The Part of Dolly Parton’s Big Break That Used to “Kill Her With Humiliation”

Dolly Parton’s big break on the Porter Wagoner Show was something most aspiring country singers of the mid-1960s would kill for, but for the “Dumb Blonde” singer, part of her big break almost killed her (out of humiliation, that is). While it’s hard to imagine someone as easygoing and confident as Parton ever feeling red-faced on television, we can’t say we blame her after reading about what she had to do on the popular music program. But then again, maybe her time on Porter Wagoner helped Parton build her incomparable ability to laugh at herself in the first place.

Parton’s arrival to the Porter Wagoner Show came on the heels of the release of her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. Parton became the show’s “girl singer” after Wagoner’s original female counterpart, Norma Jean Basler, left the show to start a family in Oklahoma. Although Parton had already been cutting her teeth as a songwriter, a forward-facing role on a wildly popular TV show like Wagoner’s was a major milestone in her burgeoning career.

Dolly Parton’s Big Break Was Mortifyingly Embarrassing At Times

Little did Parton know what all that major milestone would entail. In her 1994 biography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Parton described her least favorite part of being on Wagoner’s music show: the commercials. Back in the late 1960s, television programs were still advertising products mid-performance, which meant Parton had to sing country music and jingles.

“Some of them weren’t so bad,” she wrote. “I don’t mind telling folks about ‘the flowery towels in boxes of Breeze’ (in my mountain dialect, it came out ‘flardy tals’). After all, I had hawked Blue Band Coffee on The Cas Walker Show. I could also smile with some degree of believability while pushing Soltice, a cold remedy or ‘croup salve’ as we called it.” 

“What used to almost kill me with humiliation was having to do commercials for Cardui. I know the Chattanooga Medicine Company was a loyal supporter of the show, and its support ultimately paid me, but that did not make it any easier for a young woman to go on TV and talk about ‘menstrual cramps’ and ‘water bloat.’ My face must have turned colors even in black and white.”

“As if that weren’t enough, I had to join with Porter in singing the praises (literally) of Black Draught. This was a laxative that made you ‘smile from the inside out,’ according to the song. I hope my colon was smiling sincerely because the smile on my lips was phony as all get out,” Parton recalled.

When It Wasn’t The Jingles, It Was The Chants

Dolly Parton might be one of the world’s most beloved musical icons now, but when she was a bouffant-clad newcomer on the Porter Wagoner Show, not everyone in the audience was as welcoming. Many fans lamented the loss of Wagoner’s original “girl singer,” Norma Jean, and had no problem saying so. “People in general, and country people especially, are slow to accept change,” Parton rationalized in her biography.

“For the first year or so that I appeared with Porter, the words I heard most often were, ‘Where’s Norma Jean?’ I don’t think they meant it out of disrespect for me. They had come to know and love Norma Jean and were genuinely interested in her welfare. She had been around for a long time and had several hits. I could understand their loyalty to her, but I could have done without their yelling for her in the middle of my number.”

“I would have gladly stepped aside to make way for Norma Jean’s temporary return when it came to the live commercials,” Parton quipped.

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