Ode to Gene

One of the great things about having digital cable is that I get Encore Westerns. So, I'm able to watch great shows like Bat Masterson, Cimarron Strip and Gene Autry. Watching through adult eyes, I see things that I didn't see as a kid. Gene Autry was not a strikingly handsome man, especially during his TV years in the 50s. He certainly wasn't a great actor, or even a good one. After his first few screen appearances, studios were content to just let him play Gene Autry -- Gene Autry ranch hand, Gene Autry railroad detective, Gene Autry marshal. He had a pleasant voice, but any of his backup singers could have done his songs just as well. So why was this man the best-known country & western singer on records, in movies, on radio, and on television from the early '30s until the mid-'50s? I think it's because he was real. Kids can see a phony a mile away -- or at least they used to be able to. He was off screen exactly what he was on screen. He was a true American hero and role model. Kids back then needed that. They still do, but I can't think of a single celebrity these days that I'd want my kid to emulate.