27

Elmer Purden, wizard of remote broadcasting, ensured Barn Dance shows were on the air every Sat.
1937-1963
920 CKNX, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

28

Technical Matters ...
Elmer (Judge) Purdon was always at the controls to ensure that the Barn Dance got on the air, all the years the show was on the road. He was the program's technical advisor and had a thorough knowledge of the laws of remote broadcasting. Bookings for the show were often two years in advance. (100 Yrs, 68-69)

29

Lloyd Bank began playing his steel guitar with the CKNX Barn Dance in 1949.
1949-1963
920 CKNX, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

30

Onto the Serenade Ranch ...
By 1949, Earl Heywood had rounded up an entirely new group of musicians called the Serenade Ranch Gang This new group consisted of Lloyd Bank on the steel guitar, Bill Mankiss on the accordian, singer and bass player Jack Kingston and fiddlers Mel Lavigne and Ward Allen. Together they performed some of the popular songs of the day, plus a few of Mr. Heywood's own compositions. Occasionally they would be joined in the studio by Mrs. Heywood and their little daughter, Patsy Anne.(C-4, 1984) p.1

Many of these Saturday Night Barn Dance performers also played on CKNX radio programs and later on television programs, like Circle 8 Ranch, Don Messer's Jubilee and the Tommy Hunter Show.

31

George Jordan was a popular square dance caller for the Saturday Night Barn Dance.
1937-1963
920 CKNX, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

32

Jack Kingston played with the Barn Dance and the Golden Prairie Cowboys.
1944-1970
CKNX Radio and Television, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

33

Jack Gorbutt was the Public Relations man for the Barn Dance program as well as other CKNX programs.
1937-1963
920 CKNX, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

34

Lucky Ambeault was a versatile musician who played with the station band - Golden Prairie Cowboys
1940-1970
CKNX Radio and Television, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

35

Barn Dance's Comedy Acts ...

In addition to the gut-splitting humour and singing of Cactus Mac and Clarke Johnston, the Saturday Night Barn Dance also booked acts such as Elmer and Jed, who became regulars.

Elmer & Jed
In the 1950s, a bad snowstorm was raging on the night the Barn Dance was to take place in the arena in Lucan, Ontario. The CKNX mobile wagon arrived with all the broadcasting equipment and all the cast for the Barn Dance made it through the storm. Everything was set up to do the broadcast but not a soul arrived. All the performers were tuned up and on stage when Johnny Brent announced that it was time for another Saturday Night Barn Dance. All the chairs were empty but the show went on. When comedians Elmer and Jed "The Singing Sign Painters" were introduced, they ran out of the wings and onto the stage to begin their routine. In the meantime Al Cherny had slipped into a painter's cap and overalls and began pushing a large broom across the stage behind Elmer and Jed. In the midst of it all the entire cast broke out in laughter and began hollering and yelling at the top of their voices to make it sound like a big crowd. Some of the cast sat in the front row to get the applause going. This was one radio broadcast that went over the air without an audience. The irony of it all was that the storm subsided and by ten o'clock that night a loyal group of Barn Dance fans began to arrive and before the night was over the place was filled as usual. Elmer and Jed remember taping that show off the radio and listening to the rerun. They said it sounded like the best show they ever heard in their life. (BD-7, 2003)

Wee Bobby Clarke
"Wee" Bobby Clarke and his brand of slapstick comedy was popular at the Saturday Night Barn Dance performance. One night when the Barn Dance played in Hanover, and Bobby set a pail and dipper on the stage. Every once in a while during his comedy routine, he lifted the dipper out of the pail, drank some of the water and spilled some on his clothes while trying to gulp it down. Later, Bobby dropped the dipper on the floor and proceeded to walk to the front of the stage with the pail pretending, he was going to throw the pail at the audience. Once he had the people in stitches, he tossed the contents of the pail on the first two or three rows of the audience. People screamed and tried to jump out of their seats, so as not to get soaked. They soon realized the joke was on them. Nobody got wet! Bobby threw a pail of rice, all in good fun. At other performances, he used confetti instead. We all had a good laugh except the janitor of the dance hall. Cleaning up the mess just didn't seem that funny to him. (BD-4,2003)

36

Mel Lavigne, one of Canada's best-known fiddlers, began with the Barn Dance in 1950.
1950s
CKNX Radio and Television, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

37

One of the Golden Fiddlers ...
Mel Lavigne was from Honey Harbour. He and Ward Allen replaced the Golden Prairie Cowboys on Barn Dance. They became masters of two part harmony and both went on to become Canadian Old Time Fiddle Champions at Shelbourne. It was after Mel, Ward and some of the other boys decided to take a run at a career in eastern Ontario, working out of Ottawa that Al Cherny arrived as a young man from Alberta to take their place in the hearts of western Ontario at CKNX and eventually all Canadian listeners. (Carbert essay, 1995)p.5

"It was Mel Lavigne of Midland, Ontario who became the very first Old Time Fiddle Champion in Shelburne, when it first started in the early 1950s. (BD-18, 2005)

38

Ross Mann was a popular Barn Dance entertainer who also appeared on Channel 8 programs.
1937-1963
CKNX Television & Radio station, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario

39

Ross Mann's Music Shop ...
Ross Mann, a member of Ranch Boys' Orchestra (heard on CKNX for years) operated an outlet for musical supplies and accessories out of his home in Bluevale. It was called the Ross Mann Music Shop. He supplied musicians in the area until his death in 1973. (100 Yrs, 217) The shop, at some point was moved into Wingham. Upon Ross' death, the business was bought out by fellow CKNX musician, Ernie King. The name was changed to Ernie King's Music, which in 2008 had a shop in Wingham and Goderich. When Ernie King bought the business and moved it into a former chapel on Josephine Street in Wingham, he enlarged the shop's services to include equipment repair and a recording studio.

40

Ward Allen's fiddle tune "Maple Sugar" is a classic among old tyme fiddlers.
1937-1963
920 CKNX, Wingham, Ontario

Credits:
Barn Dance Museum, Wingham, Ontario
North Huron Museum, Wingham, Ontario