Gene Autry: From Poverty to Wealth (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] we're traveling west on highway 70 in southeast Oklahoma we're trying to locate what was once the flying a range that belong to cowboy star Gene Autry in 1939 Gene Autry purchased some 1,200 acres on the western edge of the small town of Berwyn Oklahoma with intentions of raising rodeo stock for the rodeo Gene Autry was born or even Grover ultry on September the 29th 1907 on a tenant farm some six miles west of Tyler Texas genes daddy Delbert Autry had been made before he made Eleonora Osment Gene's mother Delbert's first wife had walked off and left him with two small kids Roy and Bessie this is busy with Eleonora he had gene vada Wilma and deadly when gene was around 12 years old he would help on the farm after school it would sometimes shine shoes and plate his five-dollar mail-order guitar at Sam Anderson's barber shop now this is years later after Gene had become famous returning to Sam Anderson barber shop to get a haircut in Tioga Texas and he also would visit his aunt and uncle that still lived there when gene was 15 the family left Texas and eventually settled in a homestead rage in Raven Oklahoma while attending high school he helped on a ranch and would work as a baggage handler in the local train depot the station manager paid gene for his baggage handling and odd jobs by teaching him how to run to Telegraph and by the time that he was 17 years old he was proficient enough to be hired as a fill-in telegraph operator for the Frisco Railroad during this time he had become friends with a senior operator by the name of Jimmy long now Jimmy was older than teen and in Jimmy's spare time he was playing and singing at dances and local functions and soon Jean and Jimmy were performing together the story goes that one night in Chelsea Oklahoma when Autry was filling in for the normal station operator he was playing his guitar and singing to keep himself awake during the night in comes Will Rogers to send off his daily newspaper column he told gene just to keep on playing that he wasn't hardly through penny and the rest of his column he told gene that he enjoyed his saying and that he should really try and get him on the radio some people doubt that this story ever took place averaging himself said that there after he'd become famous he met Will Rogers in Hollywood year later in squeal said to him hey kid I see you made it gene had decided to take the advice of Will Rogers but it took him a year to save up enough money to go on even using the railroad pace and he headed for New York City hoping to land a recording contract he said he felt really out of place walking around New York with a guitar under his arms he said after going to an interview with Victor which later will become RCA Victor and being told get more experience and try out some radio station and come back in a couple of years he headed back to Oklahoma he said he didn't believe those people in New York really understood he was kind of music but by the end of the year gene had got a job singing on station cave the OO it's now ke FAQ in Tulsa Oklahoma and this gave him the opportunity to record records and on October the 9th 1929 gene and his railroad friend Jim Malone recorded a duet my dreaming of you and my Alabama that Jimmy wrote soon after these records were made Autry was able to get a recording contract with Columbia Records for the next two years he records several songs including the death of Mother Jones and from an appearance on the Tulsa radio station he had already began gathering quite a following and in 1931 he was asked to come in Joe and Chicago's largest station WLS by this time or van ultry had changed his name to Gino tree now the doctor in Tioga Texas that had delivered gene said gene took his name dr. Eugene Ledbetter others say that there was a famous singer by the name of Jean Austin at that time and Jean thought that people might get him confused with Austin and by his records by mistake but anyway in June of 1932 when gene was on his way back to Chicago from visiting home folks in Oklahoma he stopped in Springfield Missouri to visit his old friend Jim alone who had been transferred to Missouri by the railroad for the first time she met Anna Mae Spivey she was Jimmy Long's neath and had come up from Oklahoma to stay with her aunt and uncle to go to Teachers College it was love at first sight Jean began visiting the lungs quite often and told Jimmy that he was going to someday marry Anna and at the same time Anna told her ain't Jessie that she was going to marry Gene Autry four months after they first met on the first of April April Fool's Day 1932 Jean was doing a show in st. Louis and Jimmy Jesse and Hannah all came up to see the show well Jean and ina left the lungs for a few hours and promised to come back and meet him at the restaurant that evening when they arrived at the restaurant for dinner they told Jimmy and Jesse see that they had gotten married the long study was an April Fool's joke and had to see the marriage lesson before they'd believe it in 1932 Jean and Jimmy long recorded a duet that they had wrote together that silver her daddy of mine it'll be the first of any hits for Gene Autry and start his long career ever his mother Eleanor will not live to see genes success she'll