"As Wild felled one of the redskins by a blow from the butt of his revolver, and sprang for the one with the tomahawk, the chief's daughter suddenly appeared. Raising her hands, she exclaimed, 'Go back, Young Wild West. I will save her!'" (1908)

Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier (It must be taken into consideration that the definition of the West changed over time.) and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 1900s and Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century. The genre peaked around the early 1960s, largely due to the popularity of televised Westerns such as Bonanza. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and has reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few western states, only carry a small number of Western fiction books.

History[link]

Pre-1850s[link]

The predecessor of the western in American literature emerged early with tales of the frontier. The most famous of the early nineteenth century frontier novels of the frontier were James Fenimore Cooper's, the five novels making up the Leatherstocking Tales. Cooper's novels were largely set in what was at the time the American frontier, the Appalachian Mountains and areas west of there. As did his 1824 novel The Prairie most later westerns would typically take place west of the Mississippi River.

1850s-1900[link]

The Western as a specialized genre got its start in the "penny dreadfuls" and later the "dime novels". Published in June 1860, "Malaeska; the Indian Wife of the White Hunter" is considered the first dime novel. These cheaply made books were hugely successful and capitalized on the many stories that were being told about the mountain men, outlaws, settlers and lawmen who were taming the western frontier. Many of these novels were fictionalized stories based on actual people: Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp (who was still alive at the time) and Billy the Kid.

By 1900, the new medium of pulp magazines also helped to relate these adventures to easterners. Meanwhile, non-American authors like the German Karl May picked up the genre, went to full novel length, and made it hugely popular and successful in continental Europe from about 1880 on, though they were generally dismissed as trivial by the literary critics of the day.

1900s-1930s[link]

Popularity grew with the publication of Owen Wister's The Virginian in 1902 and especially Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage in 1912. The first Hopalong Cassidy stories by Clarence l. Mulford appeared in 1904 both as dime novels and in pulp magazines. When pulp magazines exploded in popularity in the 1920s, western fiction greatly benefited (as did the author Max Brand, who excelled at the western short story). Pulp magazines that specialised in Westerns inclued Western Story Magazine, Star Western, West, Cowboy Stories and Ranch Romances. ^[1] The simultaneous popularity of Western movies in the 1920s also helped the genre.

1940s-1960s[link]

In the 1940s several seminal Westerns were published, including The Ox-Bow Incident (1940) by Walter van Tilburg Clark, The Big Sky (1947) and The Way West (1949) by A.B. Guthrie, Jr., and Shane (1949) by Jack Schaefer. Many other Western authors gained readership in the 1950s, such as Luke Short, Ray Hogan, and Louis L'Amour.

The genre peaked around the early 1960s, largely due to the tremendous number of Westerns on television. The burnout of the American public on television Westerns in the late 1960s seemed to have an effect on the literature as well, and interest in Western literature began to wane.

Western comics[link]

Western novels, films and pulps gave birth to Western comics, which were very popular, particularly from the late 1940s until circa 1967, when the comics began to turn to reprints. This can particularly be seen at Marvel Comics, where Westerns began circa 1948 and thrived until 1967, when one of their flagship titles, Kid Colt Outlaw (1949–1979), ceased to have new stories and entered the reprint phase. Other notable long-running Marvel Western comics included Rawhide Kid (1955–1957, 1960–1979) Two-Gun Kid (1948–1962), and Marvel Wild Western (1948–1957).

DC Comics published the long-running series All-Star Western (1951–1961) and Western Comics (1948–1961), and Charlton Comics published Billy the Kid (1957–1983) and Cheyenne Kid (1957–1973). Magazine Enterprises' Straight Arrow ran from 1950–1956, and Prize Comics' Prize Comics Western ran from 1948–1956.

Fawcett Comics published a number of Western titles, including Hopalong Cassidy from 1948–1953. They also published comics starring actors known for their Western roles, including Tom Mix Western (1948–1953) and Gabby Hayes Western (1948–1953). Similarly, Dell Comics published Roy Rogers comics from 1948–1961, and Magazine Enterprises published Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid from 1949–1955.

The popular Western comic strip Red Ryder was syndicated in hundreds of American newspapers from 1938–1964.

1970s and 1980s[link]

In the 1970s, the work of Louis L'Amour began to catch hold of most western readers and he has tended to dominate the western reader lists ever since. George G. Gilman also maintained a cult following for several years in the 1970s and 1980s. Larry McMurtry's and Cormac McCarthy's works remain notable. Specifically, McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and McCarthy's Blood Meridian (both published in 1985) are recognized as major masterpieces both within and beyond the genre. Elmer Kelton, mostly noted for his novels The Good Old Boys and The Time it Never Rained, was voted by the Western Writers of America as the "Best Western Writer of All Time". Early in the 1970s Indiana novelist Marilyn Durham wrote two popular Western novels, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing and Dutch Uncle. Western readership as a whole began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s.

