Scotty Stoneman's fiddle playing had a profound influence on a young Jerry Garcia. Quoting Jerry,
"A model for how powerful music could be".

I never saw the show as boring because I usually watched it with neighborhood seniors. As such I usually get a snack too so I better like it. But it was a great show to me. I could taste that cold pitcher of Lipton iced tea and I loved Lipton chicken noodle soup. I always thought Arthur was a smooth dude. I usually rate high because I could watch almost anything on tv so long ago!

For those who don't know the bluegrass fiddler here, Scotty Stoneman, went on to become arguably the most innovative fiddle player in country music.

Absolutely a powerful player with a seemingly unlimited bag-o-tricks. A virtual workshop in powerful fiddling every time he touched a bow. By the way, I once saw him break a bow he was pressing down so hard on the strings in one of his wild displays. I believe he was playing "Lee Highway Blues" at the time.

As with many great artists, Scotty had his demons and died young (1973).

Admittedly Arthur Godfrey's style doesn't appeal much to today's audiences. However, I found the episode to be interesting as an example of 1950s pop culture (and indeed, his various series were popular at the time). The original commercials added greatly to the fun, and he seems quite convincing while doing them.

Just a shame the female singer didn't win!

Godfrey had Washington, DC's number one morning radio show on WJSV ( would later become WTOP ). Lucky for us a complete tape of Godfrey's WJSV morning show is already here.

http://www.archive.org/details/CompleteBroadcastDay

Yes to us who live 55 years later it would look boring. But not back then. An Arthur Godfrey must have had something going his show hit number one on Radio an TV. The only thing wrong was the girl singer lost to a bluegrass band.

during the early 50s! Maybe it was just this episode and maybe by 1956 the show had ran it's course. Who knows so I'm not going to rate it because I could be wrong. I'll just have to wait and see if any more episodes of this series will be uploaded.

OH! He is so boring he makes me CRINGE!

Why on earth was this person so popular??????

Arthur Godfrey.... everybody's favorite uncle. Here was a personality that had been on the air in radio for hat musta been decades - or so it seemed. He seems to have been the founder of the "easy listening" format. A little soft spoken (though not the quiet sleepy kind) banter, a guest here and there, more easy comentary, commercial-station-news breaks.....
Just the thing to tune into on long auto trips.
Once asked about his (then) unique style, Arthur Godfrey answered that he regarded the microphone as a neighbor and spoke to it just as though he were speaking to a live person just over there.
That's how he came across to the audiance as so personable.
Noah 8-?