Gene Autry “The Singing Cowboy”
1907-1998
GENE AUTRY'S COWBOY CODE

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. He must always tell the truth.
4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. He must help people in distress.
7. He must be a good worker.
8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation's laws.
10. The Cowboy is a patriot.

Orvon Gene Autry was born on September 29, 1907, in Tioga, Texas. He bought his first guitar, at age 12, for eight dollars, then taught himself how to play it. As a young man in his twenties, Autry got a job working in the telegraph office in Oklahoma. One night, while he was playing and singing in his office, Autry was overheard by then famous cowboy singer and actor Will Rogers, who encouraged the youngster to get into show business. Several years later, in 1931, Autry recorded “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” a song that became the first record ever certified gold for having sold more than a million copies.

Autry made his film debut in 1934 as a cowboy singer in In Old Santa Fe. By 1937, as Westerns, or cowboy movies were solidified as the most popular Hollywood film genre, Autry was voted the top Western Star at theaters across America. He became America’s “Singing Cowboy.” In the 1950s, Autry moved into television, producing and starring in The Gene Autry Show, while producing other popular Western-theme programs, including Annie Oakley, The Range Rider, and Buffalo Bill Jr..

Autry's career spanned more than 60 years in the entertainment business. He performed in radio, rodeo, recording, film, and television. In addition, in 1961, Autry bought the California Angels (now the Anaheim Angels) professional baseball team. Hugely successful as a businessman and entertainer, Autry is the only person to have five stars, representing radio, records, film, television and live theatrical performance, on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. As one biographer put it about Autry, “In his ability to transcend media and in the sheer scope of his output, Gene Autry was unsurpassed as a popular image-maker of the American West.”

1. One of Autry’s earliest cowboy hits, “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” was written by Bob Nolan, who worked as a golf caddy at the Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles. One rainy day, while looking out his apartment window, Nolan watched leaves blow down a wet street, then penned these lines: “See them tumbling down/ Pledging their love to the ground/ Lonely, but free, I'll be found/ Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.” Later, the cowboy narrator in the song continues, singing “Here on the range I belong/ Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.” Why did Nolan write about tumbleweed? Give five reasons why a cowboy on the range would carry more appeal than a golf caddy in Los Angeles. Other than tumbleweed, what other natural or made objects can you think of that are usually identified as western? What images can you find in your newspaper that seem unique to Colorado, or the West?

2. Is Gene Autry’s “Cowboy Code” unique to cowboys? What other groups might always hope to “tell the truth,” or be “good workers”? Think about what you would like to do one day for your career. Make a list of the ten elements of the code that might define that type of job.

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