1990s and 2000s[link]

Readership of western fiction reached a new low in the first decade of the twenty-first century, and most bookstores, outside of a few western states, only carry a small number of Western fiction books. Nevertheless, several Western fiction series are published monthly, such as The Trailsman, Slocum, Longarm and The Gunsmith. The genre has seen the rumblings of a revival, and 2008 saw the publication of an all-Western short story magazine Great Western Fiction which was published by Dry River Publishing in Colorado. Unfortunately the magazine was short-lived and folded after only two issues.^[2]

Organizations[link]

Western authors are represented by the Western Writers of America, who present the annual Spur Awards and Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement. The organization was founded in 1953 to promote the literature of the American West. While the founding members were mostly western fiction writers, the organization began getting a number of other members from other backgrounds such as historians, regional history buffs, and writers from other genres.

See also[link]

• List of Western fiction authors
• Western (genre)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Western Writers of America website

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (February 2008)

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Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 – May 12, 1944) was an American author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary Westerns under the pen name Max Brand. His other pseudonyms include George Owen Baxter, George Evans, David Manning, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis and Frederick Frost.

Faust was born in Seattle to Gilbert Leander Faust and Elizabeth (Uriel) Faust, both of whom died when Faust was still a boy. He grew up in central California, and later worked as a cowhand on one of the many ranches of the San Joaquin Valley. Faust attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he began to write for student publications, poetry magazines and newspapers. Failing to graduate, Faust joined the Canadian Army in 1915, but deserted the next year and moved to New York City.

During the 1910s, Faust sold stories to the pulp magazines of Frank Munsey, including All-Story Weekly and Argosy Magazine. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Faust tried to enlist but was rejected. He married Dorothy Schillig in 1917, and the couple had three children.

In the 1920s, Faust wrote extensively for pulp magazines, especially Street & Smith’s Western Story Magazine, a weekly for which he would write over a million words a year under various pen names, often seeing two serials and a short novel published in a single issue. In 1921, he suffered a severe heart attack, and for the rest of his life suffered from chronic heart disease.

His love for mythology was a constant source of inspiration for his fiction, and it has been speculated that these classical influences accounted in some part for his success as a popular writer. Many of his stories would later inspire films. He created the Western character Destry, featured in several cinematic versions of Destry Rides Again, and his character Dr. Kildare was adapted to motion pictures, radio, television and comic books.

In 1934 Faust began to write for upscale, slick magazines, often writing from a villa in Italy. In 1938, due to political events in Europe, he returned with his family to the United States and settled in Hollywood where he worked as a screenwriter for a number of film studios. At one point, Warner Brothers paid him $3,000 a week (a year’s salary for an average worker at the time), and he made a fortune from MGM’s Dr. Kildare adaptions. Faust became one of the highest paid writers of his day. Ironically, Faust disparaged his commercial success and used his real name only for the poetry that he regarded as his literary calling.

When World War II began, Faust insisted on doing his part, and despite being well into middle age and having a heart condition, managed to become a front line war correspondent. Soldiers with whom he served reportedly enjoyed having this popular author among them. While traveling with American soldiers fighting in Italy in 1944, Faust was mortally wounded by shrapnel. He was personally commended for bravery by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Legacy[link]

Faust rivalled Edgar Wallace and Isaac Asimov as one of the most prolific authors of all time. He wrote more than 500 novels for magazines and almost as many shorter stories. His total literary output is estimated to have been between 25,000,000 and 30,000,000 words. Most of his books and stories were produced at a breakneck pace, which sometimes amounted to 12,000 words in one weekend. New books based on magazine serials or previously unpublished works authored by him continue to appear, so that Faust has averaged a new book every four months for seventy-five years. Moreover, some work by him is reprinted every week each year, in one format or another, somewhere in the world.

