Jimmy Dean
Big Good Jim

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As a Country entertainer he was second to none.

He stood six-foot-three and weighed one-eighty-one.

He always had a smile and a goofy sort of grin

And everyone who saw him was sure to say "Hi!" to Big Jim.

Yep, Jimmy Dean was one of the most popular Country entertainers in the 1960's. His 1961 hit single and subsequent homonymous album Big Bad John pushed Jim into superstardom nigh on overnight.

It's really not clear why Big Bad John - a coal mining song - appealed to a mainstream audience. No doubt the fact that the lyrics were just spoken allowed anyone to convince themselves they could give a credible rendering. And that the song was eminently suitable for parody - as we saw above - certainly added to its popularity. In any case soon even teenagers were playing the song, for crying out loud! Then the next year, 1962, the song grabbed Jimmy the Grammy for best Country and Western song.

Alas, Jimmy's follow up - Little Bitty Big John - did not do so well.

Jimmy, though, was no newcomer. He had been recording Country and Western songs - at that time still sometimes called "hillbilly" - since 1953. And he had been touring with his own band since the late 1940's where he sang and - we're not kidding - played the accordion in a Western Swing style.

Jimmy's easy going and folksy speaking style also landed him a television show in 1957. Based in Washington, D. C., the program was moderately successful and bounced around in various names between local, network, and syndicated distribution.

In fact Jimmy has had a number of television shows over the years, which are commonly and collectively referred to as The Jimmy Dean Show. But it was the 1963 incarnation called (yes) The Jimmy Dean Show that really brought Jimmy to the American public. Broadcast on ABC, it was quite popular and people are surprised that it lasted only three years. But that wasn't that bad a run for a TV show at the time.

After the show closed, Jimmy was in six episodes of Daniel Boone where Fess Parker had the starring role. Jimmy played Daniel's sometime sidekick, Josh Clements, who occasionally sang a song. The show closed down in 1970, but by then Jimmy had gone into the business that still keeps his name before the public. He was the founder and spokesman for Jimmy Dean Sausage.

Jimmy said it was a surprise that he was offered a part in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds are Forever. Jimmy played Willard Whyte, a character modeled on reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. For what it's worth, Diamonds are Forever was the first of the Bond films that discarded any pretense of sticking with the plots of Ian Fleming's novels and let the scriptwriters - in the case, Tom Mankiewicz and Richard Maibaum - do as they willed. It's also the first film where James Bond - played by Sean Connery - didn't smoke.

But it was the Jimmy Dean Show that really made Jimmy the Mainstream Superstar. Corollarily, the show also ushered in the era where Country and Western Music and Culture was acceptable to the Great Public. So we must now pause, although not for refreshment, but fully realizing the next statement might draw spittle flinging diatribes from C&W fans in general and Jimmy Dean fans in particular.

And that statement is:

The Jimmy Dean Show was

NOT

a Country and Western Show!

Instead, the Jimmy Dean Show was a mainstream variety show, a now defunct genre of entertainment that was surprisingly popular in the mid-20th century. True, Jimmy's show had country and western guest stars, but so did the Tonight Show, the Today Show, and the Ed Sullivan Show.