pass away that same year in 1932 from pelegrin a disease caused from the lack of nitrogen or vitamin b3 in the system it can cause dementia and dead Eleanor was buried at the Indian Creek Cemetery in Gainesville Texas she was 49 years old after Eleanor's death Adam became a surrogate mother two genes siblings and for the next two years Gina will be the star headliner on WLS national barn dance there he will meet comedian Pat Buttram who will later become his sidekick in over 40 movies another comic that appeared on the barn dates was Lester Alvin Burnett known as smiley Burnette and later as frog Milhouse in December of 1933 gene was told about a comedian that had a kiddie show on radio station wdz a.m. in Tuscola Illinois gene was on the lookout for an accordion player to accompany him on WL SS barn dates and personal appearances smiley fit the bill because as incredible as it sounds he could play a hundred instruments and couldn't read one word or note of music now this picture of barn dance performers shows gene standing on the left with his white suit and cowboy hat and smiley Burnette is sitting on the left of max Turkey with cards in his hand according to max Terry Hughes grandson max wrote on the back of this picture that it was taken the very day that gene got a telegram to come to Hollywood 1934 altar was making more money on the barn dance and personal appearances and Hollywood offered and had doubts about going until his wife Anna convinced him that it would be a good move so Jean Anna and smiley headed for California by car to work for producer NAT Levine at mascot pictures and on their way across country Burnett wrote riding down the canyon when the Desert Sun Goes Down it is currently in the congressional Hall of Fame as one of 10 most beautiful balance after reaching California Jean and smiley was assigned to movies with cowboy stark in Maynard a told Santa Fe and mystery Mountain Jean always felt grateful to Ken Maynard and years later when Ken was sick broke and had a drinking problem and was living in a trailer park Gene Autry was his closest hip even sending him monthly checks after mysterious Mountain Jean was offered a starring role in the Phantom Empire for mascot pictures Jean insisted that smiley Burnette be given a contract along with him in 1935 mascot pictures combined with monogram pictures to become Republic Pictures corporation genes first movie with the Republic was tumbling tumbleweed of course was smiley Burnette Lucille Brown and George Gabby Hayes his next picture melody trail will star Jean along with smiley and Ann Rutherford Rutherford will be teens leading lady and three more movies in 1936 Geena smiley will appear in five movies including Red River Valley with Francis Grant that same year Jean will write and sang a hit song you're the only star in my Blue Heaven also in 1936 Jean sad keek smiley Burnette met a newspaper columnist by the name of Dallas MacDonald Dallas was doing an interview with smiley for screen magazine and a few months later on October the 26th 1936 loped their marriage will last for 30 years until Smiley's dead the couple was unable to have children so they adopted two boys Stephen and Brad and two girls Linda and Caroline all four from the notorious Georgia Tann Tennessee children's home in Memphis in 1937 gene will star in 11 movies including old Susannah again with Francis Grant also in 1937 Jean actually saved a town with his six-shooter Kenton Ohio was suffering from the Great Depression when the town's major industry Kenton hardware company was failing and within a few weeks of closing once it was the largest iron toy company in the world the workforce was down to work in two days a week company vice president Willard Bixby had the idea that a gene autry cap gun might saved the town the problem was with Gene Autry let him use one of his gun to make a pattern by and lend his name to the gun mr. Bixby wrote gene and explained their situation and gene agreed to help now this is gene with Joe Solomon the master toy maker within weeks production was running day and night and they sold millions of Gene Autry cap guns save in the town at that time Gene Autry was receiving an average of 80,000 fan mails per week and was voted number four leading man in Hollywood behind Mickey Rooney Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in 1938 gene will star in six movies and by that time he was making a fortune for Republic and thought he should be making more money himself during their contract dispute Jean left Hollywood and he showed up in childers Texas he surprised the owner of the Palace Theatre by offering to perform several shows for him here was one of the biggest stars in the country offering to sing at a small theater the owner was elated gene stated childress for two or three weeks Republic Pictures relented and met jeans demands the next year in 1939 gene and smiley started with June story in south of the border down Mexico Way with a song of the same time that same year gene was in Mexicali rose with Lou Anna Walters gene had a hit record with the same name in 1939 gene bought this 1200 acres outside of Berwyn Oklahoma his plan was to raise rodeo stock for rodeos now this is looking south on highway 53 and to what was a part of gene Autry's flying a wrench gene begin building stables and buildings that