External links[link]

• Max Brand official website
• Guide to the Frederick Schiller Faust Papers at The Bancroft Library
• Works by or about Max Brand at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
• Works by Max Brand at Project Gutenberg (transcribed text)
• Works by or about Max Brand in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Max Brand public domain audiobooks from LibriVox

Jacques Rancière

Born	1940 Algiers, French Algeria
Era	20th / 21st-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Marxism
Main interests	Politics Aesthetics
Notable ideas	theories of democracy, disagreement, visual aesthetics
Influenced by Plato, Aristotle, Ballanche, Jacotot, Marx, Althusser, Foucault, Lacan, Lyotard
Influenced Laclau, Žižek, Critchley, Bernard Aspe, Kristin Ross, Todd May

Jacques Rancière (born Algiers, 1940) is a French philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris (St. Denis) who came to prominence when he co-authored Reading Capital (1968), with the structural Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser.^[1]

Life and work[link]

Rancière contributed to the influential volume Reading Capital (though his contribution is not contained in the partial English translation) before publicly breaking with Althusser over his attitude toward the May 1968 student uprising in Paris; Rancière felt Althusser's theoretical stance didn't leave enough room for spontaneous popular uprising.^[2]

Since then, Rancière has departed from the path set by his teacher and published a series of works probing the concepts that make up our understanding of political discourse, such as ideology and proletariat. He sought to address whether the working class in fact exists, and how the masses of workers that thinkers like Althusser referred to continuously enter into a relationship with knowledge, particularly the limits of philosophers' knowledge with respect to the proletariat. An example of this line of thinking is Rancière's book entitled Le philosophe et ses pauvres (The Philosopher and His Poor, 1983), a book about the role of the poor in the intellectual lives of philosophers.

Most recently Rancière has written on the topic of human rights and specifically the role of international human rights organizations in asserting the authority to determine which groups of people — again the problem of masses — justify human rights interventions, and even war.

Rancière's book, The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation, published in 1981, was written for educators and educators-to-be. In the text, through the story of Joseph Jacotot, Rancière challenges his readers to consider equality as a starting point rather than a destination. In doing so, he asks educators to abandon the cultural deficiency and salvation themes so pervasive in educational rhetoric today. Rather than requiring informed schoolmasters to guide students towards prescribed and alienating ends, Rancière argues that educators can channel the equal intelligence in all to facilitate their intellectual growth in virtually unlimited directions. The schoolmaster need not know anything (i.e., s/he may be ignorant). With the premise that all are of equal intelligence, and the insights from which knowledge is constructed can be found in any collective educational exercise founded on this principle, Ranciere claims that the poor and disenfranchised should feel perfectly able to teach themselves whatever it is they want to know. He believes that anyone can lead and that the oppressed should not feel bound to experts or reliant on others for their intellectual emancipation.

Influence[link]

In 2006, it was reported that Rancière's aesthetic theory had become a point of reference in the visual arts, and Rancière has lectured at such art world events as the Frieze Art Fair.^[2] Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has cited Rancière as her favourite philosopher.^{[3][citation needed]}

Selected bibliography[link]

Rancière's work in English translation

• Reading Capital (1968) (With Louis Althusser, Roger Establet, Pierre Macherey and Étienne Balibar - in the French original edition)

• “Reply to Levy”. Telos 33 (Fall 1977). New York: Telos Press.

• The Nights of Labor: The Workers' Dream in Nineteenth-Century France (1989) - This book is an influential work of social history which examines in detail the records of ordinary workers' lives in order to produce a new picture of their surprising political sophistication ISBN 0-87722-833-7.

• The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (1991) - This book describes the emancipatory education of Joseph Jacotot, a post-Revolutionary philosopher of education who discovered that he could teach things that he himself did not know. The book is both a history and a contemporary intervention in the philosophy and politics of education, through the concept of autodidactism; Rancière chronicles Jacotot's "adventures," but he articulates Jacotot's theory of "emancipation" and "stultification" in the present tense ISBN 0-8047-1969-1.

• The Names of History: On the Poetics of Knowledge (1994) - This is a relatively brief but dense book, arguing for an epistemological critique of the methods and goals of the traditional study of history. It has been influential in the philosophy of history

• On the Shores of Politics (1995): ISBN 0-86091-637-5

• Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy (1998) - This book is a return to classical texts about the origins and meaning of politics, in an attempt to re-theorize a "disagreement" which may not be simply transcendable ISBN 0-8166-2844-0.

• Short Voyages to the Land of the People (2003): ISBN 0-8047-3682-0

• The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible, ed. and transl. by Gabriel Rockhill (2004): ISBN 978-0-8264-8954-8

• The Philosopher and His Poor, ed. Andrew Parker, co-trans. John Drury, Corinne Oster, and Andrew Parker (2004): ISBN 978-0-8223-3274-9

• The Future of the Image (2007): ISBN 1-84467-107-0

• Hatred of Democracy (2007): ISBN 978-1-84467-098-7

• The Aesthetic Unconscious (2009), transl., Debra Keates & James Swenson: ISBN 978-0-7456-4644-2

• The Emancipated Spectator (2010): ISBN 978-1-84467-343-8

• Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics (2010): ISBN 978-1-84706-445-5

