Peg and Pinkie (and Floyd)

Looking into the fortunes of the Ace-Hy Sign Co., I found my way to old issues of Billboard. And somewhere on or near a page with an Ace-Hy advertisement, I noticed this item, in Bill Baker’s column “Pipes for Pitchmen”:

[Billboard, November 6, 1948. Click for a larger view.]

Two names stood out: Peg Jackson would be Arthur Jackson (1911–1977), known as Peg Leg Sam, singer and harmonica player, with a long history of performing in medicine shows. Here’s a short documentary about him: Born for Hard Luck (dir. Tom Davenport, 1976). Pinkie Anderson would be Pinkney Anderson (1900–1974), known as Pink Anderson, singer and guitarist, also with a long history of performing in medicine shows, often with Peg Leg Sam. Here’s a 1970 home recording of the two men doing medicine-show material. Here’s a sample of Anderson alone. And here’s Pink’s son, Little Pink Anderson.

Even if you think you’ve never heard of Pink Anderson, you probably have. Here he is with Floyd Council. Those two musicians were the inspiration for the name Pink Floyd.

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And here’s a Peg Leg Sam T-shirt.

[For anyone curious, there’s much more of Jackson, Anderson, and Council at YouTube.]