Customer Reviews

Gene Autry Westerns

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This coffee-table book details every movie and TV show in which Gene Autry ever appeared, with casts, crew, plot, locations, writers, backgrounds, you name it. Author Boyd Magers has written many books and articles on vintage westerns, and draws on his own researchers and others, all footnoted, in this compendium of the man who almost single-handedly created the singing cowboy. Each movie writeup contains bonus material highlighting another star, director, sidekick or some other key person involved in the picture. Gene Autry fans will love it; non-fans will learn from it.

Empire Publishing presents "GENE AUTRY WESTERNS" (Hardcover) - by author Boyd Magers, like no other book on Gene Autry --- all of Gene's Mascot, Republic and Columbia westerns included, as well as his half-hour TV Episodes --- each segment contains the release date on each film ... major production credits ... complete cast (including character played) ... all songs included, songwriter and who performed them in the film ... running time of each film ... dates of the filming ... bios on the cast and major players (Smiley, Pat Buttram, Cass County Boys, Herbert J. Yates, directors, leading ladies, songwriters and various heavies, etc.) ... locations that were used ... budgets and negative cost ... stunt people involved ... analysis and synopsis on each film ... notes and comments (including film and cast background info, salaries paid, working titles, etc) ... comments from Gene and many other cast members on each film ... theater exhibitors comments at the time of the films release ...this tribute was written from the heart and it shows.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: (Chapter, Title and Page Numbers)
Acknowledgments - 7
Foreword by Dick Jones - 9
Rockin' To and Fro ... A Few Words Before Saddling Up - 11
Gene Autry Beginnings - 13
The Films (Chronologically) - 15
Shorts/Cameos/Guest Appearances - 337
"The Gene Autry Show" (TV Log) - 345
Ridin' Down the Trail - 392
Gene's Top Tens - 395
Gene's Movie/TV Sidekicks at a Glance - 400
Gene's Movie/TV leading Ladies at a Glance - 402
Musical Groups and Singers in Gene's Westerns at a Glance - 405
Songs in Gene's Westerns and Where to find Them - 407
Gene's Story and Screenwriters at a Glance - 414
Gene's Directors at a Glance - 418
Locations Where Gene Filmed - 420
Gene's Movie Jobs - 430
Recurrent Themes in Gene's Westerns - 432
Champion - 434
Gene in Print - 438
Afterword by Jimmy Hawkins - 440
Bibliography - 442
Index - 444

BIOS:
1. Gene Autry
Date of Birth: 29 September 1907 - Near Tioga, Texas
Date of Death: 2 October 1998 - Studio City, Los Angeles, California

Special footnote, Orvon Gene Autry was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television --- Discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934, he and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp, Ken Maynard's "In Old Santa Fe" (November 1934) 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 formation of 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 --- Autry became the top Western star at the box-office by 1937, reaching his national peak of popularity from 1940 to 1942 --- His Gene Autry Flying "A" Ranch Rodeo show debuted in 1940 --- Gene 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 --- Radio, Films, Recordings, Television and Live Theater.

SPECIAL BONUS MATERIAL:
1. Where to find individual songs in Gene's films
2. Recurrent themes in Gene's westerns
3. Gene in print
4. Gene's appearances in film short subjects and various TV shows
5. Songs written by Gene used in other movies
6. Gene's "Top 10s" as selected by 13 noted Autry enthusiasts
7. Handy reference tables listing, by film and TV titles, all of Gene's sidekicks, leading ladies, musical groups, screenwriters, directors and locations
8. Champion chronology
9. Foreword/Afterword by Dick Jones and Jimmy Hawkins

If you enjoyed this book, why not check out - "So You Wanna See Cowboy Stuff?", by Boyd Mager, all the Western movie and TV filming locations and sites of interest in the entire United States, the only complete tour guide ever assembled ... "Best of the Badmen", by Boyd Magers, Bob Nareau and Bobby Copeland telling the inside story in depth about some of the bad guys, the heavy and the villain who rode against the law and the heroes of our B-Westerns era ... both titles are from Empire Publishing and available on Amazon --- so pick up your copy today.

Hats off to Rhonda Lemons and her staff at Empire Publishing --- author Boyd Magers has given us the Ultimate Gene Autry Book --- everything you wanted to know about Gene's career on the big silver screen and television films --- Gene was a man who changed the face of screen westerns and was truly America's Favorite Cowboy --- If you're into the memories of the Gene Autry B-Westerns, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- Boyd Magers and Empire Publishing has captured the moment --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Pages: 456 ~ Empire Publishing #9 780944 019498 ~ (7/18/2007)

I'm not good at writing reviews, but I'd say if you want all the details on every movie, details about each tv episode plus info on cast, crew, filming, Champion(s), etc. this is the book for you. It is definitely worth the $$.

This is a wonderful book for any Gene Autry fan. It has all the statistics and biology of both his movies and tv westerns. Near the back are a few pages on Champion. It lists all Gene's leading ladies and even has comments made by some. A must read for the Gene Autry buff!!

Boyd Magers has done an outstanding job here! This book is thick and crammed with information on all of Gene's movies and tv episodes. A wealth of invaluable facts, this is a well-written labor of love for the days when B-Westerns (especially Gene's) played weekly down at the local neighborhood theater. There is no fan-zine worship here, this is no cheap-jack publication. The book is well-produced on quality paper stock with lots of great photos and is top-notch all 'round. Everyone can learn something here, the cast listings alone kept me re-watching films over again just to spot Roy Bucko, Eddie Parker or Art Mix in some forgotten scene...but this is what most of us enjoy doing. A GREAT book.... Roy deserves the same.

I am a big fan of his andI really like the book alot it has alot of really good information in iton his flims .