Old Ed’ards sayings (from old Edward, and also spelled old Eddard or old Eddered) were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as “I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow’s weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Old Ed’ards Sayings”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi, who’s this?
My name’s Carol Humphreys, and I’m calling from Elon, Virginia.
Elon. Out in the middle of nowhere.
Oh, right.
Not far from Lynchburg.
Okay.
Okay, got it.
Hi, Carol. Welcome to the show.
Hi. Thank you for having me.
What can we do for you?
My grandmother grew up with me. She was in the family from the time I was born. She’s from East Tennessee. Mm— I’m in my 60s. This has been a long time ago. She always used an expression, So-and-so was an old Edward saying, and I assumed that it was old Edward is what she was saying, but it was old Edward saying, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else.
She called somebody an old Edward saying?
No. She would say some kind of proverb, and she’d say, but that’s just an old Edward saying.
And Carol, I have to ask you, was your grandmother a fan of old-time radio?
I’m sure she was. She listened to her stories on a regular basis. -huh.
Okay. Because that comes from an old-timey radio show from the 1930s.
Amazing.
Yeah, it was called, I don’t know if she ever talked with you about this.
No, she didn’t.
It was called The Lum and Abner Show.
Well, I have heard of it.
Have you? Mm—
Okay. Well, this featured two characters, Abner Peabody and Lum Edwards. And you can listen to old recordings of this show online. And it’s funny just because it’s this terrible cornball humor.
So there are two storekeepers in a small town in Arkansas, right? Called Pine Ridge.
Right. And so a lot of it involves, you know, showing that the rural rustic folk are a little more wise than the city’s slicker. Or giving comeuppets to people who are acting better than themselves.
Right. Like Green Acres.
A little bit, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. But there were all these old Eddard’s sayings from Lum Edwards, but they were so goofy. I mean, for example, it would be something like, I always found out that the best way to figure out what tomorrow’s weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake. I mean, it’s just silly.
Or don’t throw that nitroglycerin. You might drop it and break the bottle and have glass all over the floor. I mean, it was just as corny as could be.
But this show became really, really popular. It became a national show for a while. And it was so popular from the 1930s to the 1950s that the town that it was based on, Waters, Arkansas, changed its name to Pine Ridge.
Yeah, because everybody was going there. And you can go to Pine Ridge today and look at the Lum and Abner Museum.
Oh, that is so funny.
Yes, I have heard them speak about woman Abner.
Okay. So it’s not a foreign concept.
No, there you go. So old Eddard is the character who had all these wise but not wise sayings.
I’ll be. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for calling.
You’re welcome. I always wonder if there’s more influence on old radio on American speech than anyone has ever figured out.
I hear a book in there somewhere.
I don’t know. You’ve just got to know that prior to television, that was it.
Oh, yeah. I mean, we’re talking huge, huge percentages of America listen to the same programs devised by cornball humorists from around the country.
This could be a book, Grant. It could come with a CD.
Wouldn’t that be great?
Yeah, sure. Why not?
You know, old radio and new radio. Call us with your language questions, 877-929-9673, or send them an email to words@waywordradio.org.
