Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram (June 19, 1915 – January 8, 1994) was an American actor, known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the TV series Green Acres. He had a distinctive voice which, in his own words, "... never quite made it through puberty". It has been described as sounding like a handful of gravel thrown in a Mix-Master".[citation needed]
Buttram was born in Addison, Alabama, to Wilson McDaniel Buttram, a Methodist minister, and his wife Mary Emmett Maxwell. He had an older brother named Augustus McDaniel Buttram, as well as five other elder siblings. When "Pat" Buttram was a year old, his father was transferred to Nauvoo, Alabama. Buttram graduated from Mortimer Jordan High School, which was then located in Morris, Alabama, then entered Birmingham–Southern College to study for the ministry. He performed in college plays and on a local radio station, before he became a regular on the "WLS National Barn Dance" in Chicago.
Buttram went to Hollywood in the 1940s and became a "sidekick" to Roy Rogers. However, since Rogers already had two regulars, Buttram was soon dropped. He was then 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.
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes. The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed from actual outlaws, or from ballads or tales of outlaws.
Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the medieval period continuing through to modern literature, films and television. In the earliest sources, Robin Hood is a yeoman, but he was often later portrayed as an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff.
In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of "merry men" are usually portrayed as living in Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, where much of the action in the early ballads takes place. So does the very first recorded Robin Hood rhyme, four lines from the early 15th century, beginning: "Robyn hode in scherewode stod." However, the overall picture from the surviving early ballads and other early references suggest that Robin Hood may have been based in the Barnsdale area of what is now South Yorkshire (which borders Nottinghamshire).
Milton Berle (born Milton Berlinger, July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American comedian and actor. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during TV's golden age.
Milton Berlinger was born into a Jewish family in a five-story walkup at 68 W. 118th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. He chose Milton Berle as his professional name when he was 16. His father, Moses Berlinger (1873–1938), was a paint and varnish salesman. His mother, Sarah (Sadie) Glantz Berlinger (1877–1954), eventually became stagestruck and changed her name to Sandra Berle when Milton became famous.
Berle entered show business at the age of five when he won an amateur talent contest. He appeared as a child actor in silent films, beginning with The Perils of Pauline, filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The director told Berle that he would portray a little boy who would be thrown from a moving train. In Milton Berle: An Autobiography, he explained, "I was scared shitless, even when he went on to tell me that Pauline would save my life. Which is exactly what happened, except that at the crucial moment they threw a bundle of rags instead of me from the train. I bet there are a lot of comedians around today who are sorry about that."
Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little (born November 26, 1938) is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has long been known throughout the world as a top impersonator of famous people, resulting in his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices", not to be confused with the legendary voice actor: Mel Blanc.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Little was the middle of three sons. His father was a doctor. In his early teens, he formed a partnership with Geoff Scott, another budding impressionist, concentrating on reproducing the voices of Canadian politicians such as then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton (Geoff went on to become a politician). They were performing professionally in night clubs by age 17.
Rich was an usher at the Elgin Movie Theatre in Ottawa where he would perfect his voices when standing at the back of the theatre. He started his amateur acting career at Ottawa's Little Theatre winning his first acting award at the Eastern Ontario Drama Festival in Deep River, Ontario. He went on to become a successful disc jockey, frequently incorporating impersonations into his show. In 1963, he was asked to audition by Mel Tormé, who was producing a new variety show for Judy Garland. The audition won him the job and in 1964, Little made his American television debut on CBS's The Judy Garland Show, where he astounded Garland with his imitations of various male celebrities. His impression of James Mason in A Star Is Born thrilled Garland, and his popularity began to grow.
James Webster Wilhelm (born September 20, 1952 in San Rafael, California) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1978 to 1979 for the San Diego Padres.
Plot
Cavalry scouts Gene Autry ('Gene Autry (I)' (qv)) and Pat Buttram ('Pat Buttram (I)' (qv)) are ordered by the President (of the whole U.S. of A.) to break up an Arizona frontier ring which uses Indian raids to cover up its bandit activities. Carolina Cotton ('Carolina Cotton' (qv)) works with Gene and Pat, seeking revenge against the gang's leader, Dave Kilgrain ('Harry Lauter' (qv)) , who murdered her father. Lots of talk and Indian tribal dancing and stuff before Carolina gets around to shooting Kilgrain and Gene and Pat round up the rest of the gang.