no longer exist today but he put so much money into the community the residents of Berwyn decided in November of 1941 to change the name of Berlin to Gene Autry Oklahoma gene rode champion into town for the ceremony and along with some 30,000 visitors he visited with his town's residents and here he is doing his Melanie ranch radio broadcasts from Gene Autry this is gene Autry's museum in Gene Autry Oklahoma the museum not only covers information and memorabilia of Gene Autry but almost every cowboy western star that you can name and this is a replica of jeans horse champion saddled and ready to go the original champion was purchased by Gene from Tom Mix for 75 dollars starting in 1935 champion appeared in fifty-one movies alongside Gene and by 1939 it was reported that champions worth was twenty-five thousand champion was a dark sorrow with a blazed face and with white stockings on all of its legs except the right champion died in 1943 at the age of 17 of a heart attack while gene was in military service champion was buried at Gene's Melanie Ranch in California in 1941 gene and smiley Burnette who was fraud Milhouse on the screen starred with Fay Mackenzie in down Mexico Way he also recorded be honest with me in 1941 teen also recorded back in the saddle again he adopted it as his theme song on December the 7th 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the world changed Jean notified the studio that he intended to enlist in the Army Air Corps the studio informed him that if he did that they would promote Roy Rogers as king of the Cowboys in his place he already had a private pilot's license so on July the 26th 1942 while on a live broadcast on his radio show melody ranch gene was inducted into the Army Air Corps as a technical sergeant after flight training and love feel gene become a co-pilot on a/c 109 transport with a rank of flight officer assigned to transport ammunition fuel and weapons from India to China over the hazardous Himalayan air route called the hump when the war ended he was assigned a tour with the USO in the South Pacific he was discharged in 1946 and while serving in the military his comedic sidekick smiley Burnette had moved to Columbia Pictures and began working with other actors such as Charles Sturt and Roy Rogers he had contract obligations and was not able to go back to work for gene smiley and gene will remain close friends until Burnett's death on February the 16th 1967 Dallas and smiley will live in a ranch house at 1/2 527 for 10th Street San Fernando Valley from 1963 through 1967 Burnett was a regular on the TV show petticoat junction he appeared in a hundred and ten episodes and smiley was sidekick to Gene Autry in 62 westerns he passed away at the age of 55 from leukemia Lester Alan Burnett is buried at Forest Hill Memorial Park Hollywood Hills California next to his wife Dallas 1946 was a busy year for all tree after discharge from the military he made a few pictures for Republic before forming his own production company and moving to Columbia Pictures after the loss of his favorite horse champion he had to find a replacement he found champion jr. in a day Oklahoma for five hundred dollars he was part Arabian but considered to be a chestnut or a soul Jean called him wigs because that was his real name champion Jr had four stocking feet and an Arab lace he'll pass away himself in 1977 at the age of 35 gene will have him buried at Melanie Ranch next to champion the first movie champ jr. was starring in was Sioux City Sioux in 1946 with lien robbers and temporary sidekick sterling Holloway gene also recorded I wish I'd never met sunshine written by Gene oakley Hellman and Dale Evans that same year gene was asked to participate and the Hollywood Christmas parade he said as it was riding in the parade the Santa Claus float was right behind him and that he could hear the children yelling here comes Santa Claus he went home and he wrote here comes Santa Claus it is now a Christmas standard Jean and ina divided their time between their homes Palm Springs and Studio City now here they are relaxed and at home in 1948 Jean remembered the comic that he had worked with on wls his barn Danes Pat Buttram and he asked him to come to Hollywood to be a sidekick and partner the strawberry roan is the first movie made with Pat Buttram champion jr. plays as tall very Rome although he wasn't our own Pat and Jean made over 40 movies together along with some hundred episodes of the Gene Autry television show in 1950 gene recorded Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer he wasn't interested in recording Rudolph but his wife Anna again thought the kids would love it and talked him into doing it Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer became the second biggest selling Christmas song ever next to being Crosby's white Christmas gene has so much success with his Christmas songs that he was asked by the writers of here comes Peter Cottontail to record it gene at the same time that he was recording was hosting his weekly radio show melody range he was also starred in over 100 half-hour episodes on television of the Gene Autry show on CBS this success led him to produce the anti Oakley show the range Rider Buffalo Bill jr. and others also in 1950 gene and pant starred in mule train it was the first time that Pat Buttram had met