Still, since Jimmy himself was a Country and Western star, he could include a heftier percentage of C&W performers than on other variety shows. But he still had a lot of non-Country celebrities. These included not just singers, but comedians, actors, sports figures, and even the occasional politician. Among the guests that Jimmy brought before the camera were - and to skip this rather lengthy list just click here - Al Hirt, Pearl Bailey, Vikki Carr, Dick Shawn, Don Adams, Rosemary Clooney, The Andrews Sisters, Jackie Mason, Jimmy Riddle, The Browns, Faron Young, Bobby Rydell, Tex Williams, The Everly Brothers, John Davidson, Leroy VanDyke, Gwen Verdon, Red Buttons, Milt Kamen, Merle Haggard, Johnny Tillotson, Peggy Paxton, The Stoneman Family, Floyd Cramer, Billy Grammer, Ernest Tubb, Kay Starr, Allan Sherman, Jerry Vale, Forrest Tucker, George Jones, Priscilla Mitchell, Homer & Jethro, Will Jordan, C.C. Richelieu, Lloyd Green, Sonny James, Lorraine D'Essen, Bobby Bare, Roy Acuff, Joanie Sommers, Bobby Vinton, Eydie Gormé, Four Cuties From Hackensack, Stuart Hamblen, Del Sharbutt, The Village Stompers, The Bordermen, George Carlin, Henny Youngman, The Peter Matz Orchestra, Scott Vincent, Jack Carter, Karen Morrow, The Blue Boys, Elton Britt, Frances Preston, Dottie West, Jim Grant, Jerry Juhl, Leon Rhodes, Roy Drusky, Jim Hutchison, Stoney Edwards, Norma Jean, Skeeter Davis, Grady Martin, Sharon Carnes, Ruby Wright, Leo Durocher, Porter Wagoner, Louise O'Brien, Boots Randolph, Jane Morgan, Hank Thompson, Chuck Cassey Singers, Earl Scruggs, Grandpa Jones, Linda Gayle, The Nashville All-Stars, Statesmen Quartet, Tex Ritter, Gene Pitney, Warner Mack, Irwin Corey, Carmel Quinn, Patty Duke, Rich Little, Mort Marshall, Robb Sagendorph, Chuck Woolery, Larry Grossman, Quinto Sisters, Chet Atkins, Charlie Rich, Barbara Richman, Pat McCormick, Melvin Laird, Ron Martin, The Buckaroos, Lorraine Lee, Eileen Farrell, Barry Sadler, Hank Snow, Ferlin Husky, Lester Flatt, Teresa Brewer, Anna Moffo, Nudie, Jody Miller, Ott Devine, Kitty Wells, Corbett Monica, Phil Ford, Stoney Mountain Cloggers, Gale Garnett, The McGuire Sisters, The Geezinslaw Brothers, Little Jimmy Dickens, Roger Miller, Carl Smith, Toots Thielemans, Wilma Burgess, Buck Owens, Professor Backwards, Eagle and Man, Charlie Manna, George Gobel, Doerr-Hutchinson Dancers, Eddie Peabody, Rex Allen, Elston Howard, The Mills Brothers, Maureen O'Hara, Jim Henson, Art Carney, Jo Stafford, Leon McAuliffe, The Willis Sisters, Arthur Godfrey, Bill Farrell, Bronwyn FitzSimons, The Jubilee Four, The Dukes of Dixieland, Hank Williams Jr., Don Gibson, Pete Drake, Roberta Sherwood, Connie Smith, Julie Rogers, Norm Crosby, Lassie, Bob Banner, Mimi Hines, George Kirby, Bill Cosby, Rudd Weatherwax, Whitey Ford, Frank Oz, Julius LaRosa, Buck Ryan, Adam Keefe, Margie Bowes, Judy Lynn, The Texas Troubadours, George Hamilton IV, Eddy Arnold, Don & Dean Crumb, Roger Price, Jim Reeves, Tom Brumley, Sheb Wooley, Jack E. Leonard, Patti Page, Bill Anderson, Fran Allison, Smitty Irvin, Della Rae, The Levee Singers, Jack Jones, Frank Clement, Minnie Pearl, June Valli, Milton Berle, Tony Mordente, Jerry Caterino, The Dixieland Sextet, The Jordanaires, Patrice Munsel, Del Reeves, Al Martino, Molly Bee, Dorothy Collins, Cliff Arquette (Charlie Weaver), Maury Wills, Joe Maphis, Charlie Callas, Roy Clark, Chuck McCann, The Continentals, and Johnny Cash.

[Return to the top of the list click here.]

Oh, yes. And there was Rowlf the Dog.

No, Sesame Street was not the first television show where the Muppets were regular performers. It was the Jimmy Dean Show.

That doesn't mean the Muppets were unknown. Their creator and chief Muppeteer, Jim Henson, had been performing on television since 1955. He garnered considerable attention with a brief guest spot on The Jack Paar Program in 1963. This featured a lady version of Kermit the Frog singing "I've Become Accustomed to Your Face."

But it was the gruff talking but genial Rowlf that landed a regular spot on the Jimmy Dean Show. The usual format was Jimmy and Rowlf would meet and their conversation would lead to some absurdist situation. Even today the skits are funny and what are apparently ad-libs from Rowlf would crack Jimmy up.

It was inevitable but at one point Rowlf was complaining how no one liked dogs. Jimmy disagreed and said he liked dogs. Why, he, Jimmy, had even written a song about a dog. He and Rowlf then began to sing Big Bad Dog.

