Gene Autry wasn’t the first singing cowboy, but he’s the one everyone remembers. A mellifluous singer and a fine horseman, and a charming if wooden actor, Autry began in the 1930s as a radio singer on WLS’ popular “National Barn Dance” show. Given a walk-on in a 1934 movie, Old Santa Fe, he graduated to the starring role a year with Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Operating on all platforms, Autry had hit records and went on to host his own network radio program before debuting on TV in 1950.
A new DVD box set, “The Gene Autry Show: The Complete Television Series” collects all 91 episodes from its five-season run plus bonus material. The tidy half-hour episodes were sponsored by Wrigley and book-ended by advertisement from the star of our show. “Yes, sir, I carry delicious Doublemint around with me all the time,” Autry said. “It’s a mighty convenient treat.”
Many scenes were well shot with a capable supporting cast, despite screenplays that relied on humor everyone must have recognized as corny and scenarios everyone recognized from decades of B westerns. The Texas frontier setting was oddly out of time; covered wagons shared the trail with automobiles—of Great Depression vintage. Autry got around on his faithful steed, Champion the World’s Wonder Horse, a six-gun on his belt and a rifle by his side as he chased rustlers and other bad hombres.
Of course, Autry sang a song or two as he rode the purple sage, rendered here in black and white. “He don’t know much of art, but his song is from the heart,” went one number—and he meant every word. In another episode, Autry led mourners at the grave of an old prospector in “Home on the Range”—a singing cowboy’s vision of heaven.
