Down Our Way

Down Our Way is a half-hour show that portrays the entertainment industry's notion of small-town country life. The central character is the shopkeeper, Eli Jenkins, whose grocery store is a gathering place for the community. Persons come to his store not only to shop, but also to chat, wile away the time, and unburden themselves of their cares. Even the choir practices at his shop, so episodes include generous helpings of music.

The show is more drama than comedy, though there are touches of humor, as characters deal with conflicts both serious and silly. Unfortunately, I could find little about this program on the internet and, in the episodes I listened to, the performers were not credited, which is a shame, because the performances are quite well done.

On a personal note, I grew up in small town America and can attest that gathering places such as Eli's store did, in fact, exist. Where I lived in my youth, such a place was a gas station named "The Red Bird" on the corner of main highway and side road; to quote my father, the local farmers would "drive there in their Cadillacs to complain that they weren't making any money."

Series description provided by Frank Bell.