Pine Ridge, Arkansas, was the fictional setting for the radio program ''
Lum and Abner
''Lum and Abner'' was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was produced from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show pr ...
'', which ran for 13 weeks every year from 1932 to 1954 on
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
. It was based on the town of
Waters, Arkansas, and some of its residents. Subsequently, the real town of Waters changed its name to
Pine Ridge by a vote of the city council
and the community of
Pine Ridge, Oklahoma
Pine Ridge is an unincorporated community in Hale Township, Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located south of Fort Cobb at the junction of County Road 1380 and County Street 2550.
History
According to locals, the community got i ...
also was named after the fictional town.
''Lum Edwards'' and ''Abner Peabody'' were the main characters. The radio show was a comedic look at rural life in the
Depression and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
era. Other characters in the show included ''Mousey Gray'', ''Cedric Wehunt'', and ''Squire Skimp''. In the series, Lum and Abner were the owners of the ''Jot 'Em Down Store''. Some of their misadventures included a failed experiment in creating a
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
(first season), getting swindled by a counterfeit money printer (Diogenes Smith – who introduced the phrase "Wonderful World" into the series), and Lum trying himself for a crime he didn't commit (after all, he was simultaneously the town's only prisoner and
Justice of the Peace).
American comedy radio programs
Lum and Abner
Fictional locations in the United States
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