TOMMY SCOTT'S LAST REAL OLD TIME TOURING MEDICINE SHOW
Tommy Scott, a singer and guitar player, started entertaining in 1930 in and around his hometown of Toccoa, Georgia. His first full-time job was with the Medicine Show and this has been his basic work his entire life. In 1933 he did his first radio broadcast on WAIM in Anderson, SC and went on to WPTF in Raleigh, NC, WFBC, Greenville, SC and WRDW, Augusta, GA. He later worked early morning shows on WHAS 84 in Louisville, when he joined Local 11-637 in January of 1940. In 1941 Tommy appeared for about a year on WSM's Grand Ole Opry, and in 1941 and 1942 he and Curley Sechler toured with a medicine tent show and appeared on radio throughout the southeast. From 1943 to 1947 the Medicine Show began to appear in theaters nationwide and performed over several radio stations.
Then Hollywood called, and Tommy starred in a feature western, TRAIL OF THE HAWK. He also did a number of musical movie shorts for Astor pictures, where he met stars such as Johnny Mack Brown, Col. Tim McCoy, Al “Fuzzy” St. John, Maxx Terhune and Sunset “Kit” Carson, all of whom later worked on the traveling show.
Meanwhile, Tommy had made his first recording in Rock Hill, SC for RCA Victor Records. Tommy has written and recorded around 200 songs, many of which have been recorded by other artists such as the Willis Brothers, Red Sovine, Lester Flatt and George Morgan. His songs include Rollin' in my Sweet Baby's Arms, Rose buds and You, Pollution, Slow Down World, We've Got a Crisis, Have a Good Day and Medicine Man. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and also a member of the Country Music Association. In 1976 his name was placed in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville (see picture elsewhere on this site). In 1948 Tommy was the featured attraction of American United carnival, touring basically in the Northwestern states. From 1949 till the 1990s he continued to play 325 to 350 different towns per year across the U.S. And Canada, giving his Medicine Show the distinction of having played more towns and performances than any other show on earth. Frankie Scott, Tommy's wife, worked with him on stage as a medicine show feature act performing magic, and in character as “Clarabelle” the gal from the mountains, and assisted in producing the stage show until declining health necessitated her retirement.
Tommy's TV performances include: The Today Show; Johnny Carson's Tonight Show; Oprah Winfrey; Hee Haw; David Letterman; Tommy Hunter Show on the Nashville Network, Midday L.A. In Los Angeles, CA, and various shows on Canadian networks. For more on Tommy please see, reproduced elsewhere on this site, a profile written by Ira Basen, award-winning CBC Radio journalist and journalism professor.
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