Gene Autry
The Man and the Town

• "Nobody in their right mind would name a town after a movie star."
• President, Chamber of Commerce, Gene Autry, Oklahoma, 1991.

When in his teens, Orvon Autry - called "Gene" by his friends - got a job as a baggage handler in the town of Ravia^∗, Oklahoma. For those not familiar with Ravia, it's four miles west of Tishomingo^† and about 20 miles east of Gene Autry.

Ha? (To quote Shakespeare^‡.) You say that as a kid Gene Autry worked in a town that was 20 miles from the town of Gene Autry?

Well, yes and no. Ravia is twenty miles west of the current town of Gene Autry. But when Gene Autry (the person) started to work at the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway^§ in Ravia, Gene Autry (the town) was called Berwyn.

And yes, for those familiar with the Main Line^¶ of Philadelphia, Berwyn, Oklahoma, was named for Berwyn, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia suburb about 15 miles east of Center City. In fact there are a number of towns along the rail line from Oklahoma City to Texas that are named for the Philadelphia rail stops. From north to south and skipping towns without Pennsylvania counterparts, you have Wayne, Paoli, Wynnewood, Gene Autry (Berwyn), Ardmore, and Overbrook. On the Main Line heading east into Philly, you have (again skipping towns without Oklahoma analogs) Paoli, Wayne, Berwyn, Ardmore, Wynnewood, and Overbrook. After Overbrook you head on into Philly and the ornate 30th Street Station. The pronunciations between the states may vary slightly. In Philly and environs, Paoli is pronounced "pay-OH-lee" while the Oklahoma dialect renders this as "pay-OH-luh"^‖.

Regarding its location within the Oklahoma topography, Ravia is where you can stand and look northwest toward the Arbuckle Mountains. Yes, the Arbuckle Mountains. And the Arbuckles are not just a mountain range in Oklahoma, but they are the oldest mountains between the Pacific Ocean and the Appalachians, for crying out loud! Due to their advanced age - about 300 to 500 million years - the Arbuckles are low and rounded - now reaching not much more than 1400 feet above sea level. But they are true mountains, unlike the Ozarks which are largely valleys scoured out of a plateau.

Gene was born on September 29, 1907, in Tioga, Texas. That's only about 25 miles south of the Texas-Oklahoma border and about 50 miles south of Ravia where the family soon moved to.

Most historians think Gene had a middle name but what it was varies with the telling. Either "Grover" or "Gordon" are cited. But one of his childhood friends said she never heard anyone call him anything but "Gene".

Gene's dad was a Baptist minister, rancher, and livestock dealer to boot who made an all-right living where his transactions ranged from making a good profit to not losing too much. The move to Ravia made sense as Oklahoma which just recently switched from being a territory^⩚ to a state. There was land available and railroads were connecting the towns.

Gene had musical talent - and ambition - which he showed early. When he was twelve, he bought a Sears and Roebuck guitar with money earned from farm work. In a day where good music had to be live music, Gene found his smooth and slightly nasal singing was well received. He also sang at functions around town and at age 15 was performing in a "medicine show".

But Gene was a realist and knew it wasn't likely he'd jump to stardom overnight. So at age 17, he got a job as a telegrapher - which even at that late date was prestigious employment. As Gene himself told it, he had learned telegraphy while working at the Ravia railroad station. The advantage to the job was during the night shift times were slow. So Gene had plenty of time to practice. But he also knew that showbiz success required business success, and he took a correspondence course in accounting which he later said served him in good stead.

As the story goes - "legend" some say - Gene was in the telegraph office singing and playing the guitar when Will Rogers walked in. After hearing the young man, Will suggested Gene get a job in radio.

Why most scholars doubt the story is that it changes with the telling. Also it didn't surface until after Will was dead. Later Gene clarified what happened. Yes, he was in the telegraph office - this was in the Tulsa suburb of Chelsea - when Will walked in. Will wrote his message and Gene sent it off. So Gene did meet Will, but Will didn't hear Gene sing.

