Son

Jackson and Junior:

Once upon a time, in the early days of color television, a man down South decided to try out the medium. So he got a few friends and made a show, but when he tried to sell it nobody up in New York wanted to buy it.

Now, out of the warehouse, a very early appearance by Johnny Cash and June Carter -- and the first TV appearance of Junior Samples.



Johnny Cash needs no introduction, but some may not now remember Junior Samples. Junior Samples was from Forsyth County Georgia, which is where I grew up. One day my father, who was with the volunteer Fire Department, was at a training fire. This is where they take an old property likely to be a hazard and burn it up, both to dispose of it and to practice firefighting techniques. My father was out by the road when a pickup truck pulled up. There was Junior Samples, who leaned out of the truck and told the firemen, "I hate to tell you boys this, but that place burned two years ago."

He was a very nice guy by all accounts.

Here's a much older Johnny Cash, singing about his horse:



You may wonder: can a horse have green eyes? Yes, but it's very rare. There's only one kind of horse that does, and "the color of the sun" is a good description.