Three years after Jimmy's show closed, Sesame Street started up. The Muppets popularity rose and starting in 1976 the Muppets had their own television show. It got to the point that the one mark of true celebrity is that you were a guest host. Among the guests - and again you can skip the list if you click here - were Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Lena Horne, Beverly Sills, Rudolf Nureyev, Candice Bergen, Gene Kelly, Joel Grey, Dizzy Gillespie, Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd), Charles Aznavour, Ruth Buzzi, Phyllis Diller, Sandy Duncan, Bruce Forsyth, Valerie Harper, Florence Henderson, Harvey Korman, Rita Moreno, Jim Nabors, Avery Schreiber, Twiggy, Peter Ustinov, Ben Vereen, Paul Williams, Julie Andrews, Kaye Ballard, Milton Berle, Teresa Brewer, George Burns, John Cleese, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Don Knotts, Rich Little, Steve Martin, Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel, Mummenschanz, Bernadette Peters, Vincent Price, Juliet Prowse, Lou Rawls, Connie Stevens, Nancy Walker, Pearl Bailey, Marisa Berenson, Petula Clark, Roy Clark, James Coco, Judy Collins, Alice Cooper, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Cleo Laine, Cloris Leachman, Liberace, Loretta Lynn, Jaye P. Morgan, Gilda Radner, Helen Reddy, Leo Sayer, Peter Sellers, Jean Stapleton, Raquel Welch, Harry Belafonte, Victor Borge, John Denver, Lola Falana, Crystal Gayle, Phyllis George, Linda Lavin, Roger Miller, Spike Milligan, Dudley Moore, Lynn Redgrave, Kenny Rogers, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Shields & Yarnell, Elke Sommer, Sylvester Stallone, Leslie Uggams, Lesley Ann Warren, Alan Arkin, Joan Baez, Shirley Bassey, Carol Burnett, Dyan Cannon, Lynda Carter, Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, James Coburn, Mac Davis, Marty Feldman, Mark Hamill, Doug Henning, Glenda Jackson, Gladys Knight, Hal Linden, Melissa Manchester, Roger Moore, Anne Murray, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Tony Randall, Christopher Reeve, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, Paul Simon, Loretta Swit, Señor Wences, Andy Williams, Jonathan Winters, Wally Boag, Debbie Harry, Chris Langham, Buddy Rich, Richard Bradshaw, Rita Coolidge, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Rollin Krewson, Michael Coleman, Julian Hosking, Jess Whitfield, Kermit the Frog, Faz Fazakas, Mary Roos, Andres Bossard, Richenda Carey, Floriana Frassetto, Abby Hadfield, Bernie Schürch, Roger Knight, Robert Shields, Lorene Yarnell Jansson, and Arlo Guthrie.

[Return to the top of the list click here.]

And as one more indication of how short lived television productions were in those days, the Muppet Show - an entertainment phenomenon the likes of which the world had never seen - lasted only five seasons.

And when we say phenomenon, we mean phenomenon. The popularity ranged over all ages, classes, and ethnicities. It even got to where criticizing the Muppets could be hazardous to political health although as you expect some politicians were too thick to appreciate this basic fact of life. Once a Politician-We-Will-Not-Name needed a campaign ploy and among other things took a Stop-Government-Waste stance. At one point he foamingly ranted why was Jim Henson, with all of his success, taking taxpayers' dollars for his work on Public Television.

Of course, with a Get-Tough-On-Sesame-Street platform, the Not-Named-Politician not only immediately tanked his decades-long Congressional career, but also produced a crashing loss for his party in the next election. Pundits may give all sorts of other reasons, political, social, and economical, for the loss. But we really know it was a most unjustified disdain for Rowlf and his friends that gave us one more unemployed politician spending the rest of his life as a talking head on television snippets all the while collecting a government pension.

At least Jimmy earned his money.

References

Academic studies of Jimmy's life seem sparse and in fact completely non-existent. What bedevils the literature is that all the references you find when trying to dig out source material seem to be about someone called James Dean, whoever he was. But with some digging, you can learn a bit about Jimmy.

"Jimmy Ray Dean - American Performer and Businessman", Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"Jimmy Dean: Biography", Internet Movie Data Base.

Thirty Years of Sausage - Fifty Years of Ham, Jimmy Dean and Donna Meade, Berkley, 2004.

The Jimmy Dean Show, Internet Movie Data Base, 1963-1966.

Jim Henson, Internet Movie Data Base.

The Jack Paar Program, Internet Movie Data Base, March 15, 1963.

The Muppet Show, Internet Movie Data Base, 1976-1981.

The World of Jim Henson, Great Performances, 1994.