Let it be known I am a huge Roy Rogers fan....but, you have to give the devil his due sometimes. Without Gene Autry there would be no Roy Rogers. After all, his first major on screen time came in a Gene Autry movie, with his real name Leonard Slye. When Autry walked out on his Republic Pictures contract in 1938 Slye was re-named Roy Rogers and the fight was on for the greatest screen cowboy in history. As much as I love watching old Roy Rogers movies, I can still sit through any Gene Autry flick too. Even though I could never understand why he wore a two gun belt, with only one holster. I have seen that in many westerns with others also, and I can not figure that one out.
Anyway, Happy Birthday Gene.
When I think of Gene Autry, I think of the song,"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
ReplyDeleteI watched him as a kid, but the last time I saw his movies was last year. My friend's mother love Gene, so I gave her the DVDs of some of his movies, and watched them with her. They were better than I thought they would be,since I didn't remember them from my childhood. He was a true cowboy.
I used to watch Roy Rogers all the time too as a kid. I don't remember that much about him and Dale, just that they were cowboys, they could sing, had Trigger, and Nellie Belle. I may have to revisit a few of those off Netflix just to revisit a part of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteThough I still enjoy Gene's straight westerns, my favorite Autry film of all time is the totally outrageous serial, "The Phantom Empire."
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