The Duke of Paducah Story
Benjamin Francis “Whitey” Ford was a leading country comedian from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. He had only a third-grade education and was fond of calling himself a graduate of the “University of Hard Knocks.” Following four years in the Navy (1918–1922), he joined a Dixieland jazz group as a banjoist, working in Arkansas and Missouri. Based in Chicago, beginning in about 1929, Ford performed on WLS and eventually toured with Gene Autry.
Benjamin Francis “Whitey” Ford was a leading country comedian from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. He had only a third-grade education and was fond of calling himself a graduate of the “University of Hard Knocks.” Following four years in the Navy (1918–1922), he joined a Dixieland jazz group as a banjoist, working in Arkansas and Missouri. Based in Chicago, beginning in about 1929, Ford performed on WLS and eventually toured with Gene Autry.