37 Facts About Jimmie Davis

James Houston Davis was an American singer, songwriter, and politician.

Jimmie Davis was a nationally popular country music and gospel singer from the 1930s into the 1960s, occasionally recording and performing as late as the early 1990s.

Jimmie Davis appeared as himself in a number of Hollywood movies.

Jimmie Davis was inducted into six halls of fame, including the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame, and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Jimmie Davis graduated from Beech Springs High School and from Soule Business College, in New Orleans.

The college president, Monroe E Dodd, who was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Shreveport and a radio preacher, invited Davis to serve on the faculty.

Jimmie Davis became a commercially successful singer of rural music before he entered politics.

Jimmie Davis was known for recording energetic and raunchy blues tunes, such as "Red Nightgown Blues" and "Tom Cat and Pussy Blues".

In one case, anti-Jimmie Davis forces played some records over an outdoor sound system, only to give up after the crowds started dancing, ignoring the double-entendre lyrics.

Until the end of his life, Jimmie Davis never denied or repudiated those records.

Until his death, Jimmie Davis insisted that he wrote the song.

Jimmie Davis often performed during his campaign stops when running for governor of Louisiana.

Jimmie Davis recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company, and Decca Records for decades and released more than 40 albums.

Jimmie Davis was a close friend of the North Dakota-born band leader Lawrence Welk, who frequently reminded viewers of his television program of his association with Davis.

Jimmie Davis appeared in half a dozen films, including one starring Ozzie and Harriet, who had a TV series under their names.

Jimmie Davis had served as pianist for singer Ricky Nelson early in his career.

Jimmie Davis was a close acquaintance of the country singer-songwriter Hank Williams, with whom he co-wrote the top-10 hit " Lonesome Whistle" in 1951, supposedly on a fishing day they spent together.

Jimmie Davis was elected in 1938 as Shreveport's public safety commissioner.

Jimmie Davis was elected during his term as governor and left after two years.

Jimmie Davis named Cecil Morgan of Shreveport to the Louisiana Civil Service Commission.

Jimmie Davis kept his hand in show business, and set a record for absenteeism during his first term.

Under the term limit provision of the state constitution then in effect, Jimmie Davis was limited to a single non-consecutive term in office.

Jimmie Davis has all the external attributes of a "man of the people", but his serious political connections seem to be with the [parish-seat] elite and its allies, particularly the major industrial combinations of the state.

Jimmie Davis is in many respects a toned-down version of the old-style southern politician who could spellbound the mass of voters into supporting him regardless of the effects of his programs on their welfare.

Jimmie Davis creates the perfect image of a man to be trusted and one whose intense calm is calculated to bring rational balance into the political life of the state.

Jimmie Davis was running at a time when African Americans in the civil rights movement were seeking social justice and restoration of their constitutional rights.

Jimmie Davis ran second in the primary to "Chep" Morrison, considered an anti-Long liberal by Louisiana standards.

Jimmie Davis defeated Morrison in the party runoff held on January 9,1960.

Two years after her death in 1967, Jimmie Davis married Anna Gordon, born Effie Juanita Carter.

Jimmie Davis was a longtime fan of the group, who were gospel music pioneers with more than 36 million records sold in forty years of affiliation with Columbia Records.

Jimmie Davis is interred alongside his first wife at the Jimmie Davis Tabernacle Cemetery in his native Beech Springs community near Quitman.

Jimmie Davis was aged 101 years and 55 days, which made him the longest-lived of all US state governors at the time of his death.

Jimmie Davis held this record until March 18,2011, when Albert Rosellini of Washington achieved a greater lifespan of 101 years, 56 days.

The Jimmie Davis Tabernacle is located near Weston in Jackson Parish.

Jimmie Davis was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1972, the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1997 and The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 1993, Jimmie Davis was among the first thirteen inductees of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

Jimmie Davis had several appearances in movies, including:.