When television was still in its infancy, almost everything was local.
Shows were live and the people on them lived in your own community.
One of Roanoke’s favorite television personalities was Joe Grant. He went by many identities on the air, but he was best known as “Cactus Joe,” the lovable cowboy who hosted cartoons, did magic, and played with his puppet, Allie the Alligator.
Unfortunately, there are no videos of Cactus Joe in action. Videotape was still years away from being commonly used by television stations. Even when they did have it, tapes were expensive and were used over and over. Nothing was saved.
But there are plenty of photographs and promotional materials out there.
Joe Grant worked for the Roanoke Times newspaper, but he also was an actor and entertainer. He was known for his performances at clubs in Roanoke and with the Showtimers theater.
It was after the newspaper started WDBJ-TV that Joe made the move to the media that made him famous.
At first, he played several roles on “Fun House,” which was a kiddie show hosted by Fanny Boon. It aired Saturday Mornings on WDBJ. In addition to playing Cactus Joe, he was Smoky the Clown.
According to a Roanoke Times article from 1957, Grant’s Cactus Joe also hosted western movies on the air.
Joe Grant was one of the earliest personalities to “hit it big” on Roanoke television, but first, he was an employee at the Roanoke Times.
An article from the Roanoke Times on April 14, 1957, introduced the many faces of Joe Grant to the community.
Roanoke Times April 14, 1957
Comic Joe Grant A Man of Many Faces
Youngsters who visited the scene of last Sunday’s “Telerama” went home bragging they had seen “Mr. Greenjeans” and “Cactus Joe.”
To them, it meant little if any difference that “Greenjeans” is a star on a national network program (“Capt Kangaroo”) and “Cactus Joe,” a Roanoker seen on the local level.
Both are likeable personalities who give the tots happy moments on their home television sets.
“CACTUS JOE’S” role at the “Telerama” was just another performance by a man of many faces who has entertained Western Virginians since 1948.
Joe Grant is “Cactus Joe.”
At a variety of times, he has also been “Smoky,” “The French Millionaire,” “Cpl. Shultz” and an old-time ‘ streetcar conductor among others. He takes either “Smoky” or “Cactus Joe”’ before television cameras each weekday.
“Smoky” is a Fun House regular appearing with Fanny Boone at 10:30 am Saturdays on WDBJ-TV. Joe began this stint last September and on the show helps direct singing, does chalk drawings, and as a combination jester and handy man.
He appears regular, as “Cactus Joe” on Western Playhouse, Monday through Friday at 5 pm.
He is host, handles commercials, interviews, comments on films, and does a little philosophying.
Joe has been a performer since he was 8.
Born In Wilmington NC his first “role” was in a Kiwanis Club minstrel.
Later he was with a circus and auto thrill show, but says he “just couldn’t get discovered.”
In Roanoke and nearby communities, he has plied his avocation at banquets, conventions, parties, benefits, and the like. He has offered his own brand of satirical comedy at hotels, churches, industrial plants, and along the city’s streets.
In the latter setting, he has been a part of dozens of parades in downtown Roanoke.
He has announced soap box derbies, performed in hospitals, the city detention home, and orphanages in the area.
“There is a lot of ham in me and it has been exposed to show business a good while,” Joe says. Some of his acts have been seen in night clubs.
During World War II he worked in the Virginia shipyards and did war bond shows in several states
His first show In Roanoke was for the Elks Club where he starred in a minstrel.
Soon afterwards, he appeared at 3 Red Cross kickoff meetings.
Joe says he borrowed a tuxedo and shoes that were ill fits. He crammed paper in the shoes and went on with his stunt.
Joe was a familiar figure at the Groundhog Club meetings where he played “Col Big Lick” often doing a skit called “City Hall Blues.”
Thousands of Roanokers have seen him as the “Tooneyville” trolly conductor, where he paraded the trolley for the Kazim Shrine.
At Jefferson and Campbell, he always gets out with his iron bar and switches the tracks to make the turn though the real tracks have long been pulled up.
A recent role was as the French Millionaire.
In a promotion deal, which was given much attention, playgoers saw Joe as “CpI. Schultz” in the Showtimers’ production of “Stalag 17” early this year.
Critics said he did an excellent job as the German guard at a prisoner of war camp.
Joe writes his own skits and creates his “disguises.”
Joe has been an employee of WDBJ, WDBJ-TV, and the advertising department of The Roanoke Times and World-News since 1949.
He is a member of Calvary Baptist Church, the Optimist Club, he Is a Mason and Shriner.
He and his wife, the former Cornelia Leftwich of Roanoke, and their two sons, Toby, 15, and Mickey,13, live in an apartment on a farm In Roanoke County.
