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Singing Cowboy of Fil Corrals Fans Ms Pa,e Two CJaica;o Sunday Tribune Singing Cowboy of Fil ms Chestnut brown, he comes from a line' of fine Kentucky horses. Just broken, Ten Strike will be trained personally by Autry for Corrals Fans circus performances. Two other favorites in the Gene Autry himIIeU. Autry stable include Lindy, a the cow puncher film chestnut with stocky legs who hero who draw. 110 was born on the day the famous much fan mail. American aviator fiew the At- lantic. For fast riding, where sure-footed ness is at a premium, Autry uses Shorty, a little cow pony from Texas. "How did Champ act when you first started making pic- tures?" we asked. "Well, he was pretty nervous the first day, but after that he just settled right down," an- swered Gene. "I was pretty nervous myself. I didn't know how I was going over. The popularity of his first pte- ture, "The Phantom Empire," a serial in twelve chapters, estab- lished Autry rapidly among the fans of western pictures. Autry made his first appearance before the camera three years ago, in November, 1934. He has made twenty-one pictures since then, his present schedule calling for eight productions a year. His most recently completed picture All tuned up for a cowboy .ong. Left to right: Gene Autry. with hill old was "S P r I n g tim e in the guitar; Polly Bowie•• and Smiley Burnette. with hill windJammer. Rockies." Of all his pictures Autry a Hero Autry says he liked best "Boots crown sombrero. It is the same such a deep sense of the respon- and Saddles," most of which was hat in adult size which happy sibility of his work was a bit made at Autry's favorite location of Woolly youngsters the country over are unusual. at the foot of Mount Whitney wearing as the Gene Autry hat. Discussion during luncheon near Lone Pine, Cal. Mention of Chicago recalled turned to Gene's horses. Next e • • Westerns memories for Gene. He reml- to their cowboy heroes them- nisced about his days there. He selves, juvenile admirers prob- It was his singing that brought By ROSALIND SHAFFER lived on the north side near Ev· ably are most familiar with their Autry his screen chance. The H oZZywood, CaZ. anston. Most big cities, he said, mounts. Autry's favorite is the old Mascot studio, which later FYOU went down the list of were unfriendly, but Chicago 8· year- old Champion, better became Republic, was looking current motion picture popu· . was diiTerent. He liked it there, known as Champ to his youthful for a singing cowboy with which Ilarities as measured by fan and he still likes it. • worshipers. C ham p , whom to enter the new field of musical m a i I received you probably "Westerns were the natural Autry took oiT an Oklahoma westerns. Autry had built up a would run across a vaguely ra- answer to the criticism of the ranch, also gets fan mail and has following and the studio brought miliar name. Not because you low morality of films, which first been with the cowboy actor since him out on trial for" The Phan- ever had seen any of his pictures, grew voluble three or four years Autry first crashed the films in tom Empire." and as a Chicagoan you probably ago," Gene soberly explained. 1934. He is a dark brown, with The singing came naturally to haven't, but because the name "The simple action of bravery white legs and a bald or "blazed" Gene, as it comes to most cow- created the impression that you and rightness triumphing over face. boys. had heard it before. deceit and villainy, which char- Autry recently has purchased " Riding alone so much of the The name is Gene Autry. acterizes the westerns, is rtdl- another mount. This horse will time, a cowboy gets lonesome," Remember him? The drawl- culed by sophisticated people, not replace Champ, he assured explained the star, who rode ing-Texan who accompanied him- who fail to realize the deep Im- us, but will simply be a substl- herd on his father's ranch near self on his guitar and lifted his pression that motion pictures- tute. The new horse is called Ten Achille, Okla., from later boy- without knowing the technicali· The latter assignments were in- Autry is intensely loyal. His tenor voice in plaintive melodies for good or bad - make upon Strike, but that name is to be hood on, Ie so he naturally hums ties of composition?" we In- valuable, because I usually got pictures literally bulge with Ok- of 'the western range? young minds. That we are en- changed, and possibly Autry