Dick Stacey, whose Country Jamboree was an early cable cult hit, dies CBC News

It’s hard to know why Country Jamboree by Dick Staceya late-night country revue that aired from Bangor, Maine in the 1970s and early ’80s became such a hit on Atlantic Canadians.

In fact, the success surprised even Stacey himself, according to Saint John’s Don Mabee, who called Dick Stacey a friend.

“I remember him telling me, ‘Don, I never thought this thing would take off this big,'” Mabee said in a phone interview. “And it really took off.

“But he understood exactly why things were going that way. He realized that people who were No. 1 wanted to be on TV, whether they could sing or not.”

Dick Stacey died in Bangor on October 10 at the age of 85.

A businessman from Brewer, just across from Bangor, Stacey ran a few gas bars and a motel.

In several interviews, Stacey said his association with the Jamboree began in 1973 when he received a call from a salesman at WVII-TV in Bangor, asking if he would like to buy advertising time for the station’s country music revue.

“I’d rather buy the whole show,” Stacey replied, and was surprised when the network accepted his offer.

That’s how the show became Stacey’s Country Jamboreeand was videotaped weekly in the lounge at Stacey’s Brewer Motel.

There was almost no budget for the show, the cast was amateur, and Stacey had two standard rules — no auditions and no rehearsals.

It showed.

Dubious talent

The audience never knew what they would see every Saturday night. Nervous singers froze on air, forgot lyrics or sang the wrong words, and it wasn’t uncommon for singers to lose tune entirely as the backing musicians desperately tried to get them back on track.

Mabee said Stacey has no illusions as to why the audience is tuning in.

“That’s what made him so special. He understood that people were laughing at this show,” he said.

“They tuned in every Saturday night to laugh because they saw people there… [who] never sung on a television show in her life. And they keep singing Dick Stacey’s Jamboree.”

Saint John’s Nelson Hanson was a teenager new to cable television and watched while waiting Saturday night live start on NBC.

“One part of that window to America was this comedy, which was very subversive at the time Saturday night live and then, just before that, you see something strange twin peaks country music revue on the ABC network,” said Hanson.

“And it was just, ‘Wow, things are really different there.'”

Hanson, like most people familiar with the show, fondly remembers Jennie Shontell, an older woman who was a regular On the wings of a dove.

In a high-pitched, nasal voice and rarely in key, Shontell happily plowed through the song, skipping from verse to verse without waiting for the musicians to catch up.

“My dad’s cousin claims he saw her false teeth fall out and she caught them without missing a beat,” Hanson said.

And then there were the commercials, done live by Dick Stacey himself.

“Yeah, everyone remembers those commercials: ‘See those hands? These hands pump gas. And damn, they stink. And we pump your petrol.

“And if he had a tire sale, someone would roll in a Uniroyal tire and on cue he’d stop it at his feet while delivering his ad to the camera. It was really something very special to see.”

“We said to our friends at school on Monday, ‘You have to see this. That’s really strange. It’s a really weird show,” Hanson said.

But if Stacey’s show was a little crazy, it’s safe to say that the man himself was crazy as a fox.

“Well, the amazing thing is that a lot of people thought Dick had this big country show on Saturday night and everyone tuned in and laughed at everyone who was there,” Mabee said, “But Dick was a very smart businessman.”

Atlantic Canadians would travel to Bangor to see the show live. Mabee said the lounge was full and the bar full on the day of the show.

A lot of these people booked rooms at Stacey’s motel, and they probably got gas at his gas bar.

After the performance

But in 1983, Mabee said Stacey had grown weary of the business. He quit the show, sold his businesses, and retired to West Palm Beach, Florida.

But the Country Jamboree still lived on in people’s memories, and in 2006 Stacey realized there was an appetite for more.

He began selling “best of” DVDs and touring with reunion shows, focusing on Atlantic Canadian fans.

Mabee said Stacey’s death came as a shock.

“I had just spoken to him, I would say three or four weeks ago.”

Mabee has already been inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame and said Stacey came from a simple heritage.

“He basically allowed people to be on TV whether they deserved it or not, whether they could sing or not.

“He gave them that opportunity for a few — just a few free moments, just a few moments in time, that they could be their own star, they could be on TV.

“That’s what people wanted to do and he gave them that opportunity.”