Remembering Tex Ritter by Kaye Spencer #westernfictioneers #countrymusic

To kick off 2019, let's take a stroll down musical memory lane, and take a quick look at the show business career of a talented man named Woodward Maurice Ritter, better known as Tex Ritter.

He was born on January 12, 1905 and he died on January 2, 1974. He was father to actor John Ritter and grandfather to actors Jason and Tyler Ritter.

Tex was a popular actor and country music artist in the early years of both industries. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tex was born in Murvaul, Texas and grew up on the family farm. After he graduated high school, he went to college with intent to become a lawyer. In 1928, he became interested in show business, and his law/government studies went to the back burner.

Tex Ritter - publicity image 1966*

Here is a timeline highlighting his business/music career:

Radio and Broadway

1928 - sang cowboy songs on radio in Houston, Texas
1928 - moved to New York City - sang in chorus of Broadway show The New Moon
1931 - appeared in the role of Cord Elam in Broadway show Green Grow the Liacs (basis for the musical Oklahoma!)
1932 - played role of Sagebrush Charlie in The Round Up
1934 - played role of Sagebrush Charlie again in Mother Lode
1932 - starred in New York City's The Lone Star Rangers radio show - sang and told Old West stories
1933-1936 - wrote and starred in Cowboy Tom's Roundup (daily radio children's cowboy program)
During this time, he appeared on WHN Barndance and sang on NBC radio shows.
1965 - moved to Nashville - worked for WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry - cohosted late-night program with country disc jockey Ralph Emery

Recording Career

1933 - signed with Columbia Records - recorded "Goodbye Ole Paint" and "Rye Whiskey"
1935 - signed with Decca Records - recorded "Sam Hall" and "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo"
1942 - signed with Capitol Records - he was the company's first artist they signed and also their first western singer

Actor

1936 - moved to Los Angeles
1936 - movie debut - Song of the Gringo - followed by 12 B-movie westerns (40+)
*Appeared in episodes of Death Valley Days and The Rebel
1938 - 1945 - starred in singing cowboy movies - teamed with Johhny Mack Brown (western actor) in several movies
1945 - starred as "Texas Ranger Tex Haines"
*Hiatus
1950 - returned to show business in supporting roles or performing as himself
1966 - played himself in the film Nashville Rebel (side note: Waylon Jennings was also in this movie)

Musical Years

1944 - "I'm Wasting My Tears on You" - No. 1 on the country chart and No. 11 on the pop chart
1945 - "There's a New Moon over My Shoulder" - No. 2 country - No. 21 pop
1945 - 1946 hits: "You Two-Timed me One Time Too Often" and his cover of the song "The Deck of Cards", which is a recitation song
1952 - toured Europe
1952 - recorded the title track of the western movie, High Noon "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin'"
1955 - "Remember the Alamo"
1961 - "I Dreamed I was in Hillbilly Heaven"
1965 - moved to Nashville - one of the founding members of the Country Music Association

 'High Noon'

Tex Ritter's contribution to the western genre--movie, television, and country music--is a legacy that I hope will never be lost or forgotten. I hope someday to visit The Tex Ritter Museum in Carthage, Texas. Here is a quote from the museum's website:

The museum started in 1993 as the Tex Ritter Museum and expanded to include friends of Tex and other Texas-born country music legends. In August 2004, the museum expanded to add a significant Jim Reeves display which features the radio equipment from Jim's radio station KGRI in Henderson.

I grew up listening to Tex on the radio or watching his western movies on Saturday afternoon matinees at the theater or on late night television. I still have two 78rpm records of his:When You Leave Don't Slam the Door/Have I Told You Lately That I love You and My Heart's as Cold as an Empty Jug/Rock and Rye. Sadly, I've lost track of my record of Blood on the Saddle.

I mean no disrespect to his memory or his singing, but I cannot listen to Blood on the Saddle without smiling, if not actually giggling. You listen and let me know if you kept a straight face.

As I don’t send a newsletter, you might consider following me on these platforms:
Amazon (for new release notifications| BookBub (my book recommendations) | Blog (occasional posts)| Twitter (history trivia)

Until next time,


Kaye Spencer
Writing through history one romance upon a time
 

References:
“Tex Ritter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Ritter.
“Tex Ritter.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0728811/.
Razor Tie Artery Foundation Announce New Joint Venture Recordings | Razor & Tie, Rovi Corporation, web.archive.org/web/20080618172239/http://www.carthagetexas.com/HallofFame/museum.htm.
*Capitol Records, Tex Ritter 1966, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons 

WHO WAS JEREMIAH SCHWARTZ? by Tom Rizzo

The young man who played semi-pro football called himself Jeremiah Schwartz. But it wasn’t his real name. He used the phony name so he could retain his eligibility to play college football at St. Mary & St. Benedict College, Arizona State Teacher’s College, and Santa Clara University.

His real name: Andrew Vabre Devine, who would go on to entertain movie and TV audiences as Andy Devine, a gap-toothed, squeaky-voiced sidekick in “B” westerns. 

When he first headed to Hollywood, he played minor roles in some silent films. In 1905, he landed the first major role of his career mostly because of his athletic skill. He played football player Truck McCall in “The Spirit of Notre Dame.”  

When the talkies came along, there was some concern about his raspy voice. 

Although it eliminated him from contention for more dramatic acting parts, filmmakers decided his voice would work well in comedic roles. In fact, it became his trademark. 

In the Fifties, Devine co-starred as the character Jingles P. Jones and rode a horse named Joker in “Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” (1951), featuring Guy Madison in the lead role—first on radio and later on television. 

According to IMDB, the role “was originally offered to but turned down by Burl Ives.” Devine also appeared in ten films as Cookie, the sidekick to Roy Rogers.