will little tunes to amuse himself." quired. the night shift, where I did a lot lahomans and other old friends Can this be the same Gene tertaining children and at the request the aid of his army of As for the guitar playing, that " 0, I just keep humming it to of guitar playing and singing, who at one time or another Autry who is right up with Clark same time trying to stamp basic fans in selecting an appropriate also was natural to Gene, who my arranger, who works it up since there was nothing else helped him along. Johnny Mar- Gable, Tyrone Power, and Errol conceptions of right and wrong cognomen. This latest addition cannot read a note. into proper shape," he explained. to do. vin and his brother, Frankie Flynn in fan mail acclaim? It is. with our pictures is a definite to the Autry stable of a half "My mother taught me." he This system has been respon- H But things began to tighten Marvin, work in all of Autry's Singing cowboys, with a wide source of satisfaction." dozen or so mounts is a 4·year· relates. sible for a long list of cowboy up on the railroad long before horse operas. Frankie doe s appeal in the rural sections of For a man not yet turned 30 old from a California ranch. "How do you compose music songs, including the popular they did elsewhere, and we could much of the arranging on Aut- the country, have set a new pop- "Silver Haired Daddy," which see bad times coming. When ry's original compositions. He ularity in motion pictures-the Autry wrote in collaboration they started cutting out one sta- also leads the cowboy orchestra musical westerns. And your old with Jimmy Long. The latter tion after another I got a pass to which features Gene's pictures. friend Gene AutrY,'out of a half has been the melodist on many New York, where I tried to get One of the latest additions to Re- dozen or so headliners in the of Autry's com p 0 sit ion s . on with a phonograph company. public's talent is Ruth Bacon, a field, is rated as No. 1 among .•Roundup Time in Reno," which A cowboy star, Johnny Marvin, Waurika, Okla., girl and pro- the crooning "punchers." featured Republic's latest pic- helped me get an interview with tegee of Autry. Tom Sullavan, In one recent month Autry reo ture, "Manhattan Merry- Go . Nat Shilkret, leader of a phone- actor and trick rider, who ap- ceived 2,728 fan letters, topping Round," is another Autry compo- graph company orchestra. ShU· pears in Autry's pictures, is a his closest rival, Tyrone Power, sition. More than 340,000record- kret said I had some ability, but former native of Clinton, Okla. by more than a thousand. The ings of "Silver Haired Daddy" advised me to go back to Tulsa • e • cowboy's salary is said to be have been sold. Smiley Bur- and train some more. I was dis- $7,500per picture in a field where nette, another former Chicago appointed, but it was good ad- Autry lives a quiet home life one picture is turned out every entertainer, aids Autrey on song vice, and after I got my start in Hollywood with his wife, an- month. One of the major studios composing. Shilkret's company brought me other former Oklahoman, who was .reported to have o1!ered Oddly enough, the depression back to New York in 1929." before her marriage to the actor Autry's home studio, Republic, a played a big part in shaping Autry's account of his march was Ina Mae Spivey of Duncan. half a million dollars for the Autrey's motion picture career. up the ladder to film prominence He met her at Springfield, Mo. star's contract. Republic astute- " After I got out of high school was filled with mention of people Mrs. Autry is a nonprofessional. ly said, " Nothing doing." in Tioga, Tex., in 1925," he reo who had helped him along the The Autrys are building a new To check up on the lively ea- counted, "I went to work on the route. Besides Johnny Marvin, home in San Fernando valley, reer of this Texas-born, Oklaho- southwestern division of the wno got him his first break, the popular film colony rural reo rna-bred cowhand who wen t Frisco (St. Louis and San Fran- there were Jack Owens, one-time treat, where they will quarter from a railroad dispatching ot- cisco) railroad and learned teleg- popular entertainer; Smiley Bur- Champ and a few other horses fice to filmdom's fame in seven raphy. I worked up and down nette, who plays in Autry's pic- on a small three-acre ranch. yea r s, we accepted luncheon the line as a dispatcher at Sa- tures, and H.
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