol. I No. 37
• The Ozark Jubilee starring Red Foley (1956), RadiOzark Enterprises, Inc.
• "Hillbilly TV Show Hits the Big Time" (March 10, 1956), Business Week, p. 30
• O'Brien, Jack "TV Review: Ozark Jubilee" (April 1, 1956), New York Journal American
• "They Love Mountain Music" (May 7, 1956), Time
• "'Taint Hillbilly, Neighbor!" (August 27, 1956), TV Guide, p. 10
• Ozark Jubilee Souvenir Picture Album (second edition, 1956), © Ozark Jubilee's Crossroads Store
• "Country Musicians Fiddle up Roaring Business" (November 19, 1956), Life, Vol. 41, No. 21
• "TV Ratings: 1955-1956". Classic TV Hits. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1955.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-19. 
• Country Music Jubilee Souvenir Picture Album (third edition, 1957)
• Dessauer, Phil "Springfield, Mo.-Radio City of Country Music" (April, 1957), Coronet, p. 152
• "Bill Ring Returns to TV Jubilee" (July 11, 1958), Springfield Leader-Press
• Program listing (August 2, 1958), TV Guide Vol. 6, No, 31, p. A-12
• "The Death of TV's Jubilee" (September 18, 1960), Springfield Leader & Press, p. D4
• "Glamorous 50 Years To End for Theater" (December 25, 1960), Springfield News & Leader, p. D1
• "Foley Acquitted Of Tax Evasion" (April 23, 1961), Springfield Leader & Press, p. A1
• "'Jubilee' Turning to Color TV" (April 30, 1961), Springfield Leader-Press
• Kelley, Michael "Hillbilly Heaven: Music Mecca Basks in all its Glory" (June 29, 1991), The Memphis Commercial Appeal, p. A1
• Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1992), The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Ballentine Books, ISBN 0-345-37792-3 .
• Spears-Stewart, Rita (1993), Remembering the Ozark Jubilee, Stewart, Dillbeck & White Productions, ISBN 0-9638648-0-7 .
• McNeil, Alex (1996), Total Television, Penguin Books, ISBN 0 14 024916 8 .
• Perkins, Carl; McGee, David (1996), Go, Cat, Go!, Hyperion Press, ISBN 0-7868-6073-1 .
• Rhodes, Don "Young Star Took First Steps in Rise to Fame in Augusta" (September 19, 1997), The Augusta Chronicle, "Applause," p. 18
• Hoekstra, Dave "The King Earns a Country Crown; Honor Recalls Elvis' Nashville Roots" (September 20, 1998), The Chicago Sun-Times, "Show," p. 13
• Jones, Margaret (1999), Patsy: the Life and Times of Patsy Cline, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0306808862 .
• Marymont, Mark "'Ozarks Jubilee' Reunion Preserves Past" (April 23, 1999), Springfield News-Leader, p. 20E
• Byrne, Bridget "Barbara Mandrell: Just a Mom at 'Heart'" (January 19, 2000), BPI Entertainment News Wire
• Montana, Patsy; Frost, Jane (2002), Patsy Montana, The Cowboy's Sweetheart, McFarland & Company, ISBN 0786410809 .
• Crumpler, Ike "Martin Singer Topped Charts" (April 17, 2004), The Stewart News/Port St. Lucie News, p. A1
• Hocklander, Sony "Celebrating 100 Years" (August 10, 2008), Springfield News-Leader, "Life," p. 1C
• "Brenda Lee-Her Life and Career". Brenda Lee Productions. http://www.brendalee.com/pages/biography.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 

External links

• Jubilee photos from the History Museum for Springfield-Greene County
• Ozark Jubilee radio and TV cast photos at Hillbilly-Music.com (successive visits display a different rotating photo set)
• "My Memories of the Ozark Jubilee," by Don Baker
• Ozark Jubilee at the Internet Movie Database
• Ozark Jubilee at TV.com