The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
The Porter Wagoner Show #117 with special guest Carl Smith.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Promo for Porter Wagoner Show #117 with special guest Carl Smith. Opens with Smith playing guitar and singing a little bit of "You Better Be Better To Me," then camera pulls out to reveal Carl's pedal steel player Johnny Sibert, and Easter-egg pink(!) Nudie-suit wearing Wagoner who says, "That's my special guest this week, Carl Smith... join us on the Porter Wagoner show."
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Introduction to Porter Wagoner show #117. Program opens with Wagoner and Wagonmasters Mack Magaha, Buck Trent, Speck Rhodes, Don Warden, and George McCormick as well as Norma Jean onscreen singing "Howdy Neighbor Howdy" in front of a barnyard set painted a glowing lime green. Over brightly colored title card decorated with drawing of Wagoner, announcer Don Howser exclaims: "And now, in color, it's The Porter Wagoner Show, starring Porter Wagoner and The Wagonmasters, with Speck Rhodes and Norma Jean, and special guest star Carl Smith. Bringing you your favorite songs and stars of the Grand Ole Opry!" Howser enters and shakes hands with Porter, saying "My, you're a darlin' today, I'll tell you for sure" in reference to Porter's newest rhinestone-studded bright pink(!) Nudie suit, to which Porter replies "No remarks about the suit." Don introduces Porter by saying: "Here's a man who always says keeping husbands in hot water don't necessarily make 'em tender-- Porter Wagoner!" Backed by The Wagonmasters (in matching western-themed Easter-egg blue suits of their own), Porter plays guitar and sings an abbreviated version of his 1954 hit "Company's Comin'." Wide shot of the Wagonmasters, which zooms in to Mack on fiddle.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter introduces the week's special guest Carl Smith, who plays guitar and sings "It's Only A Matter Of Time" backed by The Wagonmasters and his own pedal steel guitar player Johnny Sibert. Nice MS of Sibert. Porter returns and Smith talks about what a pleasure it is to be on the show with Porter and Speck: "He's a very funny boy without his hair, ain't he?" Porter asks Carl why he didn't bring his dog Thurber along with him and Carl says, "He's a very temperamental artist, you know how some of these hillbillies are." They make a couple more quips about the dog and then break for commercial.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Backed by The Wagonmasters, Buck Trent and Mack Magaha play us out of the commercial break with a smokin' lead banjo and fiddle on the instrumental "Farewell Blues."
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Nice little awkward exchange as Porter introduces Pretty Miss Norma Jean, who says "Good evening... Good morning," to which Porter says "Well hello there! How ya doin'?" Norma: "Just fine." Porter: "I'm glad to see you... It's a beautiful day for television, I wish we coulda done a show." Might not sound like much on paper, but it's dripping with subtext. Wearing a sparkly blue and white dress, Norma Jean plays guitar and sings the song that "really got (her) started in the business," the once-controversial "Let's Go All The Way," backed by The Wagonmasters. Medium shots Buck Trent, then Don Warden.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter introduces a number from his new "Soul Of A Convict" LP, then plays guitar and sings "Let Me In" accompanied by The Wagonmasters.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter returns from the commercial break with Don Howser, and they chat a bit about where Don is from, namely Lafayette, Tennessee (about 65 miles north of Nashville). Don introduces "someone everyone gets a kick out of, and as a matter of fact some have given him several kicks," gap-toothed comedian Speck Rhodes. Wearing his usual checkered suit and bowler hat, Speck places a call on an old-fashioned wall phone to his fictional girlfriend/ telephone operator Sadie. Speck asks her to connect him to Uncle Soak and Toby Jug at Sud's Tavern. The call is placed and Speck tells a long and pointless shaggy dog joke with no real punch line about how Toby and Soak ended up drunk and sharing a bed together. Afterwards Speck connects to the "party line" and plugs the show's souvenir book, available for fifty cents by mail. Shot of graphic with envelope addressed to Porter. "Don't forget the zipper code, that's important to the post office department."
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter plays guitar and sings "Suppertime," a favorite inspirational song from his childhood, accompanied by The Wagonmasters.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter returns from the commercial break with Carl Smith, and they chat for a second about Carl's Canadian TV show (Carl Smith's Country Music Hall). Singing and playing guitar, Carl launches into his recent record "You Better Be Better To Me," backed by The Wagonmasters and steel guitarist Johnny Sibert. Nice CU of Sibert's solo, then the spotlight goes on Johnny for a moment afterwards.
The Porter Wagoner Show No. 117
Porter wraps up the show, saying "I hope you enjoyed yourself; if you did, invite us back next week.' The Wagonmasters play the instrumental show outro and Howser signs off. Wagoner waves goodbye as Magaha fiddles and Speck and George dance around Speck's bass fiddle.