It would have been great to see Gene Autry, astride his faithful wonder horse, Champion, come charging into the large white tent outside the Museum of Western Heritage Monday, firing off a six-gun in celebration of his 90th birthday and, again, winning the day with a melodious “Whoopie-ti-yi-yay.”
Instead, hampered by a bad back, the original Singing Cowboy had to trade his engraved saddle for an easy chair, from which he could more comfortably watch the parade of entertainers, businessmen and rhinestone cowpokes who had come to pay homage to their hero.
The gala event attracted 1,240 people and raised $900,000 for Autry’s Griffith Park museum, which celebrates the history and legends of the American West. The evening was filled with 70 years worth of film, musical and entrepreneurial memories as befits an entertainer with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Wearing a white Stetson and gold string tie, Autry was surrounded by such friends as Bob and Delores Hope, cowboy star Monte Hale, Dale Evans, Hugh O’Brien, Norm Crosby and master of ceremonies Dick Clark. Also in the audience were musicians Marty Stuart, Little Jimmy Dickens and Dwight Yoakam, as well as a cluster of game-show hosts, including Pat Sajak, Wink Martindale and Chuck Woolery, whose shows were launched on Autry’s TV stations.
After dinner (the dessert was constructed around white chocolate cowboy boots), Autry was serenaded by Rosemary Clooney, Eddy Arnold, Roy Clark, Willie Nelson and Glen Campbell’s Good Time Band. They sang songs made famous by Autry–“Back in the Saddle Again,” “Silver Haired Daddy”–and offered other appropriate musical salutes, including Clooney’s jazzy renditions of “Half as Much” and “Don’t Fence Me In”; Campbell’s heartfelt take on Marty Robbins’ “Gene Autry, My Hero”; and Arnold yodelling his way through “Lonesome Cattle Call.”
Biographical videos reminded guests that Autry was a relief telegraph operator who sang and strummed his guitar to kill time, when he was discovered by Will Rogers in an Oklahoma train station. Rogers advised the 16-year-old to “get a job in radio.”
It didn’t take long before he was singing on WLS’ “Barn Dance” show, and recording the first of his 635 songs. He since has sold more than 65 million records, with 20 gold and 12 platinum discs to his credit.
“Back in the Saddle Again” went platinum twice, the second time after it was released on the “Sleepless in Seattle” soundtrack in 1993.
In 1937, two years after he debuted as a featured player in “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” he was named the No. 1 cowboy box office star. By 1941, he was voted the No. 4 star in all categories.
In the intervening years, Autry toured with his rodeo troupe, enlisted in the Army Air Corps, became a pioneering radio and TV executive, starred in and produced TV westerns and bought the new Los Angeles Angels baseball franchise. And, as Dick Clark observed, this son of a Texas horse trader has become a very rich man.
