Gene
Autry
In Forest Lawn
Cemetery in Los
Angeles this
bronze
plaque summarizes the life of a remarkable man. "America's
Favorite
Cowboy" may puzzle people who knew him as a baseball owner, if at
all.
There was a time, however, when that description would have been an
understatement.
In 1939, 1940, 1941, and the first half of 1942, no entertainer in the
world was more popular than Gene Autry. Movie star, radio
star,
recording
star, Academy Award-nominated song writer, he set attendance records at
rodeos and other personal appearances in four
countries. He
also owned West'rn Music Publishing and part of the Flying A Rodeo
company.
That's what brought him back to his home territory and got a town named
after him.
The
Early Days
Orvon Gene Autry was born September 29, 1907, on a
small
farm near
Tioga,
Texas. His ancestry was French, Scottish and Irish. He father, Delbert
Autry, was a tenant at the time of Gene's birth.
When Gene was an infant, the family moved to
Achille,
Oklahoma, and
later moved to Ravia, Oklahoma which is located about 20 miles east of
the present town of Gene Autry. At age 16, he went to work as a baggage
hauler at the depot. In return for his services, he received
instruction
in telegraphy form the station master, Mr.. Arthur Mayberry. Then as a
vacation relief telegrapher on the Frisco Railroad, Gene filled in for
regular operators from St. Louis to Southern Oklahoma.
Late one night in Chelsea, Oklahoma, with few
messages
to handle, he
was singing and strumming a guitar, when Will Rogers, the cowboy
philosopher,
came in to wire his daily syndicated newspaper column. The humorist was
impressed by the singing and encouraged the young telegrapher to go
into
show business.
With his railroad pass Autry went to New York with
the
idea of
making
phonograph records. There he was advised to go back home and get some
radio
experience. A short time later, he got a spot on KVOO, Tulsa, as
"Oklahoma's
Yodeling Cowboy".
A year later the Yodeling Cowboy returned to New
York
and signed a
contract
with American Record Corporation. He made many records over the next
two
years, mostly as a Jimmie Rodgers-style blue yodeler. In 1932 Gene
Autry
and Jimmy Long (a friend from railroad days) recorded "That
Silver-Haired
Daddy of Mine," the first gold record. By then Autry was a star on WLS
radio in Chicago with "The Conqueror Record Hour" sponsored by Sears
and
"The National Barn Dance," broadcast across the country on NBC.
With radio, records (sold by the thousands from
Sears
catalogs), and
personal appearances going for him, Gene Autry was a singing cowboy
star.
Hollywood
Hero
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, cowboy movies had fallen
on
hard times,
like
the rest of the
country,
When
sound came to motion pictures in the late
1920s, Westerns had a hard time with the new technology. Some of the
silent
film stars made the transition to talkies, and a few, namely action
stars
Ken Maynard, Bob Steele, and John Wayne had tried singing in films with
little response.
In 1934 Producer Nat Levine, with some prodding
from
others, decided
to try something different—a singing cowboy who could
actually sing, so
he put Gene Autry in the Ken Maynard picture, In Old Santa Fe.
By 1940 Gene Autry was one of the four most popular movie stars in
America,
a major network radio star, and a top-sellling recording artist. His
movie
career lasted until 1953. With nearly a hundred movies, 16 years on CBS
Radio, more than 600 records that sold millions (seven gold and two
platinum),
nearly a hundred television shows, and more than thirty years of
personal
appearances across the country and overseas, Gene Autry was one of
America's
most popular and enduring entertainers.
Artist,
Entertainer, Role Model
The
outstanding
writer, researcher and teacher, Jon Guyot Smith, called
Autry a great artist. He had the ability to make people feel good about
him and his music, and he set standards for what became known as
Country
Music. Gene Autry is an American success story, coming from a humble
beginning
to entertain and inspire people throughout the world. Gene set an
example
for youngsters growing up in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Gene Autry
touched,
and improved, the lives of millions, and the spirit of the Singing
CowBoy
role model lives on in the Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum.
Gene Autry died October 2, 1998, three days after
his
91st birthday.
Setting the
Record Straight
Despite
the claims of a syndicated Baltimore
Sun article, Gene Autry did return to
the town which
carries his
name.
He owned the Flying A ranch near the town from 1938 to 1944, and was
there
as frequently as his schedule of making eight movies a year, making
numerous
recordings, his weekly radio program, and his military service in World
War II would allow. He was on hand, with some 50,000 others
on
November
16, 1941, when the town changed its signs during a broadcast of "Gene
Autry's
Melody Ranch" radio program on CBS. He visited Gene Autry,
Oklahoma,
in 1956 when he performed at the nearby Ardmore Rodeo, and he was in
the
town in 1991 during a trip when he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall
of Fame. Just a week before his death in 1998, The Singing
Cowboy
wrote to Elvin Sweeten and the citizens of Gene Autry on the occasion
of
the Gene Autry Oklahoma Film and Music Festival. Gene said he
hoped
they had a good festival and that his health prevented his attending.
How
the
Town Got
Its Name
Gene Autry was also involved in rodeo. He
performed at
major events,
and his Flying A Rodeo company produced a number of prominent rodeos.
Needing
a place to keep rodeo livestock, Autry bought 1,200 acres on the west
side
of Berwyn, Oklahoma, in 1938.
Cecil Crosby, an area resident and Deputy Sheriff
of
Carter County,
is credited with the idea of changing Berwyn's name to Gene Autry. The
citizens agreed, and on Sunday, November 16, 1941, the change took
place.
Governor Leon Phillips, Gene Autry, and more than 35,000 other people
came
to Berywn to see the singing cowboy's "Melody Ranch" radio broadcast
and
take part in the name change.
