in 2008 we played a short story about Little Orley read by Uncle Lumpy
almost every week.
We think Uncle Lumpy was a really cool guy.
Who was Uncle Lumpy?
Hugh
"Lumpy" Brannum was born in Sandwich, Illinois in 1910. His
family later moved to Redlands, California where he attended Redlands
University.
Lumpy played string bass in the Marine Corp band and later as a member
of Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians.
Lumpy
created and narrated the "Little Orley" stories for Fred Waring's radio
program of the late 1940s and was a scriptwriter for the Waring TV show
in the 1950s. While the Orley stories were a weekly feature of the
radio program, the stories were offered less and less often once Waring
moved the program to television.
Some of he stories were later released
on Decca Records.
In
1951, Lumpy moved to television and had a show in New York called
"Uncle Lumpy's Cabin".
In 1955, he joined the new Captain Kangaroo show as Mr. Green Jeans.
In
addition to Mr. Green Jeans, on Captain Kangaroo he played The
Professor, Greeno The Clown, The Old Folk Singer, and Mr. Bainter The
Painter.
He remained with the show throughout the entire run, retiring to his
home in the Poconos in 1984.
Uncle Lumpy passed away on April 19, 1987.
Mr. Green Jeans and Captain Kangaroo
How Little Orley Got His Name
The story goes that Lumpy liked to go up into the country around Shawnee, PA and paint. He worked in and around New York city and needed to get away for a weekend or so. Lumpy was born in Illinois, but grew up in California. He really loved nature and liked to relax by painting pictures of the old farms and barns in the area. Many of his friends and family still have the pictures he gave them.
Well now, one of these farms had a little boy named Orville. When Lumpy would visit Orville would ask him for a story. Lumpy knew that he'd better have a good one, so he made up stories he could relate to -- about a little farm boy named Orley. I suppose Orville probably knew who the boy really was.
When
Fred Waring got wind of the stories Lumpy had made up he asked Lumpy to
use them on the show. Radio shows were true family hours and Waring
needed something for the kids. The stories were a hit and they made use
of all the Waring orchestra, including Poley McClintock as the voice of
the train (among others). Poley was a great vocal talent and was the
inspiration for the voice of Popeye.
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