Knoxville Icons--One Good, One Not So Good

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.