Cradle Of The Stars
A Summary
Logline: From Hank Williams to the radical new sounds of Elvis Presley, Cradle Of The Stars is the story of the first American idols and their rise to fame and fortune on the Louisiana Hayride radio and stage show.
It is the fall of 1952 in Shreveport, and the Saturday night radio and stage show “The Louisiana Hayride” is in full swing. A warbling postman named Slim Whitman leads the cast of forty and appears headed to the top. All that quickly changes when Hank Williams returns to headline the show that rocketed him to national fame, but find his drinking and womanizing keep getting in the way. Within three months, Hank is dead, a victim of a lethal combination of booze and pills…or was he?
At his wake, Hank’s years on the Hayride are recounted by the friends that knew him best. The world is introduced to Kitty Wells, the first woman to ever have a million selling country song; Faron Young, a naive singer who loses his best gal to Hank; and Webb Pierce, a most determined Sears suit salesman who will go on to become the biggest selling country act of the fifties. Webb stacks the audience and pays Hayride staff to be sick in an attempt to land himself on the show, and once there, this one man promotional machine doesn’t quit until he’s a household word.
Soon after, an unassuming disc jockey named Jim Reeves is sent on stage when an act fails to show, and his warm baritone voice instantly captures the audience. Enter Fabor Robinson, a promoter with his own record label and unscrupulous style. Fabor sends Jim on the road with teenage duet Jim Ed Brown and his sister Maxine, and the undesirable elements of the music industry come to light as they discover that playing packed houses doesn’t always mean leaving with a packed wallet.
In the fall of 1954, a young man from Memphis finds his way to Shreveport, and the course of music history is changed forever when Elvis Presley takes the stage. In the span of just eighteen months, Elvis evolves from a shy teenager into a cultural icon, and Cradle Of The Stars charts his growth from the unique perspective of those who watched his career unfold on the Hayride stage.
One year later, Elvis is joined onstage by a travelling salesman, Johnny Cash, and a part time house painter, George Jones. Along with Hayride wild child Jerry Lee Lewis, the group forms a solid block of diverse musical talent until, one by one, they leave Shreveport for greater glory.
As the fifties draw to a close and the new medium of television begins to tighten its grip on America, the Hayride falls victim to the changing times but not before giving longtime cast member Johnny Horton his shot at the big time. Johnny’s wife, the former Mrs. Hank Williams, has one idea for his career, but Johnny would rather just go fishing.
Cradle of the Stars follows the lives of many of America’s premier country and rock legends, showing the ups and downs; the comedy and tragedy; and the real life drama that made The Louisiana Hayride America’s first real talent show.