Milwaukee’s Happy Trails with Lovable Western Movie Sidekicks

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When Western movies ruled the roost in Hollywood, Milwaukeeans of all ages and races rushed downtown to see them at the comfy Princess, stately White House (Mid-City-Atlantic) at North Third and West Wells streets and modernistic Telenews, on West Wisconsin Avenue between North Third and North Fourth streets.  

Kids, especially loved ‘em—including Black youths like me. We journeyed downtown from the inner city to pay homage to our favorite Western heroes and their jaunty sidekicks, and flocked to the iconic Regal, at North Seventh and West Walnut, where the weekend marquee touted “Cowboy shoot-em-ups, bang, bang, bang.” 

Many of the black-and-white flicks featured character actors as lovable sidekicks to famous cowboys. I‘m not talking about the likes of Ward Bond, Ben Johnson or Harry Carey Jr. with John Wayne; Walter Brennan with Gary Cooper; Van Heflin with Alan Ladd, or Anthony Quinn with Henry Fonda. Uh-uh.

I’m talking about lovable second-bananas who, with their heroic “pardners,” helped make Westerns from the 1930s-‘50s, the most popular of all American film genres.

Their names and faces—which will be familiar to a generation of cowboy-happy, fun-loving, mature movie-goers—remain indelibly etched in my mind. Included were:

Raymond Hatton, who played Sandy Hopkins with Johnny Mack Brown and also worked with Buck Jones, Hoot Gibson, Harry Carey Sr., Ken Maynard and Tom Mix; Leo Carrillo (Pancho) with Duncan Renaldo’s Cisco Kid; Fuzzy St. John, with Larry (Buster) Crabbe; Richard Martin (Chito) with Tim Holt, and Robert “Bobby” Blake (Little Beaver) with William (Wild Bill) Elliott’s Red Ryder.

And there were a number of others—notably Fuzzy Knight, Guy (Panhandle Perkins) Wilkerson and Dub (Cannonball) Taylor, father of Buck Taylor (Newly O’Brien in TV’s “Gunsmoke”). They backed vintage cowboy stars such as Don (Red) Barry, Lash LaRue, Lee (Lasses) White, Tim McCoy, Rex (The Arizona Cowboy) Allen, Eddie Dean, Russell Hayden, Bob Steele, Tex Ritter (father of John Ritter) and Bing Russell (father of Kurt Russell). 

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Perhaps best known were George (Gabby) Hayes and Lester (Smiley) Burnette. Each provided comic relief in high-visibility roles opposite the silver screen’s most noted singing cowboys—Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Jimmy Wakely and, memorably, John Wayne’s singing cowboy in a couple of big Duke’s earliest films.

The grey-bearded Hayes—without whom I couldn’t imagine a genuine Roy Rogers flick—was one of the most famous, and best-loved, of all B-movie character actors. During his long (200 Westerns) film career, he also side-kicked the likes of Wayne, Cooper, Autry, Elliott, Tom Tyler, Randolph Scott and William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd, with whom he appeared as Windy.

Lovable Right-Hand Men

The wonderful thing about Hayes, Burnette and all the other sidekicks in the countless “oaters” of Hollywood’s golden era was the easy way they related to the stars. They knew their place as lovable right-hand men, played it to the hilt for sympathy and laughs and won over millions of movie-goers.

Whether it was Gabby’s crustiness, Smiley’s helplessness, Knight’s blubbering or the patented exchange between Renaldo and Carrillo—“Oh, Pancho, Oh, Cisco—you were getting the best buddy-buddy stuff a movie ticket could buy.

Hayes’ distinctive battered hat with turned-up front rim, along with his trademark squint and toothless drawl, made him a particular favorite of kids and sent us on our way doing Gabby imitations.

Burnette played a character called Frog Millhouse in 81 cowboy flicks with the legendary Autry between 1935 and 1942. Burnette also appeared in some 200 Westerns and wrote more than 300 songs, many of which were used in his films.

His stock-in-trade was a croaking voice (hence his nickname) and potbellied posture while also side-kicking stars such as Allan (Rocky) Lane, Sunset Carson and Charles Starrett—the Durango Kid.

My favorite Western sidekick was Hayes, who died at 83 in 1989. He truly was one of a kind. Of all his co-stars, I enjoyed the prolific, veteran actor Boyd best as Hopalong Cassidy, whose all-black outfit was set-off by his white hair and a stunning white horse.  

And speaking of famous Western movie horses, who can forget Roy Rogers’ stately palomino Trigger, and Gene Autry’s noble brown Champion. Those were the days, my friends, we hoped they’d never end. But, sadly, end they did. Yet me and my young Milwaukee pals, will never forget them.