When I was growing up in Greenville SC in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, I was somewhat familiar with what used to be known as “Country & Western” music as my family had a friend, a former pro football player, who worked as a DJ at one of the local radio stations that focused on country music (actually several did). He used to drop by the house with promotional copies of many of the singles that the station played. We only listened to them when he was around because neither of my parents were fans of country music but they were too polite to say no (besides you didn’t argue with a former pro football player). I was also quite familiar with and actually a big fan of the old BOWERY BOYS movies as the local CBS affiliate ran them every Saturday right after the evening news. I must have seen every one at least three times and I even tape recorded a few (this was long before video recorders).
Right after the TV station had stopped running the films, this opus showed up at one of the local drive-ins and I went to see it not for the country music but because it featured the two primary Bowery Boys, Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. In fact the film was billed in some ads and posters as a reuniting of the two. As it turned out, after the first third of the film they basically disappeared except for a few very brief appearances and the country music took over which was very disappointing at the time. I knew who several of the performers were (Little Jimmy Dickens, Faron Young, Bill Monroe, Del Reeves, and of course Minnie Pearl) but I was unable to really appreciate them at the time. Flash forward almost 50 years, I saw this listed on amazon at a good price and I had to buy it. It turned out to be a trip down memory lane in more ways than one.
Now I can see how old and tired Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall were (Gorcey was 48 at the time, Hall 45) and how tired their comic routines were and how sad it was to see them playing the same characters they had since 1937. After a 7 year hiatus I’m sure they were glad just to be working again but why two New York characters were thrust into a movie set in the country music world of Nashville is puzzling to say the least. Also the portions with them and Arnold Stang and his wife look as if they were shot at a local TV studio for about $1.98. Once the musical portion of the movie begins, it offers a different kind of nostalgia as you realize just how much country music has changed in half a century (the recent CMA awards are a testament to that). Today watching these acts and their staging is like watching reruns of THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW on public television. If you don’t enjoy old school country music than stay away from this movie.
Despite the extremely low budget and the fact that this is basically a series of country music videos, there is old time country music talent here to burn. Today’s country fans will only recognize a couple of names and while the presentation style looks as if it came out of a time warp (which it did), those of us who remember these performers will have much to enjoy. The print utilized by Time-Life for this DVD release looks a lot like the drive-in movie I remember seeing (faded color, lines in the print, and very evident reel changes) back in 1965. I’m actually amazed that they were able to find a print of it all as country music movies, then in vogue thanks to THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, quickly disappeared as tastes changed. It was good to visit SECOND FIDDLE again after all these years as I can now fully appreciate the musical talent on display and I can remember how much I enjoyed the antics of Gorcey and Hall when I was younger.
The Capsule Critic 