Web Page 1064
4th August 2012
Look forward to hearing from you soon. Peter
Top Picture: Gene Autry
Bottom Picture: William
Boyd , Hopalong Cassidy
The Shooting Stars
On a Saturday morning as the curtains parted in the
cinema, all hell let loose. Cries of "Whoopee" came out of the
darkness. Then suddenly, there he was our hero. White Stetson, flashing teeth,
Gene Autry and his horse Champion. Gene Autry starts to sing something like "I'm
riding, on my pony or I'm heading for the old Bar-X" when Suddenly, an
Apache arrow hits him in the back. Gene glances round to see three thousand
Apache galloping across the prairie towards him. He speeds off on Champion to
seek safety in a nearby gulch, but upon reaching it he finds he has ridden into
the camp of Mexican bandits! Bullets hit him in the shoulder another hits him
in the thigh and yet another in the arm and back! He falls off Champion. He tries
to get up just one last hope, he purses his lips and produces the whistle that
only Champion knows. The gallant steed comes to his master, lowers his head and
hoists our hero onto his back, then gallops off into the sunset! But the evil
Black Jake has doped Champion's horse feed back in Deadwood Springs. The horse
with his master stumbles blindly on. "Look out" we cry from our
seats. But too late, horse and rider go over the edge of a cliff, doomed to
destruction 500 feet below! Hundreds of
little faces look on in horror. Our hero is dead, and we will see him no more!
The King of the Cowboys is Dead! Suddenly, a voice yodels out loud and clear.
"I'm riding, on my pony it's him, he's alive! And his white hat has not
got a mark on it. Good old Gene!
We burst out of the cinema and into the daylight the
lads leap into doorways or behind dustbins, pointing their loaded fingers at
each other and shooting. Those days are now in the distant past. Never more
will we see the like of those celluloid heroes who appeared to make more films
before lunchtime, than Clint Eastwood did in a year! They turned out hundreds
and we never tired of them.
They all appeared to use the same formula, clean-cut
quick-on-the-draw always smiling cowboy hero generally accompanied by an old
gent who in reply to "Howdy, Old-timer" would go into a lengthy
dialogue about the Winter of '83, or how he had beaten 100 Comanche’s single
handed! Another constant companion was his horse, all who appeared to have the
knack of understanding their master's whistle, galloping onto any scene from
out of the blue to rescue the hero and they were also able to untie knots with
their teeth.
Another ingredient was the baddie who were sure to
produce boos and hisses from most audiences. Many of the stars of Hollywood
began their film careers by playing baddies. A young Clark Gable was brought to
justice by Hopalong Cassidy, another of Hopalong's favourite pastimes was
slamming a young Robert Mitchum against a wall in several of the early epics.
Cowboy heroes very seldom had time for the opposite
sex and normally showered more affection on their four-legged friends. But if a
western gal did happen to attract their attention, she was nearly always the
local school teacher never the good-hearted tart who lived in The Golden
Nugget. These parts were generally played by unknown actresses but one performance
that sticks out is that of Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again when she
slinked down the saloon staircase singing "See what the boys in the back
room will have".
Let us have a brief reminder of three of gun-twirling
great who swept across the prairie.
The name associated with Hopalong Cassidy is William
Boyd, and with his premature white hair and his horse Topper he struck fear
into many a baddie's heart, although one does have to stretch the imagination
with the sight of him throwing Robert Mitchum all over the place. Off screen he
collected wives but on the screen he was a clean living guy, never swore,
smoked or drank, and rarely gave kisses except to Topper. He was often aided by
Andy Clyde as the "Old Un", and Jimmy Ellison as the "Young
Un". Although he died in 1972 aged 77 because of the showing of his old
films on television he was still a hero to a new generation of youngsters, and
I am sure Hopalong Cassidy will ride the range in our minds for many years to
come.
Although Gene Autry was not the first singing cowboy,
he is the one we will most remember for singing at the drop of a hat. Gene was
as popular on the radio as he was on the screen with his famous mount was
Champion. In later years when he formed a television production company,
"Champion the Wonder Horse" was one of his shows. Up to the war Gene
Autry was the King of the Cowboys, in 1942 enlisted but paid dearly for it for
when he returned from the war a new "King" was on the cowboy throne;
Roy Rogers.
Roy Rogers was born Leonard Franklin Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his family
lived in a tenement building Dissatisfied with his job and city life, Andy Slye,
Leonards father, and his brother Will built a houseboat from salvage and in
July 1912, the family floated off towards Portsmouth, Ohio.
In 1919, the Slyes purchased a farm near Lucasville, 12
miles north of Portsmouth. They built a six-room home here but Leonard's father
realized that the farm would provide insufficient income for his family so he
took a job at a shoe factory. He lived away during the week and returned at
weekends, bearing gifts for the family following paydays. One notable gift was
a horse on which Leonard learned the basics of horsemanship. When he was 17, Leonards
family returned to Cincinnati, where his father began work at another shoe
factory. Leonard soon decided he had to help his family financially, so he left
school, joined his father at the shoe factory.
Leonard and his father felt imprisoned by their factory
jobs. In 1929, his older sister, Mary, moved to California with her husband.
Father and son decided to quit their jobs and the family packed their 1923
Dodge to visit Mary and stayed four months before returning to Ohio. Almost immediately
Leonard had the opportunity to travel through California with Mary's
father-in-law, and the rest of the family followed in the spring of 1930.
