John Aylesworth, Co-creator Of 'Hee Haw', 81, Washington Post
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JOHN AYLESWORTH, 81
John Aylesworth dies; co-creator of 'Hee Haw'
By Matt Schudel, Washington Post Staff Writer
John Aylesworth, 81, a television writer and producer who was co-creator of
the long-running country variety show "Hee Haw," died July 28 [2010] at a
hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He had pulmonary fibrosis.
Mr. Aylesworth and his writing partner and fellow Canadian, Frank Peppiatt,
had never visited the rural South or Midwest before developing "Hee Haw," a
fast-paced hour of cornball jokes and music, in 1969. The program, with
country singers Buck Owens and Roy Clark as hosts and a stable of other
comedians and musicians, aired on CBS for two years.
Despite high ratings, "Hee Haw" was canceled during a purge of CBS's
rural-oriented shows in 1971. Mr. Aylesworth, Peppiatt and a business
partner found advertisers and syndicated the program on their own -- an
unheard-of practice in TV at the time. "Hee Haw" remained in production
until 1992 and, with 585 episodes, was one of the longest-running shows in
TV history.
In 1970, Peppiatt told the Los Angeles Times how he and Mr. Aylesworth came
up with the idea for "Hee Haw."
"We were looking at the ratings, and 'Laugh-In' was the leader followed by
'The Beverly Hillbillies,' " he said. "We wondered what kind of show would
combine both elements."
The writers had previously worked with performers including Frank Sinatra,
Judy Garland, Julie Andrews and Perry Como and knew next to nothing about
rural life. But, as Mr. Aylesworth once recalled, "Country music was
sweeping the country and there had never been a network show devoted to
country music. We did the old 'Jimmy Dean Show,' and we remembered that
Jimmy . . . always wondered why his show was so little country."
Peppiatt and Mr. Aylesworth devised a formula that featured down-home music
and the hay-bale humor of Minnie Pearl and Junior Samples. As a result, "Hee
Haw" was one of the few prime-time shows not geared toward urban audiences
and became a point of pride in rural America.
John Bansley Aylesworth was born Aug. 18, 1928, in Toronto. While in high
school, he became a radio actor and voice-over artist. In 1950, while
working for a Toronto advertising agency, he met Peppiatt. The two wrote and
performed TV comedy skits and created the quiz show "Front Page Challenge,"
which ran on Canadian television for 38 years.
Mr. Aylesworth moved to the United States in 1958 to write for "Your Hit
Parade" and a series of successful variety shows, including "The Andy
Williams Show," "Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall," "The Judy Garland Show" and
"Hullabaloo."
He received a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on
the landmark 1965 special "Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music." He also
wrote for specials featuring Bing Crosby, Groucho Marx and Dolly Parton and
was a writer-producer for "The Jonathan Winters Show" and "The Sonny and
Cher Show."
After selling "Hee Haw" to a syndicate for $15 million in 1982, Mr.
Aylesworth and Peppiatt wrote a musical stage show about Jimmy Durante.
Despite his long record of success, Mr. Aylesworth found little work as a TV
writer after turning 50. In recent years, he was a plaintiff in a series of
class-action lawsuits accusing studios and agents of age discrimination.
"I pretty much gave up" looking for writing jobs in the 1980s, he told the
San Diego Union-Tribune in 2002.
"Every time I went to a meeting, everybody was very young, and they were
intimidated by an old guy coming in," he said. "There was an expression
going around that I heard from my agent. He pitched me for one show, and
they said, 'No, we already have our 'gray.'"
Mr. Aylesworth wrote a satirical play about Palm Springs, Calif., and
published a book this year about "Hee Haw" called "The Corn Was Green."
His first three marriages ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Anita Rufus of Palm Desert, Calif.; five
children; and a grandson.