''The Gene Autry Show'' is an American

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaqu ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's

Doublemint Doublemint is a variety of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company; according to early advertisements, it is "double strength" peppermint flavored. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since then. Th ...

chewing gum.

Overview

Series star

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

had already established his

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier, the original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, and ...

character on radio and films. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene's role changed almost weekly from rancher, to ranch hand, to sheriff, to border agent, etc. Gene's usual comic relief and sidekick, Pat, was played by Pat Buttram. During the first season, Gene's sidekick was played by

Chill Wills Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet. Early life Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902. Career He was a performer from early chi ...

twice (as Chill) and by

Fuzzy Knight John Forrest "Fuzzy" Knight (May 9, 1901 – February 23, 1976) was an American film and television actor. He was also a singer, especially in his early career. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1928 and 1967, usually as a cowboy h ...

four times (as Sagebrush).

Alan Hale, Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

played a bad guy in several episodes of Seasons 1 and 2, but he also played Gene's sidekick, Tiny, in two episodes of Season 1. By this time, Autry had established his own production company, Flying 'A' Productions, and acted as executive director for the series. The series lasted five seasons. The first four were in black and white, and the final season (thirteen episodes) was in color. Color was experimented with in two episodes of the first season. The theme song ''Back In the Saddle Again'' was written by Autry and Ray Whitley and sung by Autry. Among the guest stars, Nan Leslie and Mike Ragan were cast in different roles four times from 1950 to 1955. Dick Jones was cast in ten episodes of ''The Gene Autry Show'' and acted in two other Flying A Productions, '' The Range Rider'' and ''

Buffalo Bill, Jr. ''Buffalo Bill, Jr.'' is a half-hour western series that aired in syndication starting in March 1955. The last new episode was broadcast in September 1956. The series was produced by Gene Autry's Flying A Productions, and distributed by CBS Tele ...

''.

Spin-off

''The Gene Autry Show'' had a 26-episode prime-time

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

called ''

The Adventures of Champion ''The Adventures of Champion'' is an American adventure serial radio drama directed by William Burch about screen cowboy Gene Autry's horse Champion. Each 15-minute episode was broadcast weekday afternoons on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 194 ...

'' in 1955-1956. Ewing Mitchell appeared seven times on ''The Gene Autry Show'' and seven times as well on ''The Adventures of Champion'' in the latter as Sheriff Powers.

Home media

Timeless Media Group has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1, fully restored and uncut. On December 10, 2013, Timeless Media released ''The Gene Autry Show- The Complete series.

References

External links

*
Behind-the-scenes production photos
Collection of Stephen Lodge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gene Autry Show, The 1950 American television series debuts 1956 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming English-language television shows 1950s Western (genre) television series Gene Autry