• Chronicles of Consensual Times (2010), tr. by Steven Corcoran: ISBN 978-0-8264-4288-8

• The Politics of Literature (2011), tr. by Julie Rose: ISBN 978-0-7456-4531-5

• Staging the People: The Proletarian and His Double (2011), tr. by David Fernbach: ISBN 978-1-84467-697-2

• Althusser's Lesson (2011) - The first English translation of Rancière’s first book, in which he explores and begins to move beyond the thought of his mentor, Louis Althusser (tr. by Emiliano Battista) ISBN 978-1-4411-0805-0

• Mallarme: The Politics of the Siren (2011), tr. by Steven Corcoran: ISBN 978-0-8264-3840-9

Selected articles in English

• "Who Is the Subject of the Rights of Man?" The South Atlantic Quarterly, Volume 103, Number 2/3, Spring/Summer 2004, pp. 297–310

• "Is there a Deleuzian Aesthetics?" Tr. Radmila Djordjevic, Qui Parle?, Volume 14, Number 2, 2004, pp. 1–14

Further reading

• Jacques Rancière: Politics, History, Aesthetics. Eds. Phil Watts and Gabriel Rockhill. (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2009). Includes essays by, among others, Kristin Ross, Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy, Peter Hallward, Bruno Bosteels, Andrew Parker, and Étienne Balibar. Also includes an Afterword by Rancière: "The Method of Equality: An Answer to Some Questions".

• Politica delle immagini. Su Jacques Rancière, ed. by Roberto De Gaetano (Cosenza: Pellegrini, 2011). Includes essays by, among others, Rancière, Alain Badiou, Jean-Louis Leutrat, Dork Zabunyan.

Films[link]

• Marx Reloaded, Arte, April 2011.

Video Lectures[link]

• Jacques Rancière. "What Makes Images Unacceptable?" Pacific Northwest College of Art. Portland, Oregon, February 29, 2008
• Jacques Rancière. "Nights of Labour." Sarai Centre for the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). Video Lecture. February 6, 2009
• Jacques Rancière. "Negation and Cinematic Vertigo." European Graduate School. Video Lecture. August 2009

Interviews[link]

• "Democracy Means Equality", interview in Radical Philosophy
• Politics and Aesthetics, Jacques Ranciere interviewed by Peter Hallward, 2003
• Eurozine interview with Ranciere, 2006
• Art of the possible: Fulvia Carnevale and John Kelsey in conversation with Jacques Rancière
• "Art Is Going Elsewhere. And Politics Has to Catch It", Jacques Rancière interviewed by Sudeep Dasgupta, 2008
• "Aesthetics against Incarnation: An Interview by Anne Marie Oliver," Critical Inquiry, 2008
• (French) "Jean-Luc Godard, La religion de l'art. Entretien avec Jacques Rancière" paru dans CinémAction, « Où en est le God-Art ? », n° 109, 2003, pp. 106–112, reproduit sur le site d'analyse L'oBservatoire (simple appareil).

Short Articles[link]

• Ten Theses on Politics, 2001
• "Guantanamo, Justice, and Bushspeak: Prisoners of the Infinite", CounterPunch article (2002)
  • (French) A special issue of the journal Labyrinthe, 2004 (in French): "Jacques Rancière, l'indiscipliné"
• Preface to new Hindi translation of 'Nights of Labour', January 2009

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jacques Rancière Faculty Page at European Graduate School
• Blog. Discussions and updates on Jacques Rancière
• With and Around Jacques Rancière. Art and Research. Volume 2. No. 1. Summer 2008
• Thomas Campbell Rancière's Lessons. [1]
• Ben Davis. Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics. artnet. Book Review. August 17, 2006.
• Audio Recordings of guest lectures given at U.C. Berkeley. February/March 2008
• Luka Arsenjuk. On Jacques Rancière. Eurozine, 1 March 2007
• (Spanish) Adolfo Vásquez Rocca. Jacques Rancière; politics and aisthesis
• Eli Bornowsky Notes on the Politics of Aesthetics. Fillip. Book Review. 2006
• Kristin Ross. Kristin Ross on Jacques Rancière Artforum. March 2007
• Juha Suoranta (2010). Jacques Rancière on Radical Equality and Adult Education. The Encyclopaedia of Philosophy of Education [2].
• 'The Politics of Aesthetics': Jacques Rancière Interviewed by Nicolas Vieillescazes this interview piece was first posted: 12-01-09 at the website of Naked Punch

Orvon Grover Autry^[1] (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.

