Orvon Gene Autry: The Singing Cowboy
by In many ways, Orvon Gene Autry, born in Tioga, Texas, lived the rags-to-riches dream that many people still associate with the American West. Even his family background reflects links to western popular culture.
His father, Delbert, worked as a tenant farmer, cattle dealer, and horse trader, a storied profession of the Old West. The family moved to Achille, Oklahoma, and later to Ravia, Oklahoma, about 20 miles east of the present town of Gene Autry. (Autry was to purchase 1,200 acres on the west side of Berwyn, Oklahoma, to graze his livestock.
Acknowledging his celebrity, in 1941 the town changed its name to Gene Autry, Oklahoma.)
Music entered Autry’s life early, thanks to his mother, Elnora, and his paternal grandfather, William. The latter, a Baptist minister, prompted young Gene to sing in the church choir and bought the 12-year-old his first guitar. Gene worked as a telegraph operator and traveled with a medicine show, another staple of Old West popular culture. He met living legend Will Rogers one night in Chelsea, Oklahoma, when the comedian dropped by to send out a few messages. Rogers offered encouraging words when he heard the youngster singing and strumming his guitar. Autry’s early singing style reflected the influence of the father of modern country music, Jimmie Rodgers, “the Singing Brakeman.”
No overnight success, Autry got off to a faltering start in New York City show business. In 1927 he returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to sing on radio station KVOO. In 1931 he recorded his first hit song, “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine” (written with Jimmy Long). He moved to a bigger radio market with WLS in Chicago, performing as “Oklahoma’s Singing Cowboy.” There he met Smiley Burnette, the talented, rotund comedian who would become Autry’s sidekick in a long string of radio and film performances.
Autry and Burnette first sang in a Mascot film that also starred the screen’s first singing cowboy, Ken Maynard. In Old Santa Fe (1934) marked the beginning of Autry’s long cinema singing career. The film also boosted the career of another soon-to-be-famous sidekick, George “Gabby” Hayes. Autry appeared in Mystery Mountain, another Maynard film that appeared later the same year. In 1935 he rode across the silver screen in a scifi/ western serial titled The Phantom Empire.
Autry then moved to Republic Pictures, where he shot 58 pictures, from Tumbling Tumbleweeds in 1935 to Robin Hood of Texas in 1947. By 1940 Autry had risen to become one of the nation’s most popular movie stars, a network radio star, and a top-selling recording artist. He would star in 91 westerns produced by Republic and Columbia from 1935 through 1953. Only Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and Spencer Tracy outranked him as a career box office attraction.
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