Actually Gene got the idea of going to New York to make records when he was in Madill. He knew that Johnny and Frankie Marvin, the sons of local restaurant owners, had done just that and were now part of the New York entertainment scene. Since railroad employees were given passes that would let them travel for free, in September 1927, Gene was on a train that pulled into New York.

Gene connected with the Marvin brothers, and they took him to the various recording companies. A meeting with Victor executive Leonard Joy and band leader Nat Shilkret led to a recording test. Although Leonard and Nat were impressed they didn't think Gene had the experience needed to be a major performer. His singing was too stiff and Gene admitted he was nervous. They suggested Gene get some performing experience and come back in six months or a year. Johnny Marvin advised Gene to forget Tin Pan Alley stuff and stick with the cowboy songs. He also noticed Gene couldn't yodel^◊ - at the time de rigueur for cowboy music - and advised him to learn.

Gene returned to Oklahoma and although he kept working as a telegrapher, he went to KVOO radio in Tulsa about a singing spot. Although he himself didn't get a regular show he did begin performing on the station. He also became more active in the local music scene, met other musicians, and began performing more.

Following Johnny's advice, Gene was learning to yodel although it still gave him trouble. So it wasn't six months but more like two years and toward the end of 1929, that Gene decided to head back to New York. Staying with Frankie, Gene and his friend Jimmy Long made some records for Victor. The executives now thought that Gene and Jimmy could be new stars.

Gene, though, didn't want to get tied in to an exclusive contract. So he next walked into the office of the American Record Company. The company was not a major player and they were trying to build up a stable of stars. The head of the company, Arthur Satherley ("Uncle Art" to his friends) told Gene to play something. After Gene finished the song, Uncle Art" said 1) Gene should quit trying to sing like Jimmy Rodgers and 2) they could use him. In late October, Gene recorded a number of sides for American Records.

Then five days after the session ended, October 29, 1929, the Stock Market crashed. But despite what many think, it took some time for people to realize that the country was now in a decade-long Great Depression. So for a while many Americans kept going as if nothing happened. And one of those who kept going as if nothing had happened was Gene. He just kept singing, performing, and making records.

We notice that Gene was able to succeed in show business because 1) he had talent, 2) he had confidence, and 3) he didn't sit around. He also kept developing his skills and had a good head for business. In later years Gene knew that some critics thought he wasn't the best actor or the best singer. "But I sure could count," he said.

But Gene's story also shows he overcame one of the most difficult parts of show business success - getting your foot in the door. Of course, that was the day when an aspiring artist could literally walk into the office of a record company and ask to see the boss. Although he might have to cool his heels for a couple of days, he usually could get in.

But Gene also had what we call "contacts" that eased the door open. Both Johnny and Frankie Marvin were already performers in New York when Gene arrived, and they were both willing to help him get started. That was a big help.

Both Johnny and Frankie had long careers. Later Johnny moved away from Country and Western into more popular genres and specialized in playing the ukelele. Frankie, though, stuck with what was then still called "hillbilly"^⩕ music and was later elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was particularly successful singing Jimmy Rodgers songs. Gene also ignored the advice of Uncle Art and continued to learn his yodeling and became proficient enough to make Jimmy's songs part of his repertories.

There's one thing people always said about Gene. He was generous to his friends and never forgot when someone had done him a good turn. Although neither Jimmy or Frankie achieved the superstardom that Gene did, Gene always made sure that his two friends had work, and they appeared in a number of his movies and recordings. Frankie took up the steel guitar and his playing became characteristic of the Gene Autry sound.

Both Johnny and Frankie wrote songs for Gene. And now prepare to be shocked! shocked! Historians have pointed out that songs credited to Gene were sometimes written by others. If he liked the song, Gene would buy the copyright and with it an agreement to put his name on the title page. Nowadays many people are aghast at this practice (and if you're ever aghast in my house, please feel free to do what you like).