From 1934 to 1959, Autry appeared in 94 films and 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true—and profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans.^[2] Autry was also one of the most important figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmy Rogers.^[2] His singing cowboy movies were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.^[2] In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again", Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus", which he wrote, "Frosty the Snowman", and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance.^[3] The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Orvon Grover Autry was born September 29, 1907 near Tioga, Texas, the grandson of a Methodist preacher. His parents, Delbert Autry and Elnora Ozment, moved to Ravia, Oklahoma in the 1920s. He worked on his father's ranch while at school. After leaving high school in 1925, Autry worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. His talent at singing and playing guitar led to performing at local dances.

Singing career[link]

While working as a telegrapher, Autry would sing and accompany himself on the guitar to pass the lonely hours, especially when he had the midnight shift. One night he got encouragement to sing professionally from a customer, the famous humorist and wit, Will Rogers, who had heard Autry singing.^[4][5][6]

As soon as he could collect money to travel, he went to New York. He auditioned for Victor Records, at just about the time (end of 1928) it became RCA Victor. According to Nathaniel Shilkret,^[7] director of Light Music for Victor at the time, Autry asked to speak to Shilkret when Autry found that he had been turned down. Shilkret explained to Autry that he was turned down not because of his voice, but because Victor had just made contracts with two similar singers. Autry left with a letter of introduction from Shilkret and the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two. In 1928 Autry was singing on Tulsa’s radio station KVOO as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy," and the Victor archives^[8] shows an October 9, 1929, entry stating that the vocal duet of Jimmie Long and Gene Autry with two Hawaiian guitars, directed by L. L. Watson, recorded “My Dreaming of You” (Matrix 56761) and “My Alabama” (Matrix 56762).

Autry signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago, Illinois, on the WLS-AM radio show National Barn Dance for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer-songwriter Smiley Burnette. In his early recording career, Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of Mother Jones" in 1931.

Autry also recorded many "hillbilly"-style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City, which were certainly different in style and content from his later recordings. These were much closer in style to the Prairie Ramblers or Dick Justice, and included the "Do Right, Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues," both similar to "Deep Elem Blues." These late-Prohibition era songs deal with bootlegging, corrupt police, and women whose occupation was certainly vice. These recordings are generally not heard today but are available on European import labels, such as JSP Records.

His first hit was in 1932 with "That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine," a duet with fellow railroad man, Jimmy Long, and which Autry and Long co-wrote, which was parodied by Sesame Street as "That Furry Blue Mommy Of Mine."

Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back In The Saddle Again," as well as many Christmas holiday songs, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Frosty the Snowman," and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Autry was the original owner of Challenge Records. The label's biggest hit was "Tequila" by The Champs in 1958, which started the rock-and-roll instrumental craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He sold the label soon after, but the maroon and later green label has the "GA" in a shield above the label name.

Autry made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by himself. His records sold more than 100 million copies and he has more than a dozen gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold.

Film career[link]

Gene Autry in Oh, Susanna!, 1936

Discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934, Autry and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. in In Old Santa Fe as part of a singing cowboy quartet; he was then given the starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire. Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly-formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film. Pat Buttram was picked by Gene Autry, recently returned from his World War II service in the Army Air Force, to work with him. Buttram would co-star with Gene Autry in more than 40 films and in over 100 episodes of Autry's television show

Gene Autry in The Gene Autry Show episode "The Black Rider", 1950

In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll Autry was listed every year from 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1954 (he was serving in the US Army Air Corps 1943–45), holding first place 1937 to 1942, and second place (after Roy Rogers) 1947 to 1954.^[9] He appeared in the similar Box Office poll from 1936 to 1955, holding first place from 1936 to 1942 and second place (after Rogers) from 1943 to 1952.^[10] While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Autry also appeared in the Top Ten Money Makers Poll of all films from 1940 to 1942,^[11] His Gene Autry Flying "A" Ranch Rodeo show debuted in 1940.^[12]

Gene Autry was the first of the singing cowboys in films, succeeded as the top star by Roy Rogers when he served in World War II. Autry briefly returned to Republic after the war to finish out his contract, which had been suspended for the duration of his military service and which he had tried to have declared void after his discharge. He appeared in 1951 in the film Texans Never Cry, with a role for newcomer Mary Castle. After 1951 he formed his own production company to make Westerns under his own control, which continued the 1947 distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures.

