Inside from the Inside

If you think Americans have lost their way, maybe it’s time for us to take a gander at the inspired wisdom of Gene Autry, America’s Singing Cowboy, so we can all learn to be good cowboys and earn our white hats. Here’s the code that directed his long and prosperous life.

Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. He must always tell the truth.
4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. He must help people in distress.
7. He must be a good worker.
8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws.
10. The Cowboy is a patriot.

America’s Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry was born in 1907 in Tioga, Texas. As an American success story, they don’t come much better than his.

Autry purchased his first mail-order guitar for $8 at age twelve with money he’d earned as a hired hand on his Uncle Calvin’s farm—baling and stacking prairie hay for winter cattle-feed. His mother taught him how to play the instrument and he sang in the church choir.

Will Rogers, who visited the telegraph office where Autry was working as a young man, “discovered” him. Rogers overheard him strumming his guitar and singing and recommended that he go to New York and pursue a career in radio. Autry took him up on the suggestion. “I went to New York, to try to get an audition with the Victor Recording Company. They listened to me, all right, and then told me to go back to Oklahoma, for some experience. I came back to Tulsa, and started singing on KVOO.” Autry returned to New York later in his career and was the first performer to sell out New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The very first hit movie shot in Hollywood was a western, “The Squaw Man,” which created a demand for westerns and cowboys. Republic Pictures hoped to satisfy that demand by finding a cowboy that could sing. By then a regular on radio—singing on the Sears Roebuck program, the Farm and Home Hour, the National Barndance, and the other programs broadcast from Chicago—Autry fit the bill.

Gene Autry appeared in 95 feature films over his career, but a recently discovered letter, written in the 1930s, suggests that he almost didn’t make the cut. Found in the Republic Pictures archives, and written by producer Al Levoy, it suggested that Autry needed to improve his acting, that a preliminary acting course was “evidently wasted,” and that he need darker make-up to “give him the appearance of virility.” Autry responded to the revelation, with characteristic modesty. “A lot of that is true. I got better as I went along. I couldn’t get any worse.”

Gene Autry was a star in the movies back in the days when the good guys wore white hats and the stories always had happy endings. While his roles may have been predictable, his contribution to American culture was immense, leading the way, for example, to the popularity of country music today. A recent memorial (Gene Autry died in 1998 at the age of 91) perhaps says it best. “More than anything, he took rural music out of the dark hillsides and hobo camps and railroad yards and took it to the wide open spaces where all of America could appreciate it’s heartfelt soul and grandeur. He gave it respectability in an era where, hard as it may be to believe now, it was scorned and looked down on.”

Gene Autry was an amazingly productive and successful artist. He made 635 recordings, more than 200 of which he wrote or co-wrote. His records have sold over 60 million copies. He made more than a dozen gold records and had the first record ever certified gold for over a million copies sold. “Here Comes Santa Claus,” inspired by The Santa Claus Lane Parade in Los Angeles went platinum. So did “Peter Cottontail” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which had over 30 million in sales, making it then the second all-time best-selling single after Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” His western songs include many classics: “You Are My Sunshine,” “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” and his signature song, “Back in the Saddle Again.” In 1950 Autry became one of the first major movie stars to move into television. He produced and starred in 91 half-hour episodes of The Gene Autry Show.

To this day Gene Autry holds the record for being awarded the most “stars” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: a total of five including one each for radio, recordings, film, television and live theatrical performance. However, his spectacular success didn’t end with show business.

For many years Gene Autry was listed in the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans with an estimated net worth of $320 million. His wide range of business interests included owning radio and television stations. For example, in 1982, he sold Los Angeles television station KTLA for $245 million. He produced rodeos and was credited with popularizing them. He became the majority owner of the California Angels (later Anaheim) baseball team in 1960. He also founded The Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, at a cost of $54 million, which houses a vast collection of authentic western artifacts and memorabilia.

Without a doubt, Gene Autry was a genuine all-American icon. He traveled the high road, but his style was easy-going. He loved his horse, Champion, and he tipped his hat to the ladies.

Tags: Autry, cowboys, Gene_Autry, Music