But a composer ghost-writing a popular song for a famous performer was (and is) common enough and was something many songwriters were happy with. Selling a song to a big star meant you could get more money than if the song was simply one of a dozen tunes included in a cheap songbook. And it was better to get a decent one-time payment rather than have the money come in as dribs and drabs as royalties.

But we should not belittle Gene's contributions as a songwriter. It's not that Gene didn't write songs, but he usually just didn't sit down at his desk and pen a tune from start to finish. Instead he would take an earlier song and change the lyrics and even the tune. This modus songwritingandus is in fact very common for popular composers with a folk bent.

For instance, Gene's - quote - "signature song" - unquote - was "Back in the Saddle Again". This was originally written by Ray Whitney who sang it in the film "Border G-Men". However, in Gene's rendition there are substantial differences both in the words and the music compared to Ray's version and in some ways it is a new composition. So here we have a very legitimate case of where the dual credit of "Autry-Whitley" was entirely justified.

Gene's records sold well^⍼. In fact, they sold so well that he sometimes recorded under a pseudonym. This, too, was a common practice at the time which, among other things, helped prevent over-exposure for the singers and also let the companies seem to have a larger stable of performers than they did.

Of course, Gene appeared on radio which was another emerging technology that changed the way people lived. The Great Depression began the now common tradition of finding ways to entertain yourself at home rather than go out and spend money. Since families had less money, people began buying fewer records and cut back trips to the theater. But with an initial capital outlay, you could buy a radio. There and for free you could listen to news, dramas, comedies, and yes, music.

And it was radio that helped Gene gain a national audience when he became a featured performer on Chicago's WLS National Barn Dance. WLS was a powerful station whose broadcasts stretched from coast to coast. Although the Barn Dance closed down in the late 1960's - ironically just as Country and Western Music was becoming mainstream - WLS is still broadcasting.

But Gene's big break was in 1930 when the American Recording Company was bought by Consolidated Film Laboratories. Sound films were only three years old but had exploded in popularity. Studios had scrambled to convert to "talkies" and many had discontinued making silent pictures altogether.

The best way to acquire sound expertise was to buy a recording company with their expert engineers. Consolidated's boss, George Yates, immediately saw the potential of putting Gene into the rapidly expanding film industry.

That made sense. With the advent of the musical motion picture, every singer had become a potential movie star. Now the audiences not only could hear but could actually see their idols perform. The sound systems in theaters were also far superior to what people had at home. Attending a movie was a far more enjoyable experience than staying in and listening to tinny renderings and scratchy songs on overly-worn recordings.

Movies soon became further divided into a number of other genres, one of which, the Western^≈, was tailor-made for Gene. In fact, what is sometimes considered the first real motion picture - one that actually told a story by showing a sequence of scenes - was The Great Train Robbery produced and distributed by Thomas Edison in 1903.

And although just getting started, there was the science fiction movie. The special effects could be rather cheesy but the audiences seemed to like movies about advanced civilizations where the inhabitants wore leotards, long capes, funny-looking helmets, and would fly around shooting death-rays at everyone and yet would still sometimes fight with swords.

Well, then why not combine the three: the musical, the Western, and science fiction? You could have a film where a singing cowboy lived on a ranch where he broadcasts a musical program and all the while and unknowingly living above an advanced underground civilization. It couldn't miss!

Released in 1935, The Phantom Empire was a 12-part serial divvied into half-hour chapters and was Gene's first starring role^⋈. The movie serial - now long gone - was the precursor to kids' television. Each week the kids would troop down to the local movie house where just before the Saturday afternoon matinee, they'd watch a thirty-minute episode which continued the story from the previous week. This insured the kids would keep coming back.

We have to admit it. The Phantom Empire has a weird plot and could have served as a basis for a Monty Python movie. Gene - playing Gene Autry - owns the "Radio Ranch" from which he broadcasts a daily radio program. But unbeknownst to Gene, underneath his ranch is Murania, an advanced civilization which not only has television, but lots of uranium as well. Although the discovery of nuclear fission was three years in the future, uranium was the source of radium, then a quite expensive commodity and which was popular for making glow-in-the-dark watch faces as well as for treating - and causing - numerous health problems.