Melody Ranch[link]

Autry purchased the 110 acre Monogram Movie Ranch in 1953, located in Placerita Canyon near Newhall, California in the northern San Gabriel Mountains foothills. He renamed it the Melody Ranch after his movie Melody Ranch.^[13] Autry then sold 98 acres of the property, most of the original ranch. The Western town, adobes, and ranch cabin sets and open land for location shooting were retained as a movie ranch on 12 acres. A decade after he purchased Melody Ranch, a brushfire swept through in August 1962, destroying most of the original standing sets. However, the devastated landscape did prove useful for productions such as Combat!. A complete adobe ranch survived at the northeast section of the ranch.^[14][15]

In 1990, after his favorite horse Champion, who lived in retirement there, died, Autry put the remaining 12 acre ranch up for sale. It is now known as the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio and Melody Ranch Studios on 22 acres.^[16] The ranch has Melody Ranch Museum open year-round; and one weekend a year the entire ranch is open to the public during the Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival, another legacy of Autry's multi-talents.^[17][18]

Radio and television career[link]

Gene Autry with the Pinafores, who sang on his weekly radio show, 1948

From 1940 to 1956 Autry had a huge hit with a weekly show on CBS Radio, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. His horse, Champion, also had a CBS-TV and Mutual radio series, The Adventures of Champion. He created the Cowboy Code, or Cowboy Commandments, in response to his young radio listeners aspiring to emulate him. Under his code, the Cowboy must:

1. Never shoot first, hit a smaller man or take unfair advantage;
2. Never go back on his word or a trust confided in him;
3. Always tell the truth;
4. Be gentle with children, the elderly and animals;
5. Not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas;
6. Help people in distress;
7. Be a good worker;
8. Keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits;
9. Respect women, parents and his nation's laws;
10. Be a patriot.

Beginning in 1950 he produced and starred in his own television show on CBS and made several appearances on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA in the late 1950s. In 1995 Autry costarred with Charlton Heston, Mickey Rooney, Deborah Winters and Peter Graves in the Warren Chaney docudrama, America: A Call to Greatness.^[19]

Military career[link]

Autry served as a C-47 Skytrain pilot in the United States Army Air Forces, with the rank of flight officer^[20] in the Air Transport Command during World War II flying dangerous missions over the Himalayas, nicknamed the Hump, between Burma and China.

Rodeo[link]

Gene Autry and Gail Davis, 1941

Few are aware of Autry's longtime involvement in professional rodeo. In 1942 Autry, at the height of his screen popularity, had a string of rodeo stock based in Ardmore, Oklahoma. A year later he became a partner in the World Championship Rodeo Company, which furnished livestock for many of the country’s major rodeos. In 1954 he acquired Montana’s top bucking string from the estate of Leo J. Cremer, Sr. and put Canadian saddle bronc riding champion Harry Knight in charge of the operation. A merger with the World Championship Rodeo Company in 1956 made Autry the sole owner. He moved the entire company to a 24,000-acre (97 km²) ranch near Fowler, Colorado, with Knight as the working partner in the operation. For the next 12 years they provided livestock for most of the major rodeos in Texas, Colorado, Montana and Nebraska. When the company was sold in 1968, both men continued to be active in rodeo. For his work as a livestock contractor Autry was inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.

Retirement[link]

Autry retired from show business in 1964, having made almost 100 films up to 1955 and over 600 records. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969 and to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. After retiring, he invested widely and in real estate, radio, and television, including the purchase from dying Republic Pictures the rights for films he had made for the company.

In 1952 Autry bought the old Monogram Ranch in Placerita Canyon (Newhall-Santa Clarita, California,) and renamed it Melody Ranch. Numerous "B" Westerns and TV shows were shot there during Autry's ownership, including the initial years of Gunsmoke with James Arness. Melody Ranch burned down in 1962, dashing Autry's plans to turn it into a museum. According to a published story by Autry the fire caused him to turn his attention to Griffith Park, where he would build his Museum of Western Heritage (now known as the Autry National Center). Melody Ranch came back to life after 1991, when it was purchased by the Veluzat family and rebuilt. It survives as a movie location today as well as the home of the City of Santa Clarita's annual Cowboy Festival, where Autry's legacy takes center stage.

Baseball[link]

Gene Autry's number 26 was retired by the California Angels in 1992.

In the 1950s Autry had been a minority owner of the minor-league Hollywood Stars. In 1960, when Major League Baseball announced plans to add an expansion team in Los Angeles, Autry—who had once declined an opportunity to play in the minor leagues—expressed an interest in acquiring the radio broadcast rights to the team's games. Baseball executives were so impressed by his approach that he was persuaded to become the owner of the franchise rather than simply its broadcast partner. The team, initially called the Los Angeles Angels upon its 1961 debut, moved to suburban Anaheim in 1966, and was renamed the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels from 1997 until 2005, when it became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Autry served as vice president of the American League from 1983 until his death. In 1995 he sold a quarter share of the team to The Walt Disney Company and a controlling interest the following year, with the remaining share to be transferred after his death. Earlier, in 1982, he sold Los Angeles television station KTLA for $245 million.^{[citation needed]} He also sold several radio stations he owned, including KSFO in San Francisco, KMPC in Los Angeles, KOGO in San Diego, and other stations in the Golden West radio network.