Keywords: 1870s, actor-shares-first-and-last-name-with-character, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-full-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, alcoholism, ambush, apache, assassination-attempt, award-ceremony
Gene's riding for The White House...rooting out the bandit ring behind Apache lines! (original print ad)
On orders from The White House...Gene smashes bandit ring behind Apache lines! (original print ad)
SEE GENE'S SIX-SHOOTERS NAIL WHITE LOOTERS BEHIND APACHE LINES! (original print ad-all caps)
Orders from The White House send Gene under cover to uncover "Indian" bandit plot! (original print ad)
Plot
In Texas, the citizens are suffering from the brutality of the State Police who have replaced the disbanded Rangers. When a policeman kills a rancher, Gene then kills him in self defence. Now wanted for murder by the Police, Gene sets out to get evidence that will put an end to the Police and bring back the Texas Rangers.
Keywords: 1870s, actor-shares-first-and-last-name-with-character, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, ambush, attorney-general, austin-texas, b-movie, b-western, city-in-title
Gene's heading the rangers...tailing and nailing down a gang of crooked cops!
GENE'S HEADING THE RANGERS ON THE TRAIL OF A NEW KIND OF CRIME! (original ad - all caps)
Gene's making crooks go straight -- straight into a ranger trap!
He's locking up those crooked cops and throwing the keys away!
He's riding herd on the killers who tried to take Texas for a ride!
Gene's heading the Rangers on the trail of a new kind of crime! (original 6-sheet poster)
Gene's making crooks go straight into a ranger trap (original 3-sheet poster)
GENE'S RANGERS RIDE HERD ON THE KILLERS WO TRIED TO TAKE TEXAS FOR A RIDE! (original 1-sheet poster-all caps)
HE'S HEADING THE RANGERS...TAILING AND NAILING DOWN A GANG OF CROOKED COPS (original Herald-all caps)
He's locking up a carload of crooked cops and throwing the keys away! (original 4-column ad)
Plot
Made at the time when the National Barn Dance program, on radio station WLS (for World's Largest Store and owned by Sears & Roebuck) in Chicago, was as big on a national scale listening audience as "The Grand Ole Opry" out of Nashville. The film highlights the leading acts then performing on the program; comedian Pat Buttram ('Pat Buttram (I)' (qv)), announcer Joe Kelly ('Joe Kelly (I)' (qv)),(before his Quiz Kids stint), Lulubelle & Scotty ('Scotty Wiseman' (qv) and wife 'Myrtle Wiseman' (qv))), the Dinning Sisters trio, Arkie the Arkansas Wood Chooper ('Luther W. Ossenbrink' (qv)) and the Hoosier Hot Shots quartet, whose musical abilities and creativity were vastly underrated. The piffle of a story begins in the early days of radio (Calvin Coolidge was President) but otherwise seems to take place in 1944, which made things easier on the Art and Set directors. Agent John Berke ('Charles Quigley' (qv)) thinks advertising executive Mitcham ('Robert Benchley' (qv)) wants to put together a program of hillbilly performers---a term used until later years when Nashville went uptown and changed it to Country & Western---and hies himself down to a country town where Lulubelle (Myrtle Wiseman) & Scotty (Scott Wiseman) hold a barn dance in their barn every Saturday night featuring themselves and their farm hands, although it is not quite clear just what chores the Dinning Sisters perform. He signs all hands to a contract, brings them to Chicago and learns that Mitcham has no intentions of putting together such a program to be sponsored by the Garvey Soup Company owned by the Garveys ('Charles Dingle' (qv) and 'Mabel Paige' (qv)). A bit of plot contrivance---a small bit--- changes all of that, and the National Barn Dance is born.
Keywords: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, archive-footage, b-movie, band, barn, barn-dance, broadcast, brother-sister-relationship
Grab your partners, folks, and come to the National Barn Dance!
GRAB YOUR PARTNERS, FOLKS, AND COME TO "The National Barn Dance"
Your favorite radio program on the screen at last...in a howling Hillbilly Holiday that's more fun than a hay-ride!