Town Hall Party: February 14, 1959

Town Hall Party was California's largest country music barn-dance, running from early 1952 until early 1961. The show was broadcast every Saturday night from a theatre made up to look like an old barn in the Compton suburb of Los Angeles. Crowds numbering up to 2000 would fill the old Town Hall to see and hear the top country artists of the day. The first hour was broadcast live over KFI and reached a wider audience when NBC syndicated the show on radio. The broadcast was extended to three hours when KTTV-TV televised the show. Jay Stewart (who later hosted the TV quiz show 'Let's Make a Deal'), and Tex Ritter were the MCs and the house band featured a Who's Who of West Coast country music, including Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, Skeets McDonald, Johnny Bond and Tommy Duncan.