The Happy Goodman Family - "The Eastern Gate" (I Will Meet You In The Morning) Mel Tillis Time 1974

Here is The Happy Goodman Family singing "The Eastern Gate" (Thank you, Mark Fuller!) (I Will Meet You In The Morning) on the summer replacement show, "Mel Tillis Time" from 1974. Howard and Vestal Goodman and tenor Johnny Cook. "The Eastern Gate" was written by Isaiah G. Martin in 1905 (public domain)

[@terryboner2346]

I watched on Sunday mornings on the gospel singing jubilee, I was 15 then and now I am 70. What beautiful memories. ❤

[@Linda-b2k]

Amen Hallelujah Praise The LORD .

[@davidmays1115]

Hallelujah! Vestal Goodman and Johnny Cook are legends!

[@marilynward1186]

Gosh I miss all of them. Just to hear that sound again.....they had some distinct vocals like none other.

[@kkkeller5531]

Absolutely Beautiful!! I love that song & I love the Happy Goodman Family!! They were so precious & they could sing especially Vestal!! I met them many years ago at one of Brother Lester Roloff’s old fashion tent revivals!! They were just such sweethearts so real!! 🤗🎹🎤❤️❤️❤️

[@95KIPPIE]

I absolutely adored that family, and especially Vestal! She and my mom of 9 kids could easily pass as twin sisters, hair and all!

[@marylaw3465]

I saw the Happy Goodman’s in Huntsville Ala. probably in the 60s - So Wonderful- I never get tired of listening- So powerful ♥️

[@robertdehlinger6531]

Vestal had some HAIR in her day! What a powerful vpice!

[@barbaracox8613]

It was a wig.

[@jerrypuckett7303]

Not to mention that dress!!

[@tonidozier4573]

@@barbaracox8613 I wondered how her hair was styled the same for the Gaither videos. Finally, it dawned on me that she wore wigs.

[@barbaracox8613]

@@tonidozier4573 the beehive was a wig but by the time she appeared on the Gaither videos, she didn’t wear the beehive anymore. I don’t know if there was ever any hairpieces in her hair then or not. Her daughter-in-law had started fixing her hair and did it the rest of Vestal’s life. She was Vestal’s personal assistant.

[@RandallHodge]

@@tonidozier4573 Lots of ladies wore wigs back then. I recall a few who were able to rat, tease, and pile their natural hair up into Towers of Babylon. It was wondrous.

[@markchinski5071]

i get to see that gate before long.... Hallelujah. Hope these folks are singing this when I get there. Can you imagine hearing this tune as it echoes through the streets of Heaven? As I recall, the Eastern Gate is the Messiah's Gate, or Golden Gate, etc. -- the oldest gate in earthly Jerusalem. Now sealed, it will be opened when Jesus returns, to fulfill another messianic prophecy -- we will KNOW he's the Messiah when he opens the gate.

[@cherryedwards8117]

You want see no gate or anything else...you will be dead asleep fool!

[@cherryedwards8117]

You wish, selfish greedy man has always wanted to live for eternity....but you want...you'll be as dead as the rest of us. Bugs and gases will have you.

[@cherryedwards8117]

You wish, dream on because that's all it is is a lie of a dream. You want know it though ... Because you'll be dead asleep for eternity.

[@Brap-pl2me]

@@cherryedwards8117😂 You’re a cheery one, aren’t you?

[@larrymcclain8874]

​@@cherryedwards8117 What if you are wrong?

[@user-qe4jt4wd2m]

Lord have mercy these folks could sing

[@tammyyarborough3703]

I grew up listening to the Goodmans & the Downings. They came to my church a few times.

[@carolwebb1518]

I would like to see miew videos with Johnny Cook too. He is the BEST!!!

[@bigal127]

Thankful I can play this over and over. Wonder what it was like to hear this growing up...

[@Scott-bs7nw]

By the way, Sis. Goodman, I really like the hairpiece because my Mother used to fix hair at The Chattanooga Camp Meeting on Lee Highway. May God benevolently bless The Happy Goodmans and Families. Simply amazing.

[@ThatGirlHoney]

My grandma lived in East Lake (Chattanooga) and wore her hair in this same style.

[@marryannlamb9853]

Thanks love their songs have a blessed night

[@Scott-bs7nw]

Pilgrim after pilgrim will yield to Jesus' beckoning and all the right people will rise to be changed evermore. I yield as best I can that my name shall be upon the sacred breath that reads the Lambs Book of Life. Get ready, this is just getting evermore real. ❤

[@happysilence887]

Love love love this

[@bigbossman7991]

Fantastic never before seen footage!!

[@orsonboris]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheCrystallineAnunna]

I have a picture of me and Vestal together and one of her handkerchiefs.

[@georgiebailey5717]

Loved this video

[@bonquaintance944]

Sublime.

[@uwinezaesther3709]

Can't wait to reach in heaven 🥺

[@AtlantaPianoman]

Great!!! I LOVE It!! The name of the song is actually “The Eastern Gate”. Thanks for sharing

[@orsonboris]

Thanks for the clarification!

[@FreemanGaming-e7j]

She was my papas first cousin

[@carolwebb1518]

Awesome!❤️

[@terryhennessy4980]

Beautiful 😍 thank you

[@ralphu.7568]

AMEN!

[@craigsanderson6974]

I love it

[@sharonpinner1207]

What a joy to see them!! This is the year Vestal had open heart surgery. She was 45.

[@cheripatterson469]

How it's done.....

[@bcroley77]

I wonder if this after Vestal recovered from her Heart issues that she had in 74, per her book.

[@carolwebb1518]

Johnny sang this song better than anyone!❤️

[@cd72]

Great song, but is that all her real hair, like how does she get it that big? Amazing hair fashions...she looks beautiful and sounds wonderful!

[@trevorlongley8995]

It’s called the “beehive” and no it’s not all hers. She said as much in later interviews.

[@barbaracox8613]

@@trevorlongley8995. Yes, she told in her book that it was a wig. So this must have been before her surgery, because she said that after that, she didn’t care to mess with the wig. Johnny Cook filled in for her while she was out for her heart surgery. It was in October 1974 and it was sometime in the spring of 1975 before she was able to go back.

[@mitsysjewlery]

Do you have any more videos that include Johnny Cook?

[@orsonboris]

I just posted one. Enjoy!

[@bethfurry7461]

Who is that high tenor? Wow!

[@carolwebb1518]

Johnny Cook

[@carolwebb1518]

Sorry I meant I would like to see more videos of Johnny Cook! not miew.

[@timothymatthews4564]

Where in Kentucky did vestal and Howard pastor their church at also someone told me that they were Baptist is there any truth to this.

[@stephenliming8375]

They pastored in Madisonville Kentucky. The Life Temple Church, they were Pentecostal Holiness....

[@truckinfam2207]

This is best recording of this song

[@cruisingcory5414]

Where was this recorded?

[@gregorylincoln4328]

Was this filmed at Opryland?

[@orsonboris]

No, this was filmed in some swampland in Central Florida. This shack and the land it was on was used as the set for 13 episodes of a summer replacement show back in 1974.

[@cherryedwards8117]

It's really criminal clever how the Happy Goodman's sold these lies in songs......and actually made big money profits from it their whole lives.