I received an email recently that brought
memories from my childhood flooding back. The individual who sent the
message asked if I were kin to Red Rector, known for his skills as a mandolin
player. In my reply, I told him that although we weren’t related, I attended
college with Red’s daughter Anita and had grown up watching the man on “Cas
Walker’s Farm and Home Hour Show.”
Anyone who
grew up in Knoxville
in the fifties and sixties knew who Cas Walker was. He owned a chain of grocery
stores that competed for the top spot in the area with White Stores. Cas ran
commercials that, quite frankly, in today’s world would be considered politically
incorrect. The most glaring example was the “Thump’n Good” commercial, aired
with black child diving into a piece of watermelon.
Cas had a
unique way of selling products on that show. He’d have a table lined with these
specials and a sign indicating the price beside each one. Then Cas would use
his middle finger as a pointer and tell the audience about each one. I always
thought it funny that the man “shot a bird” at the television watchers and
cringed when I saw the first joints of his fingers bent with arthritis.
The show
served as a place for a variety of things. He used the time as a platform. On
one particular occasion, Cas talked about parking lot safety. He indicated that
his employees had set up a plan to find people who were stealing in the store
or grabbing pocketbooks in the parking lot. According to Cas, “security forces
were going to jump on thieves, whoop the hell out of ‘em, and swear that you
jumped on them.” In that two minute and fifteen second clip, he tells would-be
thieves to come and jump him because “[he] isn’t afraid of any of them
bastards.”
The “ol
coon hunter” also used his show as a place to air his political persuasions.
The man never held back and frequently called those who opposed him scoundrels,
no-goods, and a plethora of other derogatory names. Cas held the distinction as
being the only mayor in
Knoxville
to be recalled after his 1946 election, but he was once again elected as a
member of city council. Some of his most scathing attacks came when the city
and county governments considered consolidation. Cas carped into microphones
across the
Knox County
and
Knoxville
as he told viewing audiences the evils of such a merger.
Not all was
bad. Cas Walker aided many musicians’ careers. He is widely identified as the
person who gave Dolly Parton and the Everly Brothers their starts as they
appeared on his program. Others who made appearances included Roy Acuff, Chet
Atkins, Bill Monroe, and Jim Nabors.
Of course,
the regular musicians that appeared on the program were stars in this part of
the country. Bud Brewster was there, along with Red and Fred, and Honey Wilds.
Red Rector was a studio musician blending in with the band. In years to follow,
his fame spread, and he journeyed across the country and to other countries
performing on his mandolin.
No, I
wasn’t kin to Red Rector, but I first met the man across a glass screen as he
picked his mandolin with the other boys on the Cas Walker program. Cas did much
for Knoxville,
both positive and negative. He managed to rule politically for years and to
sell groceries about which horrible stories concerning quality have been told.
Still, he introduced Red to me, even if the musician wasn’t kin to me. I can
still hear Red and the other boys in the band singing,
When you get the morning paper when it hits the street,
Cas Walker’s prices just can’t be beat.
Buy that Blue Band Coffee and you’ll want some more,
Do your grocery shopping at a Cas Walker Store.