The number 26 (as in 26th man) was retired by the Angels in Autry's honor. The chosen number reflected that baseball's rosters are 25-man strong, so Autry's unflagging support for his team made him the 26th member.

Death[link]

Included for many years on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans, he slipped to their "near miss" category in 1995 with an estimated net worth of $320 million. Gene Autry died of lymphoma 3 days after his 91st birthday at his home in Studio City, California and is interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. His death on October 2, 1998 came fewer than three months after the death of another celebrated cowboy of the silver screen, radio, and TV, Roy Rogers.

Personal life[link]

In 1932 he married Ina May Spivey (who died in 1980), who was the niece of Jimmy Long. In 1981 he married Jacqueline Ellam, who had been his banker. He had no children by either marriage.

Legacy[link]

Gene Autry statue in Palm Springs, California

On November 16, 1941, the town of Berwyn, Oklahoma, north of Ardmore, was renamed in honor of Gene Autry.

In 1972 he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Autry was a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Burbank Lodge No. 1497. His 1976 autobiography, co-written by Mickey Herskowitz, was titled Back in the Saddle Again after his 1939 hit and signature tune. He is also featured year after year, on radio and "shopping mall music" at the holiday season, by his recording of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." "Rudolph" became the first #1 hit of the 1950s. CMT in 2003 ranked him #38 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.

When the Anaheim Angels won their first World Series in 2002, much of the championship was dedicated to him. The interchange of Interstate 5 and State Route 134, located near the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, is signed as the "Gene Autry Memorial Interchange." In 2007, he became a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana.

Johnny Cash recorded a song in 1978 about Autry called "Who is Gene Autry?" Cash also got Autry to sign his famous black Martin D-35 guitar, which he plays in the video of "Hurt."^{[citation needed]}

Autry was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2004, the Starz Entertainment Corporation joined forces with the Autry estate to restore all of his films, which have been shown on Starz's Encore Western Channel on cable television on a regular basis to date since.

Hollywood Walk of Fame[link]

Autry is the only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one in each of the five categories maintained by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.^[21] They are:

The Museum of the American West[link]

The Museum of the American West in Los Angeles' Griffith Park was founded in 1988 as the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, featuring much of his collection of Western art and memorabilia. Its mission is to preserve everything related to the "mythic aspects" of the American "Old West" from true historical lifestyles to the 70-year saga of the Hollywood Western movie genre.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

1930s[link]

1940s[link]

1950s[link]

1990s[link]

Filmography[link]

From 1934 to 1959, Gene Autry appeared in 94 films. From 1950 to 1955, he also appeared in 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. In 1985, he made his last appearance on screen in a television movie, All American Cowboy.^[12][24]

See also[link]

• Autry National Center of the American West
• Melody Movie Ranch
• Hollywood Christmas Parade
• Gene Autry, Oklahoma
• List of best-selling music artists

References[link]

Citations

Bibliography

External links[link]

• Official Gene Autry website
• Gene Autry at the Internet Movie Database
• Gene Autry at AllRovi
• Gene Autry at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• Autry National Center
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio Museum
• Melody Ranch: Movie Magic in Placerita Canyon
• Memories of the Place I Called 'Melody Ranch'
• Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival at Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio
• Old Time Radio Downloads
• Discography of Gene Autry albums
• Gene Autry, "Back in the Saddle Again," Jubilee USA, September 10, 1960
• The Phantom Empire (1935)

v t e Sports in Orange County, California Baseball MLB: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim • Independent: Orange County Flyers1 Ice hockey NHL: Anaheim Ducks Basketball WCPBL: Newport Beach Surf • Orange County Gladiators Football IWFL: Southern California Breakers Roller derby RDCL: Orange County Roller Girls Soccer PASL: Anaheim Bolts • PDL: Orange County Blue Star Tennis WTT: Orange County Breakers College athletics NCAA Div. I: Cal State Fullerton • UC Irvine Defunct/Relocated NFL: Los Angeles Rams • ABA: Anaheim Amigos • NBA: Los Angeles Clippers2 • NBA D-League: Anaheim Arsenal • NASL: California Surf • APSL: Los Angeles Salsa • AFL: Anaheim Piranhas • NLL: Anaheim Storm • RHI: Anaheim Bullfrogs • WFL: Southern California Sun • CISL: Anaheim Splash Venues Anaheim Convention Center • Angel Stadium • Bren Events Center • Cicerone Field • Goodwin Field • Honda Center • Titan Gym • Titan Stadium 1Currently on hiatus. 2Only played occasional games in Orange County

