The Singing Cowboys

 
by Guy Belleranti

Two television series of the 1950’s featured singing cowboys.

One was The Gene Autry Show. The other was The Roy Rogers Show.

Both men became famous well before their respective programs, singing on records and starring in popular B westerns. But it is their television shows I remember, programs I first saw when they were repeated in the early 1960’s.

The Gene Autry Show originally ran from 1950 to 1956. The program was 30 minutes long. Some episodes were in color, while others in black and white. It starred Gene Autry, Pat Buttram and Autry’s horse, Champion.

Each week Autry and Buttram would become involved in western adventures. Buttram provided comedy relief and Autry provided heroics as they won out over rustlers, robbers and other bad guys. Autry would end each program with a song before riding off into the sunset.

Autry had his own production company, and he served as executive producer of the program. He also produced several other westerns of the era including Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill Jr. and The Range Rider.

Autry had been dubbed the “Singing Cowboy” long before his program, and he cut hundreds of songs from the late 1920’s to the early 1960’s. He had a number of gold records and one platinum record, and in 2003 Autry was ranked by CMT (Country Music Television) as #38 in their 40 Greatest Men of Country.

Autry also was a big baseball fan, and was majority owner of the Los Angeles/California Angel Major League baseball team.

The Roy Rogers Show had a number of similarities to Autry’s program:

It also ran in the 1950s’ - 1951 to 1957 to be exact - and Roy was also a singing cowboy. In fact, Roy Rogers (his real name was Leonard Slye) was one of the original Sons of the Pioneers, a western music group which is still performing (though not, of course, with original members).

Like Autry, Rogers also had a comedy sidekick. His was Pat Brady. Brady got around the countryside in his much loved jeep “NellyBelle”.

However, unlike Autry’s TV show The Roy Rogers Show also had a female lead, none other than Roger’s real-life wife Dale Evans. And Dale was anything but a shrinking violet as she often helped Roy or Pat out of tough situations.

Animals figured prominently in the program. Trigger, Roy’s horse, was dubbed by many the “Smartest Horse In The Movies” (Yes, Roy Roger and Dale Evans did make movies, too). Roy’s German shepherd, Bullett, also was an important part of many episodes, as was Dale’s horse, Buttercup. Roy and Dale lived on the Double ‘R’ Ranch, and like Gene Autry often came to the rescue of those in distress.

A memorable part of every program was the ending where Roy and Dale would sing their famous song “Happy Trails”. The Sons of the Pioneers still sing this song to end many of their own musical performances.

Indeed, both The Gene Autry Show and The Roy Rogers Show were westerns that brought a smile and a song to those both young and old.

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