The Old American Barn Dance - Dumont TV Network1953

The Old American Barn Dance was a summer series that ran from July to September of 1953 on the old DuMont TV Network.  Dumont was the ‘fourth’ network, trailing by far the established operations of NBC, CBS, and ABC.

The network began broadcasting in 1942 and existed primarily as a vehicle to sell DuMont televisions.  In 1942 almost 100 per cent of Americans had radios but there were only about 5,000 tv sets in use at the time.

DuMont was a pioneer in television but never really succeeded as a Network.  It closed the television network in 1956 and sold its TV manufacturing division to Emerson Radio company two years later.

The Barn Dance is one of the few DuMont shows preserved in excellent condition.  It portrays western and country music in a very unsophisticated and ‘corny’ fashion, displaying the talent as ‘Hillbilly’ caricatures. 

Despite that, there are some good musical moments, especially in the performances by Patsy Montana, who in 1936 made musical history with her massive hit, “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.”  She was the first female country singer to have a recording sell over one million copies. 

. Host Bill Bailey sings the western swing number     

"No Supper Tonight". 

Other performers on the first show include Kenny Roberts 

("Cry Baby Blues"), 

also..............

Kay Brewer ("Boogie Woogie Yodel"), 

The house band The Saddle Pals ("Stomp"), 

Nancy Lee ("I''m Dyin' For Someone To Love Me"), 

Homer & Jethro ("A Screwball's Love Song"), 

The Candy Mountain Girls ("Night Train To Memphis") 

and Doc Hopkins ("Honey In The Rock").