Town Hall Party - April 18, 1959

by Various Artists

Before gangsta rap, Compton, California, had a very different musical identity: every Saturday night from 1952 to 1961, the brightest stars of country music would gather at a 2000-seat theater in the Los Angeles suburb for a series of live performances known as TOWN HALL PARTY. Staged to resemble old-fashioned hoedowns, the concerts were originally broadcast on radio and later expanded to a three-hour television show hosted by quiz-show emcee Jay Stewart and cowboy singer-actor Tex Ritter (father of THREE'S COMPANY star John Ritter) with a house band led by Joe Maphis. The TOWN HALL PARTY series captures some of the television show's most memorable moments, including this episode dating back to April 18, 1959, and featuring guests Skeets McDonald, Gordon Terry, Billy Mize, Cliff Crofford, Diane Jewett, Charlie Williams, Jeannie Mack, Johnny O'Neill, Jeannie Sterling, Johnny Bond, Merle Lindsay, the Ozark Jubilee Boys, June Moseley, and Jim Mooney.