Gene Autry Ramblings

[mrsl]

As a very feminine little girl (my older sister was the tomboy), I never knew much about Gene, Roy, Hopalong or any of the others. My sister loved Hopalong, in fact she received a complete outfit from hat to boots one year for Christmas. Then my younger brother was born at the tail end of the cowboy years, so by the time he could make choices, it was space stuff. So I didn't get into the cowboy thing until my pre-teen years - right in the middle of the TV heyday with Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Bronco, Maverick, etc.

Gene always eluded me for some reason. Roy Rogers was a weekly event at our house, I recall my dad liked the jeep (Nellie belle), and I know the whole bunch of them were on all the time - Roy, Dale, Trigger, the dog, and the sidekick.

A few years ago, I guess when he died, I saw a lot of different tributes to Gene and his movies and songs. I watched with interest, but when the time frame ended, so did my attention span. Then I got the Western channel and insomnia. Suddenly I was watching Gene Autry movies from the 30's through the 50's at 2 and 3 o'clock a.m. It's hard to tell with some of them what era they're from because 1. they're all so similar, the plots are interchangeable. 2. The refurbishing job on most of them are fantastic. I believe Autry himself, owned the company that did the work, and they did a wonderful job. Most of the audio tracts are clear as a bell, and the films themselves are sharp without that horrible brightness that so many older films have.

Although I don't care a lot for his singing, he sure introduced a lot of great songs both western, and contemporary. I always loved Ghost Riders in the Sky, and didn't realize he sang it first, before Vaughn Monroe. Also, a lot of the songs I attributed to Roy, were actually Genes'.

Anyway, Gene was not a tall guy, and occasionally he has to literally jump to slug a guy. It's kind of funny, but he was a real scrapper. The horse (or horses) were quite amazing, and the stunt riding must have been really exciting to little boys watching in the movie houses. He handled the transition from totally western pioneer type days, through to airplanes and automobiles in his movies and you barely noticed the new applications because it was done so smoothly. If his friend landed a plane in the middle of the grazing land, well, that's how it was - no questions asked. I noticed John Wayne and the three Mesketeers did the same thing. Gene always had a song to sing, not necessarily to a girl (although he always had a lady in his films), but if not to a girl, he could be riding in or out of town singing, while Pat Buttram or Smiley Burnette accompanied on an accordian, or harmonica, or at night on a cattle drive, at a barn raising. In other words, he could sing a song at the drop of a hat.

Gene apparently had some 15 rules for good cowboys to live by. I guess little boys learned them from lunch boxes, pencil boxes, and other things, but as a girl, I wasn't in the group. But they were rules like: Cowboy Rule 1: Be Polite, Cowboy Rule 2: Always take care of your horse or your dog. They were things like that - just kind of rules to live by. This guy was a good man, and he tried to leave a good mark as a memory. If he lived today, he would probably be a contender for one of the richest men in the U.S. but considering the kind of man he was, I don't think anyone would begrudge it to him for all the good works he did.

Gene, Roy, Bill Boyd (Hopalong), Clayton Moore - all were a special breed of man. We could certainly use a few of them around today. If you have an opportunity to sit and watch some of his movies, give it a try, it may bring back some memories that you've got hidden 'way back in your mind.

Anne

[MikeBSG]

After "Sleepless in Seattle" came out, Autry had a comeback of sorts, since the movie used "Back in the Saddle Again" for the scene in which Tom Hanks decides to start dating again.

Anyway, I bought a Gene Autry "greatest hits" tape, and that was one of the best investments I made, because we have played that thing and played that thing and played that thing for my daughter and son as they were growing up. They both know "Back in the Saddle Again" and "Red River Valley" by heart, thanks to Gene.

Ironically, the one song none of us can stand is the song that launched Autry's career, "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine." It is just way too sentimental for us. The kicker is that I was listening to NPR a couple of months ago, and they were reviewing a new album by Willie Nelson and two other country singers. The reviewer raved over "That Silver-Haired Daddy" of mine, and I burst into laughter.

[moira finnie]

Anne, you little buckaroo,
I love your take on Gene.
I couldn't believe the quality of the prints of his films that were shown on Encore last week, either. I also like the way that you point out that Mr. Autry sure didn't need any gal around to burst into song. I also like the way a little smile always played around his lips throughout the movies, especially when he's singing.

Cowboy Rule 1: Be Polite,
Cowboy Rule 2: Always take care of your horse or your dog

.

Jeez, Anne, if only the world could adopt these simple principles! It wouldn't be a bad start. Take #1 and #2, add on the Golden Rule, you've got something close to an ideal formula for a society.

MikeBSG,
I think I'd like to track down a cd of that Autry Greatest Hits album. I had to smile when I read your mention of Willie Nelson's rendition of the sappy "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine". I have the great cd "One for the Road" with Nelson and Leon Russell singing some of the great old cowboy songs along with American Songbook classics such as "Stormy Weather", which, until I came across this album, I'd never heard. "Sioux City Sue", which I discovered last weekend on Encore, was in a movie of the same name that Gene made in the '40s with Sterling Holloway,(though I didn't watch the whole film, I don't think that Holloway played the title character, but you never know...) was one of my faves on this album. I play such songs as these from the album in the car whenever I need a dose of pep, as well as much of the soundtrack from Sleepless in Seattle that you mentioned including "Back in the Saddle Again".

Thanks to the special programming on Gene Autry on Encore Western, titled Gene Autry: A Century in the Saddle (ouch!), I also learned that the singer introduced Blueberry Hill 15 years before Fats Domino's rendition, along with other great songs later taken on to be big hits in the rock era. The half hour special devoted to him, called "Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen" was more about his fans devotion than the man himself, but one thing came through: danged if ol' Gene didn't sound as though he had a very good time being a singing cowboy star.

I must admit that Roy Rogers will always be #1 in this mini-genre for me, but it was fun to learn more about this guy whose movies entertained so many people in his time.

[klondike]

CONFESSION: I've watched a dozen or so Autry "features" for no other reason than to scope on Pat Buttram.
I be one serious "Butt(ram)-Head", Senor y Senoras; a terminal case of severe Haney-itis, ya might say.
The last Autry flick I watched was Blue Canadian Rockies, and if you stuck a 45/40 Henry repeater to my temple, I'd still be hard-pressed to recall anything that happened therein, except for what was done and said by Buttram's character.
Sad but true.

[mrsl]

I liked Pat Buttram too, thought he was funny, and I loved his whiney, 'poor me' attitude all the time. I also like the way Gene treated him like "Oh well, he's my friend and I have to put up with him". Pat was often the reason for Gene's little smile that Moira spoke of.

I really like Pat much better than Smiley Burnette. Pat was really more lovable. But I really like most of the sidekicks of the day.

Anne

[cinemalover]

Thanks to the Western Channel I've been able to record 88 of Gene's 91 films (one of those is a serial that was acquired elsewhere), and have watched about half of them. Roy is more the dynamic of the two and i appreciated him more growing up. Gene seems a little soft around the edges to be a western hero but his voice is strong and I've come to enjoy him much more in the last few years. Seeing the beautiful prints that the Western Channel shows helps my appreciation. Most of Roy's films that I've seen have been in pretty poor condition.

On the sidekick debate, I've always had a soft spot for Smiley Burnette. Buttram drives me nuts while I enjoy Smiley's "Froggy" character and humorous songs. Each sidekick has some annoying tendencies so they will strike different chords in all of us, but I'll stick with Froggy and Gabby as my top two. (Gabby being number one)