OklahomaHorses Magazine July 2023

July / August 2023 • OklahomaHorses 13 wrote Here Comes Santa Claus, and he was the first to record Frosty the Snowman. He was the first performer to sell out Madison Square Garden in New York, and his concerts and rodeo performances spanned the United States and Europe. The Singing Cowboy Autry blazed across the silver screen in the 1934 film titled In Old Santa Fe, which spurred his cowboy acting career. He gained international recognition as the King of the Cowboys by 1937. He was one of the nation’s top movie and music stars by 1940. That year, U. S. theater exhibitors voted him their fourth-biggest box- office attraction, behind Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and Spencer Tracy. Autry popularized musical westerns, starring in 93 feature films until 1953. As vintage cinema goes, westerns starring singing cowboys were a big deal from the 1920s through the 1940s. Greatly responsible for ushering in that genre, Autry was one of the top three singing cowboys in western films, alongside Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers. In fact, Autry corralled the moniker the Singing Cowboy in films because moviegoers loved watching him on horseback strumming his guitar and singing. Autry was the first major movie star to harness television to his advantage. He created his own company, Flying A Productions, and produced and starred in The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and other popular television shows of the era, including the first 39 episodes of Death Valley Days. Millions of young fans wanted to be just like Autry. So Autry created the Cowboy Code, a list of time-honored, family- centered, and wholesome character qualities to teach cowboys and cowgirls how to be respectful, how to treat others, and how to take care of themselves. Champion Horses A big chunk of Autry’s success involved his partner and sidekick, a horse known as Champion. In Autry’s first on-screen credit, in the 1935 film Melody Trail, the original Champion appeared with him. However, the horse died while Autry served in the military. Republic Pictures billed the second Champion as Wonder Horse of the West, and Columbia Pictures billed the same horse as the World’s Wonder Horse. Admirers sent Champion thousands of fan letters monthly. Dime novels, children’s stories, and comic books featured Champion and Autry. Dell Publishing fueled the mania, and by 1948, Dell was printing more than one million Gene Autry comic books annually. Champion often received equal billing with Autry on movie posters, above the leading ladies. However, several horses named Champion appeared in films with Autry, plus several specialized steeds of the same name. The hoofprints of one of the horses [Gene Autry sending Champion through the hoop at Cy Compton Rodeo]. Ralph R. Doubleday, circa 1945, safety film negative. Ralph R. Doubleday Collection, Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy &Western Heritage Museum. 79.026.1389.