Trivia / Lum and Abner

• Acting for Two: This one is a given considering they only had four regular actors and more than four regular characters.
  • It was even more prevalent in the pre-1940 shows, when there was just Lauck and Goff. Occasionally one would go on vacation, leaving the other to play several roles in essentially a one-man show.
• Life Imitates Art: The town of Waters, Arkansas, on which Lauck and Goff based their fictional town, officially changed its name to Pine Ridge after the show became popular.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The reason the Lum and Abner television show never made it past the pilot is that Norris Goff (Abner) had begun to develop health problems and wasn't able to take the physical strain of doing a regular TV series.
• Recycled Script: Occasionally Lauck and Goff would recycle plots and scripts years after they were first broadcast. For instance, the story arc where Lum and Abner open a movie theater was used in 1935 and again in 1944, and the radio station plot line was used in 1945 and 1953 (with slight variations).
• What Could Have Been: After the show finally ended in 1954, Lauck and Goff tried to start a Lum and Abner TV series, but only got as far as a 3-part pilot episode. This episode was re-edited into the final Lum and Abner movie, Lum and Abner Abroad.