skyrocket, and a nationwide energy crisis kept many tourists home. In a bout of cancellations nicknamed the Rural purge, American television networks eliminated many shows with country themes, and the popularity of hillbillies waned. The Li'l Abner restaurant chain was never built. The proposed Li'l Abner TV series was never made; a pilot was produced and premiered as a television special on ABC-TV, but it received poor reviews and no network purchased the series. The mild winter weather which visited Arkansas through the mid-1970s proved to be the undoing of Marble Falls as a ski resort, and its snow cannons and slopes sat idle much of the time. The modest profits of Dogpatch USA were not sufficient to keep the two parks afloat, and Odom, already $2 million in debt, was forced to borrow an additional $1.5 million in the unfavorable financial atmosphere of 1973. In 1974, Odom partnered with the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts at the University of Arkansas to create an in-park repertory theater in a venture called "Arkansas Rediscovered" or the American Revolution Bicentennial Project. The group of student performers was named the "Boar's Head Players." Odom and the university planned for the group to perform well-known plays and short children's productions and to develop new plays based on the history and culture of Arkansas. They planned for the new plays to premiere at Marble Falls in 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration, and then the group would tour the state performing the new works. This venture turned into a huge disappointment; the group presented two of the five promised productions, and did not return for any of the following seasons. Today, this troupe is still active at the University of Arkansas. In 1976, Union Planters Bank began foreclosure proceedings on $3.5 million in debts. In 1977, Al Capp and the Li'l Abner comic strip retired. Capp's retirement brought an end to one of the greatest advertisements for Dogpatch USA – the Li'l Abner comic strip. The same year, First National Bank of Little Rock began foreclosure proceedings on $600,000 in debts. In September of that year, Odom stated that, because Marble Falls had lost $50,000 to $100,000 a year since it opened, the ski slopes would be closed permanently. In subsequent years, various activities, including grass skiing, a gaming arcade, a 400-foot water slide, and a disco, were advertised at Marble