
I would imagine most people know Compton as the epicenter of late ‘80s hip-hop and a city dominated by crime and gang violence. Smack in the middle between Long Beach and Los Angeles, just south of Watts, back in the ‘50s and ‘60s it became a suburban destination for middle class blacks attracted to both its location and the affordable single-family homes that were available after a Supreme Court case knocked out segregation laws. But with a small commercial area, a shrinking tax base, and a corrupt government, by 1969 Compton held the distinction of having the highest crime rate in California.
There's another side of musical history from Compton that pre-dates local gansta rap and g-funk. Town Hall Party began in 1951 as a radio broadcast and eventually became a television show that lasted for almost ten years before going off the air. The old Town Hall building at 400 South Long Beach Boulevard was being booked occasionally for country-and-western “barn dances” when it was taken over by promoter William B. Wagnon Jr. It was his idea to get the dances broadcast live on local radio, and the success soon led to a television show concept that started and stopped, but didn't really become cohesive until August 29, 1953.
The website Hillbilly-Music Dawt Com has done a great job in researching the history of Town Hall Party, which I would encourage you to check out, but here's an excerpt:
“The lineup on that first show was to be Tex Ritter, Les (Carrot Top) Anderson, Wesley and Marilyn Tuttle, Jack Lloyd, Joe Maphis, Rose Lee Maphis and Texas Tiny (a disc jockey at KFOX who had a three hour a day show). Tex Williams and his band were to provide the musical backing for performers. Jay Stewart was to be the announcer.”
There were a number of country stars that either joined the cast for short periods or were simply guests, including Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Sons of the Pioneers, Smiley Burnette, Patsy Cline, Eddie Cochran, George Jones, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins and Gene Autry. The Collins Kids, Larry and Lorrie, became show regulars with their rockabilly beat and harmonies. Just two years apart, by age ten Larry was a guitar whiz, playing a double-neck Mosrite guitar like his mentor, Joe Maphis.
According to Country Song Round-Up in August 1954, “the 10-piece Town Hall Party band featured Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, superb steel guitarist Marian Hall, Billy Hill and Fiddlin' Kate on violins, PeeWee Adams on drums, Jimmy Pruitt on piano, and other excellent musicians who created a Town Hall Party sound also heard on many country sessions produced by Columbia Records in Hollywood in the 1950s.”
In 1957 Screen Gems filmed a series of 39 half-hour shows that they syndicated and re-named the Ranch Party. The Collins Kids were given co-star billing with host Tex Ritter. In his book Reflections, country performer Johnny Bond, who was also involved in the program, wrote that “traditional country entertainers, singing cowboys and rock singers never shared the spotlight in a more harmonious manner than on the Town Hall Party and syndicated Ranch Party shows.”
Columbia Records released a Town Hall Party album in 1958 that included many of the regular cast members who soon departed the show because NBC decided to discontinue the Saturday night radio broadcasts. In late December 1958, the newly opened Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas began to put on Town Hall Party shows featuring Tex Ritter, The Collins Kids, and Town Hall regulars, thus drawing them away from the Saturday night telecasts on Los Angeles station KTTV. In December 1960 they were dropped from the lineup, and the final performance at the old Compton Town Hall was on Jan. 14, 1961.
Beginning in 2002, the Germany-based Bear Family Records began to release a series of Town Hall Party DVDs that now includes 25 titles. Most feature various artists, but they've also brought out an artist spotlight series that includes Joe Maphis, The Collins Kids, Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Merle Travis, and others. There are a few dozen clips and also complete shows available to view on YouTube, with some posted from Bear Family and others from private collectors. It was a great time period for country music in California, and it came straight outta Compton.
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Jim Hunter
September 28, 2017 - 9:56 am
Really got a kick out of Larry Collins...the kid was a guitar whiz...Merle Travis also is quite the hero of guitarists everywhere...great player...
And now you know the rest of the story about Compton...
A kid that was an intern and then hired when I worked at GM (late 80's) was a huge fan of Rap/Hip Hop and once lent me "Straight Outta Compton" (let's just say I wasn't quite ready for that particular record at the time...wasn't so much the anti cop stuff as the misogynist bent)...he made a trip out to LA on company business, and took the time to drive his rental car to Compton, and sent me a picture of him standing next to the Compton City Limits sign...I think it is safe to say he was quite unaware of the history you have presented today...I'm still in touch with him all these years later...he'll get a kick out of this column...
Easy Ed
September 28, 2017 - 12:34 pm
For years I lived in Long Beach and drove to my office in Burbank every day. When you drive through the Alameda cooridor you hold your breath and pray that the car won't break down. NWA weren't just glamorizing some make-believe gangsta lifestyle, they were living in it every day. Compton was, and probably still is, one damn scary place.
Jack 11.0
September 29, 2017 - 6:29 am
When I worked for the Santa Fe Railway late 80's to mid 90's I was at the rail yard in Santa Fe Springs, not exactly a garden spot, and a few times the taxi driver or airport shuttle cut through Compton or South Central (roughly the same thing??). The year after the Rodney King riots we found ourselves at the light at Florence and Normandie, the intersection where the truck driver got the shit beat out of him. Looking around it didn't seem as obviously bad as a bad neighborhood in Chicago - pastel houses seemed quaint - I'm not sure we'd have realized the neighborhood was what it was but not for having watched all the trouble on TV the year before.
Jim Hunter
September 28, 2017 - 1:50 pm
Had a similar experience travelling for GM in the Detroit area...there were places where your car better not break down...even I-94 was supposedly a problem and it was busy as hell most of the time...I never broke down, and never witenssed anything either, but some of the locals had stories, and obviously, the gang influence was pervasive there too...
I didn't doubt Compton was the scary place NWA had depicted either...that stuff was raw...didn't sound like BS to me at all...
Jack 11.0
September 28, 2017 - 12:03 pm
Interesting as usual, Ed. Uncanny timing for the Collins Kids reference, I drove this morning from Chicago down to Danville IL to see a customer. On the way I was listening to Tom Russell's Modern Art record, on which is the song Tijuana Bible, in which is the lyric "the Collins kids were playing rockabilly on the TV". Hadn't heard their music until the video you included. Simpler times.
Easy Ed
September 28, 2017 - 12:35 pm
Jack...that is one crazy coincidence. There's a ton of Collins Kids videos on YT...go check them out.
Rudyjeep
October 3, 2017 - 6:09 am
"Hillbilly Music Straight Outta Compton"
Great article and the best click bait headline on the site!
Dennis Nyman
October 5, 2017 - 1:18 pm
Another fascinating post Ed. I was especially intrigued by the Collins Kids and that 10-yr-old guitarist. It made me wonder if he was still around and what else he did. Wikpedia has only a small entry about them but it mentioned that Lorrie Collins was Rick Nelson's first full-time girlfriend and she appeared on "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." It also said they reformed in 1993 for a rockabilly revival concert in England and still perform.
Jim Hunter
October 5, 2017 - 1:43 pm
Still perform... after watching that video, I'm betting his fingers till move close to as fast as, but...not the rest of him...