HINTON, (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Every week, a local history collector, William Jones, provides information on some of his favorite pieces. This week, we are talking about a little-known entertainment venture.
Summers County, Hinton in particular, has played host to a multitude of musical performances over the years. One of the people responsible for some such shows was Jones’ grandfather. Speaking on the matter, Jones said, “There have always been various entertainment events in Hinton, W.Va. But one such event you may not remember or have ever heard about was one my grandfather Bernard Thompson of Talcott had his hand in back in 1968. Granddad threw his hat into various ventures, from truck driving, owned and operated a junk yard in Talcott in the 1950s, sold coal by the bushel basket out of Thompson’s Garage, operated a small carnival, ran a Christmas tree farm in Talcott, you name it he tried it. Often successful, and then again, there were a few that did not prosper.”
“He had a live country music concert promotion company in partnership with his brother Leonard Thompson and country music singer Bill Browning,” Jones continued. “Country Music legend Red Souvine, who was born in Charleston and best known for his ballad Giddyup Go, headlined their first show in Charleston. Their second show was a Country Music Show in Hinton, W.Va., at the Memorial Building on June 1, 1968. The three men were all middle aged gentlemen at the time and had big stomachs. So they called themselves 3B Production, which stood for ‘3 Big Bellies’.”
The lineup for their Hinton show contained several well-known acts from across the state. Jones goes into detail saying, “All in all, they had what would have been considered at that time a good lineup, having had a great selection of locally well-known names from across West Virginia. The lineup consisted of The Dark Hollow Boys, that had formerly been with W. Va. Jamboree in Wheeling, WV, The Misty Mountain Boys of Huntington, WV, and Mary Ann Cook of Charleston, who was locally known as the Sweetheart of Country Music. The Wheeling Jamboree was then and is still thought of as being second only to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.”
To advertise the show, 3B Productions had posters and flyers printed, which leads us to this week’s item. Jones said, “Bluestone Printing Company in Hinton, W.Va. printed the posters and flyers. The posters were larger, 11 inches by 14 inches on cardboard, and the flier was 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches on paper. Bluestone Printing printed the flyers with the letter ‘M’ left out of ‘Country _usic Show’. They gave Mr. Thompson the option of having them reprinted or taking the ones with the error for a large discount. Mr. Thompson was not known as ‘Jake’ without reason. He chose to take the ones with the missing letter M for the discount. And had my mother and uncle hand write the letter M where it was missing.”
Sadly, 3B Productions did not continue after the team’s Hinton show. Jones, whose grandfather was instrumental in the company spoke about the aftermath of the concert. He said, “There was not a huge turnout at the Hinton show but the people that did attend continued to talk about it and would come up to and brag to my grandfather for weeks after the show. He even had people say to him that they couldn’t be there for the show but have heard from the people that attended how great it was. And they hoped 3B Production would have another show in Hinton soon. But it wasn’t to be, this would be the last show that 3B Production would ever have.”
This note brings us to the end of another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Did you know about 3B Productions and their Hinton show?
We would love to hear more stories about the area’s history. If you have a story to share, send us an email at news@hintonnews.com. Be sure to check back next week for another look at the county’s history.
