Lauck and Goff had known each other since childhood and attended the
University of Arkansas together where they both joined the
Sigma Chi fraternity. They performed locally and established a
blackface act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in
Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prior to the audition, the two men decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies, due to the large number of blackface acts already in existence. After only a few shows in Hot Springs, they were picked up nationally by
NBC, and
Lum and Abner, sponsored by
Quaker Oats, ran until 1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters, modeling many of them on the real-life residents of Waters, Arkansas. When the Quaker contract expired, Lauck and Goff continued to broadcast on two Texas stations,
WBAP (Fort Worth) and
WFAA (Dallas). In 1933, The Ford Dealers of America became their sponsor for approximately a year.
Horlicks Malted Milk, the 1934–37 sponsor, offered a number of promotional items, including almanacs and fictional Pine Ridge newspapers. During this period, the show was broadcast on Chicago's
WGN (AM), one of the founding members of the
Mutual Broadcasting System. Effective July 1, 1935, the program was also carried on
WLW (Cincinnati, Ohio),
KNX (Los Angeles, California), and
KFRC (San Francisco, California). Along with
The Lone Ranger, Lum and Abner was one of Mutual's most popular programs. In 1936, Dick Huddleston of Waters petitioned the United States Post Office to change the town's name to Pine Ridge.
Postum cereal sponsored
Lum and Abner in 1938–40, before
Alka-Seltzer picked up the duo. Miles Laboratories, manufacturers of Alka-Seltzer and One-A-Day Vitamins, became the longest-running sponsor, backing the program from 1941 until 1948. Over the course of its life,
Lum and Abner appeared on all four major radio networks: NBC, Mutual,
CBS and
ABC (formerly
NBC Blue). In 1948, the show changed from a 15-minute "comedic
soap opera" to a 30-minute self-contained show. New writers were added, including Flying Tiger ace
Robert T. Smith, along with an orchestra and a live audience. The new format was unpopular and the series came off the air in 1950. Lauck and Goff experimented with other formats during the hiatus, finally changing back to a 15-minute, Monday-Friday show on
ABC in 1953, but the revived show was discontinued the following year due to competition from television and Goff's failing health (Goff would eventually recover and continue making media appearances well into the 1960s). The duo twice made attempts to transition to television, but neither effort was picked up by a television network.
Episode status The team broadcast more than 5,000 shows, of which over 1,630 episodes exist today. The archive is extensive between 1935 and 1948, a rarity for 15-minute shows that were typically never recorded (most of its contemporary daytime programs have fewer than 100 episodes remaining). As with most old-time radio shows, very little pre-1935 content (in this case, two episodes) survive. Only a handful of post-1948 programs and some of the 1953–54 revival have survived; most recordings of those shows are believed to have been
destroyed.
Films Like several of their contemporaries, Lauck and Goff had the opportunity to bring their characters to life in movies. The
Lum & Abner radio show of March 29, 1940, "The Store Closes to Shoot a Movie," announced a break in the radio series in order to make the first film of the
series,
Dreaming Out Loud, which was released the same year. At a rate of roughly one per year, another five films would be produced in the series. •
Dreaming Out Loud (1940) •
The Bashful Bachelor (1942) •
Two Weeks to Live (1943) •
So This Is Washington (1943) • ''
Goin' to Town'' (1944) •
Partners in Time (1946) Ten years after the film series ended, by which point
Lum and Abner had long left radio, a seventh film was released. 1956's
Lum and Abner Abroad was originally
made for television, with the film divided into three episodes. Conceived as a three-part
pilot for a TV series and filmed on location in
Yugoslavia, it featured none of the staff from previous films or the radio series other than Lauck and Goff themselves. The series was never picked up, with the three episodes airing as a film in theaters. •
Lum and Abner Abroad (1956) ==Legacy==