Hello again my friends. As you know I am a fan of old singing cowboy movies and that means I am a fan of Gene Autry. Gene and his biggest competition in the singing cowboy genre (Roy Rogers) are two of my favorite people to research as they come off as just as nice of people offscreen as they were on screen. With that in mind I'd like to share this 1955 article from TV Radio Mirror about Gene. While historians and biographers have been skeptical (to say the least) about the authenticity of the Will Rogers story, this article I feel captures all that I have read and heard about Gene as a person over the years.
If for any reason you have trouble reading this article click on the images and use your touch screen to zoom in.
As a bonus here is Gene performing the Jimmie Rogers song, In The Jailhouse Now in a clip from his feature film, Prairie Moon (1938). Gene started his singing career in the late 1920's as a Jimmie Rogers imitator. However this movie was from after Gene discovered his own style of singing.
As anyone who reads this blog knows I am a huge country music lover. As such I am highly enjoying Ken Burns' new documentary film, Country Music. Those of you who like me watched the first part on PBS yesterday, you heard mention that Jimmie Rogers appeared in a short film called The Singing Brakeman (1929). Luckily for us this film exists today and can be found on YouTube. The film doesn't have much in the way of story but Jimmie performs three of his classic songs, Waiting For a Train, Daddy and Home and Blue Yodel. For my fellow country music fans being able to see Jimmie Rogers actually performing these songs is a special treat. So enjoy this great film.
Sadly a reviewer in Motion Picture News was not impressed stating "three number song novelty that is just a little too much the same throughout to be particularly effective."
An exhibitors review in the Exhibitors Herald World was more positive stating "A very good act and well recorded." The following is another review from Exhibitors Herald World, "Fine piece of recording. If your town likes this blue yodeling stuff go after it. Jimmie broke a record here in person and the liked his talking act too. (Henry Reeve, Mission theatre, Menard, Tex. Small Town Patronage)." Yet another exhibitors review from the same magazine stated "As fine a short as you can play."
Forgive me for this being so late but I have been busy and for the first time ever couldn't get Cowboy Church out in the morning. I promise next week's Cowboy Church will be posted in the morning. Anyway let's not this spoil a perfectly good post.
We start our music off with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and their children (Linda, Dusty, Sandy, Debbie and Dodie) performing a lovely little song called Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam from Roy and Dale's 1960 album Jesus Loves Me. Next comes Johnny Cash performing a fun little gospel song written by two of The Statler Brothers (Harold and Don Reid), Would You Recognize Jesus. This recording came from 1975. Jimmie Rogers was the father of Country Music, defining the genre in the late 1920's and early 1930's. However despite how associated vintage country music is with gospel, he only recorded one gospel tune. This was The Wonderful City which he released in 1931 as a duet with Sara Carter (from The Carter Family). Next comes The Sons of the Pioneers singing an old gospel song that dates back to 1887, When They Ring Them Golden Bells. The Sons' version is from 1941 and features Bob Nolan as the lead singer. In 1956 Gene Autry left Columbia records to start his own record company. This company was originally going to be named Champion after the famous horse from his movies and TV show. However that name was taken so he changed it to Challenge. One of the first songs he recorded for his new record label was a gospel tune called There's No Back Door To Heaven. Next we have Willie's Nelson's verison of the gospel tune, There Shall be Flowers of Blessings. This is from his 1980 gospel album, Family Bible. The piano on this song is played by Willie's sister Bobbie Nelson. We end with Billy Joe Shaver performing is self-penned You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ at Farm Aid in 1994. Billy's son Eddy Shaver is playing lead guitar here and he fully gets a chance to rock out here.
Here is another classic episode of The Roy Rogers Show. This one is called Strangers and is from 1954.
The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe. Proverbs 18:10 If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Romans 8:31 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of the, for your Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
Sorry about the late post, next week will be on time. Happy Trails to you until we meet again
I have a confession. I don't know every little thing about film. Similarly something I found recently, not only shocks me, but leaves me wondering. This is from an article in Boxoffice Magazine (dated May 29, 1961) "Johnny Cash purchased rights to the 'Jimmie Rodgers Story' from Rodger's widow and will film it as an independent production for his Johnny Cash Productions this fall. Rodgers who died in 1932 was considered the 'patron saint' of country music …" You can view the article here.
As a fan of Country Music, who loves both Jimmie Rodgers and Johnny Cash, this film is fascinating. However I can not find anything else about such a film. What makes this even weirder is that as far as I know, Cash only produced one film, The Gospel Road (1973). I feel it is safe to assume that either this film never came to be or Boxoffice was misinformed.
If anybody out there knows more about this than I do let me know.
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