Jackson Jambalaya

Nice to see something authentic before AI came along.

Jim Dollarhide---hadn't heard that name in ages. That alone made me smile. And I love this video. Thanks Kingfish.

Mississippi was still a decent place to live and travel in 1983. It was also a 100% democrat party controlled state.

Now that's just downright friendly.

Blast from the past! I worked with Dollarhide for many years, he literally brought the film industry to MS. Very sad the way he died.

Great.

That is magical. Never seen that. Sam the bluesman Meyer’s making a cameo. Jim filmed a “gaming” commercial in my front yard and had kids and people and…when I woke up and saw him in my yard and asked if I got any money? He left! Was a good commercial anyway.

Sam Meyers was a legend.

It's a masterpiece, actually, in terms of CONTINUITY. I don't think the progression of the song missed a beat. And it certainly drove home the point: "We're cheap, and YOU can't do any better."

Actually, the video's a masterpiece, in several ways.

And truly, it probably repelled all sorts of scum which otherwise would have moved to Mississippi. Scaring people off, has proven to be of inestimable value.

Too, I wonder whether the ad helped set EXPECTATIONS, for those who chose to remain in the state. If you were going to stay in Mississippi, you had to work on your cornpone act. And if you couldn't act sufficiently cornpone, you could expect social persecution.

For those who couldn't imagine going through life acting like THAT, the ad probably added urgency to the search for better places. I never saw this ad, but was in college at the time, and our entire group of friends and mentors, were focused on getting OUT. Our research made its way into my friends' extended families. One friend's discovery of the Adirondak Region, gave a branch of his family the idea of fleeing to Albany (NY), where they are thriving, and don't have to dumb-down to please anybody. Some have become established socialites in Highland Park (TX), and their cousins are members of the Piedmont Driving Club and Druid Hills Country Club (the apex of Atlanta society). Plenty moved straight to NYC, in the Eighties, and are now 'Old Guard' in Manhattan and the Hamptons.

DH and I changed our names, in preparation for the move. It was a group project: crafting something which sounded ritzy, cryptically conveyed the ethnoreligious identity we were gatecrashing, and plausibly explained our skin tones. With a birth name which might as well have been 'Skummilynne Trashythang', I changed it before AND after marriage, to totally exorcise my origins.

Did this video set the rule, that BANJO-PICKIN' PATHOS was the one and only allowable way for Mississippi to portray itself? Someone tried to impose that rule, when a gold-plated lifeboat exurb of Jackson, was doing a video to attract the best retail developers. Didn't fly, and the producer was fired.

Do third-rate Ole Miss Marketing/Advertising grads (the kind who still love to say things like "No-brainer!") regard this ad as being the pinnacle of perfection?

Lie. That changed in the 64 and 72 elections.

Is that Johnny Crocker I see on the beach? Left side at 32 seconds.

This is awesome. TY for sharing a fun video and memories.

Anybody know what 5:20 was trying to say?

I think he was trying to spell cannabis.

10:26
Does anyone care?
6:39
That sure looks like him and isn’t that Cat Beach at the Rez?

A wordy way to say you don’t like MS or how it was portrayed. I am no fan of twang either but I was born here and my people are good folks who’ve done a lot to help others and I’m proud of my simple roots. I travel to NY or GA at times and even Europe occasionally ….people hear my accent and they know…..I’m from MS and I’m good with that. So thanks for your wordy colloquy the former Mr Earl Buford Beauregard Lynn - Hearn - and it was a fantastic commercial by a cool guy.

@4:01 —

Can’t believe it’s been 10 years, and I never got the inside scoop on the fire, if there was any.

I met him once or twice. But we had a mutual female friend.

He had some eccentric, strange and dangerous habits. Like if he’d been in LA there would’ve been at minimum a streaming series about him.

Very nice! Gives the nostalgic feels.

Note to 5:20, before you attempt to "troll"  it might be in your best interest to lay off the LSD & shrooms.

Thx for keeping his name alive. <3