In 1945, guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs first worked together as members of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the legendary band whose name was used to define the genre of music they played. Less than three years later, the two men ventured out and became stars in their own right. Their partnership lasted over twenty years before they parted ways in 1969. Their most well known songs are the instrumental “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” used in Bonnie and Clyde, and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies.
During their tenure, they had a successful regional television program that aired from 1955 until 1969. Martha White Mills, who first sponsored the fellows on radio, continued that relationship into the relatively new medium. Pet Milk later joined them for a time. When Flatt & Scruggs first started the show, they would play live at stations in different cities. At some point, they began recording the programs to videotape.
These shows were thought lost until 1989 when one day in his garage, Bill Graham, who worked at Noble-Druy Advertising Agency, the firm that represented Martha White Mills, found a number of old films and videotapes, including 24 episodes of Flatt and Scruggs Grand Ole Opry. Four have already released titled Best of The Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Volume 1 and 2 and four more are now available to the public on Volume 3 and 4.
The shows had the same basic rundown with slight variations. They opened with a couple of songs, usually an instrumental and a song sung by Flatt. Next up was a live commercial with announcer T. Tommy Cutrer and a female model showing a recipe using Martha White flour. Then three more songs, another Martha White commercial, another three songs, a Pet Milk commercial, then a number or two to close out the show.
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