By Judy Johnston Merrell The news of Gene Autry's death on Oct. 2, 1998, summoned memories of the first singing cowboy, whose perfect teeth and handsome smile were as bright as his ever-present white cowboy hat. With the sad report of his death, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Back in the Saddle Again," his trademark songs, were again on America's lips. Admirers were taken back to a poignant vision of a hero riding off into the sunset on his gallant horse, Champion -- and memories of simpler times when good guys wore white hats and movies had happy endings. Oklahoma's yodeling cowboy was actually a Texan. On Sept. 29, 1907, Orvon Gene Autry made his first "grand entry" just north of Dallas, in Tioga, Texas, population 500. Soon, he abandoned both his first name as well as Texas. Autry grew up in the small Oklahoma town of Ravia. As a child, he sang in the church choir and worked as a hired hand on his Uncle Calvin's farm, baling and stacking prairie hay for winter cattle feed. By the time he was 12, he had saved enough money for his famous $8 mail-order guitar. With his mother's help, he quickly learned to play enough chords on that guitar to accompany his singing. In 1927, Autry worked at the telegraph office in Chelsea, Okla. The job involved sporadic activity and often yielded intervals for singing and playing the guitar. That year, American humorist and entertainer Will Rogers happened to drop by the Chelsea railroad telegraph office. According to legend, he discovered Autry, who was leaning back, feet up, strumming his guitar and singing. Liking what he heard, Rogers requested a few more songs and advised Autry to head for New York and get a job on radio. According to his autobiography, "Back in the Saddle Again," Autry had an unsuccessful audition in New York, returned west and took a job at a Tulsa, Okla., radio station. There he became known as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy," and Oklahoma claimed him forever. In 1929, Autry landed a recording contract, and, in 1931, he co-wrote (with Jimmy Long) and recorded the song that initiated his fame and fortune. Autry received the first gold record, now an industry standard, as a special award for "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine," which sold more than 1 million copies. Much later, in 1949, his "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" sold more than 25 million copies -- thus the first presentation of a platinum record. "Rudolph" still holds the record for the third-highest-selling single in history. Autry went to Hollywood in 1934 to sing one song in the film "In Old Santa Fe" and began "The Phantom Empire" series the next year. He was entering stardom and beginning a movie career that spanned three decades. While filming "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" in 1935, he gave a part in the movie and a big break to a youngster named Roy Rogers.
Rural America loved Autry; he toured small towns and performed in as many local fairs as he could press into his schedule. He was the promoter for the first professional rodeo in the nation. According to Dan Gattis, general manager of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Autry was among the first producers and entertainers of the Houston Fat Stock Show. Gattis said, "Gene Autry's promotion got us started; we can attribute much of our success to his talent." During Autry's years, the Show was at the Sam Houston Coliseum. Autry, at the height of his popularity, drew tremendous crowds. He also had become an astute businessman. Among other investments and business ventures, Autry owned a rodeo company. "If you trace the origin of our current rodeo company," declared Gattis, "you will find it is the same company that Gene Autry started and brought to the Houston Coliseum some 60 years ago." Autry's "Flying A Rodeo" company produced a number of prominent rodeos. He even bought 1,200 acres for his rodeo livestock in Berwyn, Okla., which was renamed Gene Autry, Okla., on Nov. 16, 1941. Catherine Polk, an English teacher at Hitchcock High School, remembers seeing Autry perform at the Coliseum. "It was about 1940; I was very young the first time Mother and Daddy took me to see Gene Autry," Polk recalled. "I was just a tiny girl who knew nothing about fat stock shows, but I certainly knew Gene Autry. I was so excited I couldn't sleep! I shall never forget watching him lead the parade on Champion, that beautiful horse. Gene rode around the entire arena, stopping often to wave his white hat at the crowd. Champion performed, too, rearing up or prancing backward," Polk said. "There I was, seeing a real movie star in person!" Autry lived and died a very wealthy man. He ranked for many years on the Forbes magazine list of the 400 Richest Americans. He owned a string of hotels, radio and TV stations, and land and oil investments throughout the country. In 1960, he purchased his beloved baseball team, the California Angels, now the Anaheim Angels. In 1995, his age and illness forced him to sell his controlling interest in the team.
In November of 1988, Autry officially opened his multimillion-dollar, 148,000 square foot Autry Museum of Western Heritage, located near the Los Angeles Zoo. The museum houses more than 16,000 items, including Teddy Roosevelt's Colt revolver and Annie Oakley's gold-plated guns. Seven frontier galleries illustrate how artists, writers and filmmakers have recorded the history of frontier settling. Autry packaged the Old West for future generations with more than 90 movies, 91 TV shows and 635 recordings, including "You Are My Sunshine" and "Here Comes Peter Cottontail." In his eulogy to Autry, Hector Ed Autry, founder of the Autry Family Association, said, "It is our hope that in that special place of peace, Gene Autry will be found, reunited with ol' Champion and 'back in the saddle, again.'" Autry died of cancer at his home only three months after the death of his good friend and box office rival, Roy Rogers. Wearing his white hat, the singing cowboy, Gene Autry, rode off into the sunset for the last time three days after his 91st birthday.
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