October 12, 2017
Volume 47 - No. 40 by lyle e davis
Those of us who have more than a few years under our belt occasionally take the time to stop and look back at the trails we have traveled. With that look back toward our younger years we often bring back memories - pleasant memories mostly. Memories of being kids . . . of going to the movies on a Saturday afternoon and paying a whole nine cents for admission. And seeing the good guys like Hopalong Cassidy, Lash LaRue, Wild Bill Elliot . . . Bob Steele, and other cowboy stars from a bygone era.
Hoppy, Gene, Roy . . . and me
We would sit on the edge of our seats and see if the good guys would win again, or if the bad guys would finally prevail. Often we’d have to wait a week because the adventures were in serial fashion. You’d have our hero right in the middle of an impossible situation . . . surely he could not escape this time. We’d just have to come back next Saturday to see how, or whether, he escaped. About this same time there were ‘The Big Three’ cowboys. Not only were they on the silver screen but there was this new-fangled invention called the television set that had regular programs starring our favorite good guys. Soon, ‘The Big Three’ emerged as the most popular of the B Western movies. They were Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy. Oh, there were a lot of other movie and tv cowboys . . . and we’ll get to them in a bit. But first, let’s look at “The Big Three.”
huge venues, such as Madison Square Garden. Autry’s Melody Ranch was a tv show that debuted in 1940 and ran for 16 years on CBS, later moving into syndication out of the tv studios in LA. We have visited the set of Melody Ranch many times.
I’ll start with Gene Autry first because that’s the cowboy with whom I have the closest, somewhat tenuous, contact.
Back in 1968 and 1969 I managed KGUD radio station in Santa Barbara, for Dick Clark (yes, that Dick Clark). My secretary was a gal named Peggy Rogers. She had been Gene Autry’s private secretary for years at Republic Studios and had his home number as well as his private office number. They spoke frequently by phone. While I never met Mr. Autry I heard plenty of tales about him.
His real name was Orvon Grover Autry. Autry was born in 1907 and died in 1998. We remember him as a singin’ cowboy . . . but he was also quite an astute businessman, probably the most successful of ‘The Big Three.’
Autry’s career blossomed from the mid ‘30’s hrough the 1950’s. All of The Big Three were continually top votegetters in the annual Motion Picture Herald and Boxoffice polls and popularity rankings. As the B western faded all three migrated from movies to the tv screen, successfully. All had successful radio programs. All three made regular personal appearances at
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Autry and Rogers, being singin’ cowboys, made records but Gene was clearly the most successful. Autry amassed the largest "empire" of the three: he owned TV and radio stations as well as the California Angels baseball team. And in addition to his own weekly TV program, Gene's Flying A Production com-
pany made other 1950s shows such as The Range Rider, Buffalo Bill Jr., The Adventures of Annie Oakley, and more. We are still listening to his songs today, particularly at Christmas time when we hear about “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty, the Snowman,” and “Here Comes Santa Claus," and another favorite, later in the season, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail."
Gene had over two dozen "charted" tunes, and one of his earliest was "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine," which became a success after his performances in “The Phantom Empire” (Mascot, 1935) and his first starring role for Republic Pictures, “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” 1935.
Sgt. Autry was in the U.S. Army Air Force, flying supplies in the ChinaIndia-Burma theater of war, and served for 4+ years. After the war, Gene returned to Republic to finish out his contract obligations in five new films, the first of which was “Sioux City Sue,” (Republic, 1946). He then created his own production company and moved to Columbia Pictures for a new round of oaters. While Autry was in the service, his role of “King of the Cowboys,’ was overtaken by Roy Rogers.
Hoppy, Gene, Roy . . . and Me Continued on Page 2