The age range of the hundreds of musical, comedic, and dance groups that appeared on the Ozark Jubilee was very wide, from children as young as five, such as some members of the square-dancing Lake of the Ozarks Tadpoles, to elderly vaudevillians, such as Uncle Cyp and Aunt Sap. 

Ralph Foster, Si Siman, Bryan Bisney, and the other members of the Ozark Jubilee eventually decided to embed a “spin-off” show within the Ozark Jubilee weekly broadcasts that would focus on young performers. Brenda Lee, Little Miss Dynamite, was the most famous “graduate” from the Junior Jubilee, but many young people performed on it.

On November 19, 1955 the Junior Jubilee was started to highlight child country music performers. Bryan Bisney’s notes indicate that scheduled to appear on the first Junior Jubilee were the Lake of the Ozarks Tadpoles, Libby Horne, who served as the emcee, Mike Breid, the Mobely Trio from Evansville, Indiana (pictured here), Montie Jones, and Clyde Wayne Spears playing the violin on the verge of turning six years old. He was born in Tangipahoa, Louisiana on November 22, 1949.

Some of these wonderful performances by young performers can be enjoyed in the digitized Ozark Jubilee collection created and maintained by the Missouri State University Libraries.