Cannonball Shorts
Description: The Hooterville Cannonball is a fictional railroad train featured in Petticoat Junction, an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The train was considered an "important character" by the show's producers, and producer Paul Henning hired railroad historian Gerald M. Best to make sure that the locomotive sounds used on the show were authentic to a train of the same type and age. The 1890s-style train with a whimsical schedule gave the otherwise fanciful show a degree of authenticity; Henning said that "the train's weekly appearances on TV might set the space age back 50 years and drive train buffs insane with delight, but without it our show would lose its character image."
Description: The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy movie that follows a wacky cast of characters as they compete in an illegal cross-country road race. The race at the center of the movie is based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organized by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mph speed limit then in effect in the U.S. The Cannonball was named for Erwin G. 'Cannonball' Baker, who in the roaring '20s rode his motorcycle across the country. Many of the characters are based on ruses developed by real Cannonball racers over the several years that the event was run. Largely panned by critics, the movie was a hit with audiences and did well at the box office, which lead to the 1984 sequel, The Cannonball Run II.
Description: The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy movie that follows a wacky cast of characters as they compete in an illegal cross-country road race. The race at the center of the movie is based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organized by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mph speed limit then in effect in the U.S. The Cannonball was named for Erwin G. 'Cannonball' Baker, who in the roaring '20s rode his motorcycle across the country. Many of the characters are based on ruses developed by real Cannonball racers over the several years that the event was run. Largely panned by critics, the movie was a hit with audiences and did well at the box office, which lead to the 1984 sequel, The Cannonball Run II.
Description: Complete with choo-choo sound effects and the harmonica solo of some long-imagined cowboy, Acuff's version of "Wabash Cannonball" was an early instance of country culture rising to meet the needs of city entertainment – the band even changed their name to the Smoky Mountain Boys once they made the Grand Ole Opry, presumably to retain that rural flavor. No surprise that he soon got into publishing and later ran for office – his moves always did seem a little strategic. But these are milestones, too; moments of friction in the development of a style as it took shape within the listening public at large.