From disturbances in the radio broadcasts, brother and sister Frankie and Betsy Baxter (played by Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross^╦), the son and daughter of one of Gene's friends, discover evidence for the civilization. They ask the Evil University Professor Beetson about it and he says it's simply static in their apparatus. But ho! ho!, Evil University Professor Beetson already knows about the existence of Murania and has plans to steal their radium.

In the course of his machinations, the Evil University Professor Beetson kills the father of Frankie and Betsy. If that's not bad enough he then frames Gene for the murder. But the kids know Gene is a good guy and help him escape so he can prove his innocence.

Although he's on the lam, Gene still has to sneak back each day to do his radio broadcast so as not to void his contract (we said it was a weird plot). This is made more difficult when he is captured by the Muranians where their beautiful but not particularly pleasant Queen Tika decides Gene must never live to reveal their presence.

Eventually with help from a local youth club called the Thunder Riders (who wear tin pots on their heads while riding around on horses that make a lot of noise), Gene, Frankie, and Betsy escape by stealing the Evil University Professor Beetson's private plane. Gene manages to prove his innocence, although sadly, Murania is destroyed due to a misapplied disintegrator ray.

But lo! there's still the question of Gene making his daily broadcast to keep his contract. So he manages to sing his song from the airplane by using the plane's radio.

When we say weird we mean weird.

Obviously the film is very campy but is kind of fun to watch, particularly if plots involving robbery, murder, and annihilation of advanced civilizations appeal. If you don't want to sit through the whole six hours, there was a version released as a 70 minute feature film. It is also of interest how you can cut out 80% of a movie and still leave the story intact.

Today it's hard to appreciate how popular Gene was and how admired - and for how long. By the 1950's Gene was on television where The Gene Autry Show ran from 1950 to 1956 - a very good run for a television program of the era.

Always an astute businessman and a wise investor, by the 1960's Gene was a millionaire many times over - and that's when a million dollars was a lot of money. He also wasn't getting any younger, and he had decided to cut back his performing.

Gene had played semi-pro baseball for a while and now he expressed interest in buying one of the new expansion teams. Unfortunately because the Brooklyn Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles in 1958, their owners weren't interested in having another Southern California team. Still, we're talking about Gene Autry, and in 1960 he was able to get a team francise for the Los Angeles Angels (switching names the city's name a few times before reverting it back to the LA monicker). To avoid hassles with scheduling the games, Gene also managed to build a new stadium in Anaheim.

Gene owned the team for nearly 40 years, and it never seemed to bother him that they were often at the bottom half in the standings. It was only in 2002 that the then-named Anaheim Angels won a World Series. But by then Gene was dead and gone.

Gene, an authentic westerner, was always interested in promoting and educating the people about the Old American West. In 1988 he founded the Autry Museum of the American West in Griffith Park, a suburb of Los Angeles just a short drive from beautiful downtown Burbank. It's also close to the Los Angeles Zoo. So if you like both animals and American Western history, the Autry Museum of the American West is a good place to visit.

And there is also the Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum which is in, yes, Gene Autry, Oklahoma.

So just how how did the town of Berwyn, Oklahoma, become Gene Autry? We'd really like to know this.

I thought you would, as Captain Mephisto said to Sidney Brand. It's very simple really.

In 1939, Gene, now a major movie and recording star, bought 1200 acres just to the west of Berwyn, Oklahoma. This was near where he had lived as a kid and was also close to Ardmore which with the then-not-inconsiderable population of 15,000 was the primary town in South Central Oklahoma (as it is now). There he established the Flying A Ranch to raise stock for rodeos. Gene also had plans to use the area for location shooting for his films.

Naturally the citizens were thrilled to have who was arguably the most popular movie star right there in town. After some thought, they decided to change the name of their town to honor their famous resident.

Although it took some doing, the city fathers managed to get the Federal Government to agree to change the depot name and post office to "Gene Autry"^≠. Then on November 16, and with their new name now official, there was a gala celebration.

