When I was about ten years old (67 now) I used to listen
to the
Tennessee Jed radio show. The program would start out
with the sound of
a rifle shot and the pwang-whee of a ricochet, and then
the voice of his
sidekick which was sort of like the Tom Mix side kick,
kind of an
old-geezery voice, would say, "Got 'im, Tennessee, daiyud
cenner!!!"
Another thing I remember was that Tennessee was always
having trouble
with this bad guy named Dalton. Oh, he was BAD!!! Dalton
would make some
threat or promise of badness to come, and Tennessee would
always say,
"Mebbe so, and mebbe no......Dalton!"
And you just KNEW that whatever Dalton had promised would
be rightfully thwarted
by good old Tennessee and his accurate rifle shooting.
Memory of Tennessee Jed popped into my head when here
at work someone
happened to say, "Maybe so, maybe not." Then I
said slowly with a deep
voice and a southeastern twang, "Mebbe so, and mebbe
no, ....Dalton!"
Yes, I got a few strange looks. Everyone working around
me is younger.
So I decided to do a google search on the web and I found
your site.
I would love to hear some old clips of T-Jed myself, but
this is all I
can offer to help you for now.
Jerry McMurry
And here's more from another fan
of the show.
The announcer for the show was Cort Benson and the harmonica
group that
played the intro and bridges to the tip top commercials
were The Harpers.
Bear in mind that harmonica groups were very big in those
days, The
Harmonicats etc.
The Tip Top commercials on the show that I have, specify
their Hand Kneeded Dough,
which they claimed was infinitely better than the automated
process. Cannot visualize workers
massaging lumps of dough in a modern mass production
type of assembly line.
What always puzzled me was the fact that Jed was always
extolled as a squirrel rifle expert shot
who could drill the eye out of a gnat at five hundred
yards yet after the celebrated intro every day,"There he goes
tennessee, (ricochet) got him deayad center", the
announcer would state it was time for Tennessee with his
great horse smokey and the two deadliest SIXGUNS in the
west.
He was played by Johnny Thomas and Don Macclaughlin.
Bill DeMaria
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