Pat Buttram
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Maxwell Emmett Buttram
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Addison, Alabama, USA
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Jun 19 1915 - Jan 08 1994 age 78
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Official Site
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Ask
Pat Buttram for some information on his life so that you can produce
relevant liner notes on his new Ovation record and you uncover almost
enough new material for another album!!! How do you top it when Pat
says:
"I was born in Addison, Alabama—Winston County—on June 19 but I don't know what year, we didn't have a calendar. My folks were poor but they had class . . . they couldn't afford a rug so they had my feet carpeted. But there's one big advantage to being poor. It don't take much to improve your situation.
"We Buttrams was a hard working family, and very religious. My daddy was a circuit-ridin' Methodist Preacher and he was very convincing . . . Folks used to say, ‘Preacher, we never knew what sin was till you Buttrams moved here.' And they didn't have much of a flock in pappy's church, sometimes maybe only six or seven people. I know one old maid used to say, ‘Reverend Buttram, when you say dearly beloved, it always makes me blush.' You couldn't trust too many people in our county—Dad used to keep the church locked up tight and, when you wanted to go in and pray, you had to knock three times on the door and say, ‘Peter sent me' . . .
"We scraped thru alright and my folks sent me for a good schooling at Birmingham Southern College. In those days, college was different . . . it was the professors who wore the beards and the kids who didn't dare open their mouths. I don't like to say that I cheated on my exams, but I did always try to sit behind a round shouldered honor student. I had to quit school after a year because I was still poor . . . poor in English, poor in History, poor in Math.
"Before I left, I was in a college play and the manager of a local radio station in Birmingham must have seen something in me because he gave me a job as an early morning disk jockey . . . you know, one of those fellows that say, ‘Get up everybody, rise and shine.' Oh, I reached a lot of people with that radio show but I was sure happy that they couldn't reach me.
"In 1934, the fickle finger of fate beckoned and I hitchhiked to Chicago to see the Worlds Fair and found out that radio station WLS, the home of the National Barn Dance, was holding auditions. At that time they needed a suave, sophisticated, witty humorist and, since Noel Coward wasn't available, I got the job. This was when the National Barn Dance had names working there like George Gobel, Rex Allen, Andy Williams, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Eddie Peabody and a new cowboy singer named Gene Autry. And even in those days we knew Gene Autry was making big money, cause he used to ride a Cadillac horse to work.
"Then in 1945, Gene Autry sent for me to come to Holly's woods to be his sidekick on radio and TV and movies . . . and for the next seventeen years I was kept busy saying, ‘Which way did they go?" And ‘Mr. Artery, I don't think them Indians look too friendly.'
"Then after all these years the good Lord must have had his arms around me because I signed for six years in a real great television show, ‘Green Acres,' along with Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert, where I became the lovable but larcenous Mr. Haney.
"I am now living in Northridge, California, with my beautiful wife, actress Sheila Ryan, and my lovely teenage daughter, Kerry, and keeping busy with my hobbies, which are collecting old Martha Mitchell phone calls and selling old Milton Berle gowns to Flip Wilson."
"I was born in Addison, Alabama—Winston County—on June 19 but I don't know what year, we didn't have a calendar. My folks were poor but they had class . . . they couldn't afford a rug so they had my feet carpeted. But there's one big advantage to being poor. It don't take much to improve your situation.
"We Buttrams was a hard working family, and very religious. My daddy was a circuit-ridin' Methodist Preacher and he was very convincing . . . Folks used to say, ‘Preacher, we never knew what sin was till you Buttrams moved here.' And they didn't have much of a flock in pappy's church, sometimes maybe only six or seven people. I know one old maid used to say, ‘Reverend Buttram, when you say dearly beloved, it always makes me blush.' You couldn't trust too many people in our county—Dad used to keep the church locked up tight and, when you wanted to go in and pray, you had to knock three times on the door and say, ‘Peter sent me' . . .
"We scraped thru alright and my folks sent me for a good schooling at Birmingham Southern College. In those days, college was different . . . it was the professors who wore the beards and the kids who didn't dare open their mouths. I don't like to say that I cheated on my exams, but I did always try to sit behind a round shouldered honor student. I had to quit school after a year because I was still poor . . . poor in English, poor in History, poor in Math.
"Before I left, I was in a college play and the manager of a local radio station in Birmingham must have seen something in me because he gave me a job as an early morning disk jockey . . . you know, one of those fellows that say, ‘Get up everybody, rise and shine.' Oh, I reached a lot of people with that radio show but I was sure happy that they couldn't reach me.
"In 1934, the fickle finger of fate beckoned and I hitchhiked to Chicago to see the Worlds Fair and found out that radio station WLS, the home of the National Barn Dance, was holding auditions. At that time they needed a suave, sophisticated, witty humorist and, since Noel Coward wasn't available, I got the job. This was when the National Barn Dance had names working there like George Gobel, Rex Allen, Andy Williams, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Eddie Peabody and a new cowboy singer named Gene Autry. And even in those days we knew Gene Autry was making big money, cause he used to ride a Cadillac horse to work.
"Then in 1945, Gene Autry sent for me to come to Holly's woods to be his sidekick on radio and TV and movies . . . and for the next seventeen years I was kept busy saying, ‘Which way did they go?" And ‘Mr. Artery, I don't think them Indians look too friendly.'
"Then after all these years the good Lord must have had his arms around me because I signed for six years in a real great television show, ‘Green Acres,' along with Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert, where I became the lovable but larcenous Mr. Haney.
"I am now living in Northridge, California, with my beautiful wife, actress Sheila Ryan, and my lovely teenage daughter, Kerry, and keeping busy with my hobbies, which are collecting old Martha Mitchell phone calls and selling old Milton Berle gowns to Flip Wilson."
Side 1
01 Joe Nixon Introduction
02 Record Album
03 Eva Gabor
04 Commercials
05 Old Age
06 Poem
07 Haney - Green Acres
08 Gene Autry
Side Two
01 Poverty
02 Folsom Prison
03 Kids
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02 Record Album
03 Eva Gabor
04 Commercials
05 Old Age
06 Poem
07 Haney - Green Acres
08 Gene Autry
Side Two
01 Poverty
02 Folsom Prison
03 Kids
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Stand-up
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Ovation OV 14/18
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ENJOY!
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His other material on this blog is "tagged" at the bottom of this post
WANTED | |||||||||
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1 comments on "Pat Buttram - We Wuz Poor 1971"
Never knew he did a live act. The jokes were all pretty telegraphed from the the first few words, but "Mr. Haney" had the delivery down.
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