The Slyes rented a small house near Mary and father and
son found employment as truck drivers for a road construction project. They
reported to work one morning to learn their employer had gone bankrupt. This
was the time of the Great Depression and they found themselves
traveling from job to job picking fruit and living in worker campsites. One
day, Andy Slye was told of a shoe factory hiring in Los Angeles and asked Leonard to join him in
applying there for work. Leonard, having seen the joy that his guitar and
singing had brought to the destitute around the campfires, told his father that
he was going to pursue a living in music. With his father's blessing, he and
cousin Stanley Slye went to Los Angeles and worked as The Slye Brothers.
In 1932, Leonard, now known as "Len," met
Lucille Ascolese. That same year, a palomino gave birth to a foal named
"Golden Cloud" and later renamed "Trigger" and in 1938
after he was acquired by Len. In May 1933, Len proposed to Lucille then went on
tour with the "O-Bar-O Cowboys" and in June 1933 met Grace Arline
Wilkins in New Mexico. By August 1934, Len and Lucille had separated, she was
tired of being a musician's wife. Having corresponded since their first
meeting, Len and Grace Arline Wilkins were married on June 11, 1936.
In 1941, the couple adopted a girl, Cheryl Darlene. Two
years later, Arline bore a daughter, Linda Lou. By this time Len had changed
his name to Roy Rogers and he and Arline had a son, Roy Jr. ("Dusty")
in 1946, but Arline died of complications a few days later. Roy had met Dale
Evans in 1944 when she was in a movie with him. Roy Rogers proposed to her
during a rodeo at Chicago Stadium. They married on New Year's Eve
in 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Oklahoma, where a few months earlier they had filmed Home in Oklahoma.
Rogers and Evans remained married until Roy's death in 1998.
Roy Rogers was an idol for many children through his
films and television shows. Most of his postwar films were in Trucolor
during an era when almost all B-movies were black-and-white. Some of his movies would be
animal adventures, in which Trigger would go off on his own for a while, with
the camera following him.
With money from not only his films but his own
public appearances going to Republic Pictures, Roy brought into the studio so
he would have the right to his likeness, voice and name for merchandising.
There were Roy Rogers action figures, cowboy novels as well as a comic strip, a
long-lived Dell Comics comic book series and a variety of marketing
successes. Roy Rogers was second only to Walt Disney in the amount of items
featuring his name. In August 1950, Dale Evans and Rogers had a daughter, Robin
Elizabeth, who had Down Syndrome and died of complications with mumps shortly before her
second birthday. Roy and Dale were also well known as advocates for adoption
and as founders and operators of children's charities. They adopted several
children and both were outspoken Christians.
His and Evans's famous theme song, "Happy Trails", was written by Dale Evans;
they sang it as a duet to sign off their television show. He made numerous
cameo or guest appearances on popular television shows, starring as himself or
other cowboy-type characters
In 1968 he
licensed his name to the Marriot corporation, which converted its Hot Shoppes
locations to Roy Rogers Restaurants, with which he otherwise had no
involvement.
When he died on July 6, 1998, he was living in Apple Valley, California. He was interred at
Sunset Hills Cemetery in Apple Valley, as was his wife, Dale Evans, three years
later.
Here I must declare an interest in that I remember in
1952 at the tender age of six my mother and grandmother took meto see Roy
Rogers at the Holborn Empire.
YEEEE HAAAA
Yours,
Peter
You Write:
Hilary asks:-
Hello - I was googling Nelson Trowbridge and your site came up? Can you help us track him down? He was a friend of my parents (Margaret and Ernest Tranter of Copnor) and his Mum used to look after me and my sister when we were nippers. Sadly my dad and Mum have passed and my sister and I wondered if we could find him. We also found a clipping from the Evening News where Nelson won 3rd prize of a photo of us! If you can help we would be very grateful - all the best
News and Views:
The "Queen of Counry Music," Kitty Wells (nee Muriel Deason) passed away Monday July 16th in Nashville at the age of 92.
The "Queen of Counry Music," Kitty Wells (nee Muriel Deason) passed away Monday July 16th in Nashville at the age of 92.
On this day 4th August 1960-1965
On 04/08/1960 the number one single was Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd &
the Pirates and the number one album was Elvis Is Back - Elvis Presley.
The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV)
and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's
Division 1 champions.
On 04/08/1961 the number one single was Well I Ask You - Eden Kane
and the number one album was Ipswich.
The top rated TV show was Harpers West
One (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations.
A pound of today's money was worth £not
very interesting and 13.25
were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. he big news
story of the day was No Hiding Place
(AR).
On 04/08/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield
and the number one album was West Side
Story Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada)
and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions. he big news story of the week Marilyn Monroe dies.
On 04/08/1963 the number one single was (You're the) Devil In Disguise - Elvis
Presley and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was The Great Escape. A pound of
today's money was worth £12.64
and Liverpool were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. he big news story of the day was Computer will predict chances of marriage
success.
On 04/08/1964 the number one single was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles
and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles.
The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's
Division 1 champions.
On 04/08/1965 the number one single was Help - The Beatles
and the number one album was The Sound
of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Riviera Police (AR) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's
money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming
the Season's Division 1 champions
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