Retro OTRDiary 18 Interview with Donnie Pitchford (retro516)

Part of a longer interview I had with uncle Donnie Pitchford, President of the
National Lum and Abner Society.

The show is a series of clips. I talk with Donnie about a few differences between the 15 minute shows, to the 30 minute versions of Lum and Abner. In between interview segments, I play a few clips from March 1935 to contrast how the characters we’re portrayed then, as opposed to the later installments in 1949. Many of the old story lines and gags get reused in the half hour format, but in a very abbreviated form. We drop in on one of the first times that Lum and Abner had a falling out, and split up the store. Get out the rope!

I wanted to give Donnie the chance to talk about a project that he has been working on for the past few years. He’s keeping Lum and Abner alive in a new way. He produces a comic strip that appears in a handful of newspapers. In its online form, he includes an audio presentation of the strip. It’s like a mini radio production. A comic for the ears as well as the eyes.

Find the Lum and Abner comic strip right on the web site of the
National Lum and Abner Society
to read and listen to them. Don’t forget about Facebook, where you’ll find both a fan group for the radio show, as well as for the comic strip.