Randy Crouch (born April 1, 1952) is an Oklahoma-based multi-instrumentalist. In eastern Oklahoma, Crouch is best known as a fiddle player.^[1] Although he has been referred to as "the world's best rock fiddler,"^[2] Crouch also plays guitar and pedal steel among other instruments.^[3]

Biography[link]

Growing up the son of a Methodist preacher in West Texas, Crouch’s early years were spent moving every few years from town to town in and around Amarillo and Lubbock. His parents provided a diverse musical background including piano lessons and Crouch also started playing ukulele and guitar. His grandfather, who played fiddle, had a big influence on him.^[4] Crouch learned to play fiddle from a Mel Bay mandolin instruction manual. Since the two instruments are tuned the same – a fiddle lacks the frets that make mandolin playing a little easier to do in key – it all transferred to the fiddle.^[1] During his freshman year of high school Crouch started playing in a band and has performed music ever since.^[4]

Three of Crouch's biggest musical influences were Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. Crouch stated that he is still trying to learn guitar parts to Hendrix' music.^[4]

Crouch refers to his songs as "Oklahoma Protest music" and has a long history of protesting against onslaughts against the environment. He lives in an electricity-free geodesic dome that he built on a former landfill site.^[2] In 1973, after the Public Service Company of Oklahoma announced that twin black nuclear power plants (named Black Fox 1 and Black Fox 2) would be built, Crouch along with many other Oklahomans took legal action against PSO and a protest movement ensued. As a result of his involvement in the protest, Crouch was blackballed for a time by music promoters in and around Tulsa, although he performed at least 50 "stop Black Fox" events around Oklahoma.^[5]

Crouch's music has been a foundation for Oklahoma's Red Dirt music, having been one of the earliest musicians of Red Dirt's epicenter - The Farm - located in Stillwater, Oklahoma.^[6] John Cooper, of the Red Dirt Rangers band, said that the camaraderie of the protests was central to the spirit that help form the Red Dirt movement.^[5]

Crouch also represents a variation of the The Tulsa Sound and has also been a primary influence on aspiring Oklahoma musicians performing bluegrass, folk, country music, and jam bands . In addition to performing as a solo artist, Crouch is a regular member of the Red Dirt Rangers band^[7] and is a member of the house band at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma.^[8]

Crouch's live performances often include unusual techniques on a variety of instruments. "I once saw him play where he's over a steel guitar and a piano while he's playing fiddle," said Jim Blair, co-owner of Max's Garage and one of Crouch's musical compatriots. "In the middle of the song, he wants to tune up the fiddle, so he hits the A note on the piano with his fiddle bow and tunes the string and keeps on playing."^[2]

Crouch's songs "Big Shot Rich Man" and "Mexican Holiday" have been recorded by Jason Boland & the Stragglers. He played with Tulsa band South 40 when they recorded his song "Got Time to Party" for their 2006 release Home which also features guest spots by members of Asleep at the Wheel and George Strait's band. As a member of the Vince Herman Trio, Crouch performs with alumni of the jam bands Leftover Salmon and Ekoostik Hookah.

Crouch has been nominated for over twenty Oklahoma State Music Awards and in 2005 was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Awards Red Dirt Hall of Fame.^[9]

Discography[link]

Year	Title	Record Label/Comments
2009	Just a Few More Things
2006	Friends	with Wanda Watson
2006	Home	with South 40
2004	Kindred Spirits	Binky Records (with Bob Childers)
2004	Somewhere in the Middle	Smith Music Group (with Jason Boland & the Stragglers)
2003	What's Goin' On?
2002	Travelin' On
2001	Truckstop Diaries	Sustain Records (with Jason Boland & the Stragglers)
1998	Unplugged	with the Lisa Sisters
1999	Pearl Snaps	Sustain Records (with Jason Boland & the Stragglers)
1998	Canyon Rose	with Lisa Perry
1998	Angel Rose	with Lisa Perry
1997	It's Too Bad	Random Choice (with Flying Horse)
1996	The Flying Horse Opera	Mars Records
1995	Take Two
1992	Fractal Rose	with Lisa Perry
1983	Colorslide

References[link]

External links[link]

• Randy Crouch Official Website
• Catman's Crouch Page
• Randy Crouch performing with the Vince Herman Trio in Colorado
• Randy Crouch performing with Vince Herman in New Mexico
• Randy Crouch performs Lonesome Fiddle Blues on youtube.com
• Randy Crouch downloads at Ourtracks.com
• Randy Crouch Interviewed about Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant