The Weaver Brothers and Elviry became headliners after World War I, and performed with top vaudeville names like Al Jolson, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Beatrice Lillie. Elviry’s comic catchphrase was, “If I had my druthers, I druther…” They starred in movies for Republic Pictures in the 1930s and ‘40s. Elviry (June Petrie) was born in Chicago but raised in rural Missouri. The brothers, Abner (Leon) and Cicero (Frank) Weaver were from Ozark, Missouri. They have their own Wikipedia page.
A staple of early Branson music shows was a rube or hillbilly comic. In recent years some shows have dropped that genre of humor. Much ink, and a little blood, has been spilled over classifying the natives of the Ozarks. Though the term “hillbilly” did not appear in print until 1900, early educated travelers found the character of the southern mountaineer a tad raw, but raw material for literature, nevertheless.
Leon was adept at mandolin, guitar, fiddle and handsaw, while Frank played novelty instruments including a spinning banjo and a one-man band. June could play piano, mandolin and ukulele…