jeans co-star Sheila rain who were two years later become Pat's wife also in 1950 Pat Buttram was severely injured when a prop cannon accidentally exploded and punctured his lungs the movie location was so far out in the desert that gene called his pilot and had him to fly a doctor to the set to render aid before the ambulance could arrived now this is gene visiting pet while he was still recuperating in the hospital gene helped his friend through the tough times even including him and some of his business dealings so that he could make more money years later after they're both retired it said that they actually spoke to one another almost every day on the phone and would often meet each other for lunch Jean would even create projects so that they could both still be working together in 1951 it was Texans never cry with Gene and Pat and Gail Davies through the years Jean will have several leading ladies but Gail Davis had a special place in jeans heart he said he wanted little girls to have someone to look up to just like little boys did and Gail Davis was perfect she played in 12 movies with Gene more than any other leading lady and he will produce her in the Annie Oakley Show Gill will also tour with jeans traveling Rodeo once when Gina had a little bit too much to drink Gail stepped in and saved the show by performing her any Oakley shooting skid now this is a picture of Jean in 1951 doing his melody range show with the cast County boys Bob Dodson Fred Martin and Jerry seconds on December 26 1952 Pat Buttram were Mangino trees leading lady Sheila Ryan they'll have one daughter Carrie and their major last for 23 years until Sheila's death on November the 4th 1975 from an unknown and undiagnosed lung disease Pat will go on to star as mr. Haney on TV show Green Acres Pat Buttram passed away on January the 8th 1994 from kidney failure it was 78 years old he's buried in the family plot in Winston County Alabama the next year in 1953 gene will record another hit Christmas song entitled up on the housetop in 1956 gene had begun to slow down his personal appearances him again concentrating more on his business interests gene was a shrewd businessperson and he had accumulated several radio stations at Palm Springs Hotel the rights to his Republic films real estate all Wells newspapers and in 1961 about the Los Angeles baseball team he eventually served as vice president of the American League from 1983 until his death by 1964 Gene had retired altogether from show visas and in 1969 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in 1970 he was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 gene was inducted into the Hall of Great Western performers at the National cowboy Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City Gene Autry has five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame he is the only person to have five stars one for each category in the late nineteen seventies Gene's beloved wife Anna was diagnosed with cancer she had supported him through there at 48 years mades encouraged him in in his career although admit long periods apart with him on the road and doing films she nurtured him through his uncontrollable bouts of drinking in his many attempts to quit she also agreed with Gene to support his father and his father's second family and for decades Gene's brother Dudley who also had a drinking problem usually ended up on genes payroll everyone agreed that Anna was kind and loving and a most forgiving woman she passed away on May the Levis 1980 at the age of 69 she's buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills California seven months after Anna's death Jean was holding a fundraiser at his Palm Springs hotel for the Eisenhower Medical Center when he invited Jacqueline Elam and her husband to be his guest at the fundraiser Jackie had been jeans banker for some 20-something years she accepted his invitation but notified him that she had never made 14 months after Anna's death gene autry married Jacqueline Elam on July the 19th 1981 Jackie was 39 and Jean was 73 Jackie was a good wife and companion to Jean she loved baseball and baseball was jeans passion he put Jackie in charge of overseeing the building of the Gene Autry museum of the American West it is as much of a legacy to her love of American western heritage as he is with the help of Joanne and cowboy actor money Hale this is one of the better museums in the country it is a gift to the world from Gene Autry in his last year's Jeanne's speech became slurred and harder to speak plain but he will continue to make appearances not wanting to disappoint his public Gene Autry had a knack for making money and was one of the 400 wealthiest persons in the United States ten years in a row gene also had a knack for spending money when it came to helping friends family and even strangers Orville Grover Autry passed away in to Studio City home on October the 2nd 1998 from lymphoma cancer he's buried next to his wife Anna at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills Gene Autry was 91 years old [Music]

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 326,064

Rating: 4.8601718 out of 5

Keywords: Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Smiley Burnett

Id: m5SmdM6w9mI

Length: 29min 14sec (1754 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 11 2019