OklahomaHorses Magazine July 2023

12 OklahomaHorses • July / August 2023 Gene Autry Popular Singing Cowboy Got His Start in Oklahoma by Carol Mowdy Bond I n 1998, the year Gene Autry died, a Los Angeles Times article said, “To movie- goers in the 1930s and ’40s, Gene Autry was a red-blooded American hero whose films featured a dashing horse, Champi- on, a flood of happy endings and simple Western songs.” And Autry earned that hero brand. He still holds the record for the largest number of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On a single day in 1960, he lassoed one star each for films (more than 90), radio (16 seasons of his weekly Melody Ranch show on the CBS Radio Network), television (91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show), and recordings (635 or more). Autry’s fifth star came in 1987 in the live-performance category. But a lot of elbow grease preceded those five sidewalk stars. On KVOO Radio in Tulsa, which labeled Autry Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy, he told stories and sang Jimmie Rodgers’ hit songs. A talented yodeler, singer, songwriter, and musician, Autry soared in popularity, and Columbia Records signed him in 1929. His recording success snagged his spot on the National Barn Dance show of radio station WLS in Chicago and led to his nationwide popularity. In 1931, Autry’s song That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine (later recorded by Simon and Garfunkel and by other musicians) skyrocketed into his first hit single. The beloved tune, which he cowrote, was the first million-selling gold record in history. Autry made 640 recordings, and he wrote or cowrote more than 300 songs, including his signature song, Back in the Saddle Again, from 1939. Autry’s records sold more than 100 million copies, nabbing him a dozen gold and platinum records. He wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the second all- time best-selling Christmas single, with more than 30 million in sales. Autry also Gene Autry and his band broadcast live fromTulsa, September 1941. Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.