Not only was Gene there along with the town's mayor plus the governor of the state, Leon C. "Red" Phillips, there were 35,000 enthusiastic spectators packed in as well. The refreshment stands were soon depleted although the story was you could find bootleg liquor, Choctaw beer^⊕, and buffalo meat.

Newsreel cameras filmed the festivities, and radio broadcast the event live to the nation. The ceremonies lasted over four hours. There were a dozen marching bands and several round-up clubs, but due to the size of the crowd the planned parade had to be called off. There just wasn't enough room. You couldn't see the town for the people, one reporter mentioned, and another said you couldn't see the people for the dust.

Naturally Gene made his radio broadcast from the town. He announced he would be making hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the ranch. The townspeople cheered.

Three weeks later, the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Gene immediately volunteered for the Army Air Force where he remained for the duration. After the war he sold the ranch and settled permanently in California. He never returned to his namesake town.

Major highways rarely run alongside the railroads anymore. But if you're ever heading south on I-35 from Oklahoma City to Dallas, when you reach Exit 40 you'll see the sign directing you to Oklahoma Highway 53 East toward Springer and yes, Gene Autry. If you take the exit and turn left, you can drive about 8 miles until you see the entrance to the Ardmore Municipal Airport dead ahead^≡. Turn right on - yes - Gene Autry Boulevard and continue south past the large Dollar Distribution Center. In a little over half a mile you'll see that Gene Autry Boulevard turns left and reverts back to good old OK 53. Rather than follow this left curve, keep going straight on what is Frost Street (OK 53A). Strictly speaking Frost Street will tee in to Melton Avenue although it looks like Frost is simply bending to the right. Shortly after that, Melton itself curves left to become North Main Street. Keep heading south and soon you'll be at the corner of Main and Commerce.

At this point North Main becomes South Main. Keep driving south, and you'll shortly come to King Avenue to your right. Turn right onto King and follow the road until you reach Grand Avenue. This is a very short street which for all practical purposes is a right curve connecting King to Prairie Avenue. At the intersection of Grand and Prairie, the Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum will be right across the street^⊗.

References

Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, Holly George-Warren, Oxford University Press, 2007.

Gene Autry: His Life and Career, Don Cusic, McFarland, 2007.

New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy, Michael Duchemin, University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.

"Orvon Gene Autry (1907-1998)", Eric Dabney, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.

"Arbuckle Mountains", Dale Splinter and Richard Marston The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.

"Missour-ee or Missou-rah: Pronunciation of Missouri Has Centuries of History, says MU Researcher", Timothy Wall, News Bureau University of Missouri, July 22, 2013.

The Story of Golf in Oklahoma, Del Lemon, University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

"Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California", Gerald Haslam, Alexandra Haslam Russell, and Richard Chon, University of California Press, 1999.

Border G-Man, George O'Brien (actor), Laraine Day (actor), Ray Whitley (actor), David Howard (Director), Oliver Drake (Screenplay), Bernard McConville (Story), RKO, 1938, Internet Movie Data Base.

"Gene Autry", Internet Movie Data Base.

"Ken Maynard", Internet Movie Data Base.

From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors, Rob Edelman (Editor), Bill Nowlin (Editor), Society of American Baseball Research, 2018.

"Frisco System", George C. Werner, Texas State Historical Society.

"Longing for the 'Golden Age' of Air Travel? Be Careful What You Wish For", Janet Bednarek, The Conversation, November 25, 2014.

"Gene Autry: Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award", Songwriters Hall of Fame.

"Choc Beer", Guy Logsdon, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.

Shadowplay, David Carins, The Phantom Empire Synopsis, Chapter 1 (April 27, 2017) - Chapter 12 (July 3, 2017).

"Gene Autry Lays Claim to Fame", The Daily Oklahoma, NewOK, December 15, 1991.

"Gene Autry", John Morris, Ghost Towns of Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 1978.

"Ardmore", The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,