Devine proved a tireless and accomplished actor and switched easily from “B” westerns to “A” films. 

Throughout his career, he appeared in more than 400 films, including roles in “Stagecoach” (1939) with John Wayne.  

He also played Danny in the film “A Star is Born (1937).” Among his other screen credits was the frightened marshal in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”

As a credit to his versatility, Devine hosted a children’s TV show on NBC called “Andy’s Gang” from 1955 to 1960. 

The sidekicks in B-Westerns provided comic relief for the audience. Despite the secondary role they played, many became stars themselves. In addition to Andy Devine, George Francis “Gabby” Hayes ranked among the most recognizable of all. 

Hayes played sidekick to several heavyweight big-screen cowboys:  Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Wild Bill Elliott, Hoot Gibson, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne.

Born May 7, 1885, in Wellsville, New York, Hayes worked as a circus performer and semi-pro baseball player. After he married Olive Ireland in 1914, the couple hit the road playing the vaudeville circuit. They were so successful that he retired in his Forties. 

The stock market crash of 1929 depleted his bank account, and he went back to work. He and his wife moved to California where he began finding work in the movie industry. 

Ironically, Hayes didn’t even learn to ride a horse until he was in his forties. 

Soon, he began appearing in the series westerns of the 1930s—first and a bad guy and then as Windy Halliday, the sidekick for Hopalong Cassidy.

A dispute over money pushed him into the Roy Rogers film camp where he began appearing as “Gabby.” He was so popular that he had his TV Western series from 1950 to 1954—“The Gabby Hayes Show,” which appealed mainly to children. 

When the series ended, the grizzled old-timer called it quits and retired. He and his wife remained married until her death in 1956. 

The nasally-voiced and gray-bearded Gabby Hayes included in nearly every film two phrases he made popular: “You’re durn tooting” and “You young whipper snapper!” 

Surprisingly, when he didn't appear on camera as a grizzled old timer, Hayes was handsome, well-groomed and well-read. Once, he confided that he had never been a fan of the Western genre. 

Tim Holt ranks as one of my favorite B-Western stars. And who could forget his Mexican-Irish sidekick Chito Jose Gonzales Bustamente Rafferty, played by Richard Martin. 

Martin played a handsome, young Mexican-American whose family lived in California.

He misspoke the English language, but in an amusing style rather than in a mocking way. Chita was also an unabashed romantic. 

When Martin started in Westerns, he played a few bad guys but his characterization of Chito was so entertaining, the studios decided to use him as a western sidekick. 

His role as Chito, however, didn’t debut in a Tim Holt film. 

The character debuted in the 1943 World War II film, “Bombardier.” 

According to the Los Angeles Times, he started his movie career as a receptionist for MGM, earning $17.76 a week. “His goal was to be a makeup man, but his acting career began after one of his friends, on a lark, bet an agent that he couldn’t get Martin an acting contract.”

A successful screen test led to a contract with RKO. He was paid $50 a week and landed a series of bit parts in A and B films—including a Zane Grey series where he played opposite Robert Mitchum for two episodes. 

Mitchum bowed out when he won a part in “G.I. Joe,” the film that paved the way for his outstanding career path. 

RKO then teamed Martin with Tim Holt for the final three films of the series, which opened the door to a longtime partnership. 

They made twenty-six other films together—a comical counterpoint to Holt’s serious, even portrayal of a cowboy hero. 

As Chito, Martin played the antithesis of the cowboy sidekicks. Rather than the grizzled old-timer, or cantankerous type in worn clothing, Chito dressed well and was soft spoken. The only time his comedic side emerged was during his often futile attempts at romance. 

Martin, however, developed a real-life romance with actress Elaine Riley with whom met on her second day at RKO. They married in 1946.

When Howard Hughes decided to shut down all B pictures at RKO in 1952, Martin left the business and became an insurance broker. Richard Martin Associates specialized in estate planning and business insurance. 

He often expressed surprise at how well his character, Chito, was remembered by the movie-going public.  

So, who's YOUR favorite B-Western sidekick?

_______

A novelist, storyteller, and naturally curious amateur historian, Tom Rizzo's new three-volume collection, TALL TALES FROM THE HIGH PLAINS & BEYOND, features more than 180 true stories of characters and events of the Old West.

A revised version of Tom's novel LAST STAND AT BITTER CREEK, a one-time finalist for Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award for First Novel, has been re-edited and reformatted and is available now.  

For more tall tales from the High Plains, visit my Blog. And If you enjoyed the story above, please share it with friends.

Rediscover the Historical West! 

ALPHABET WESTERNS SCRAMBLED IN RECENT YEARS by DARRYLE PURCELL

As a long-time fan of A- and B-westerns of the 1930s into the 1960s, I believe a current motion picture big boy may hold full responsibility for the film genre’s continued demise, or at least life-support existence.

In explaining my views, I’ll throw in a little history while champing at a bit of opinion that could cause one to see me as a man of my age cursing at children to get off my lawn. And perhaps I have listened to The Statler Brothers’ brilliant Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott far too many times.

Under the studio system of the first half of the 20th Century, B-westerns were cranked out to fill theater seats at Saturday matinees. Adults supported their children’s interest in the film adventures because of the Code of the West all-American values they embraced. Even at 10-cents per ticket, low-budget westerns were profitable, enough so that the larger studios could afford to invest in A-films – many of which were not profitable.

The great talking A-westerns, beginning with starring roles for Gary Cooper, Richard Dix, Preston Foster and Warner Baxter, kept the white-hatted value system espoused in the Bs while expanding storytelling and humanizing the subjects for an adult audience. John Ford and John Wayne, among others, polished the genre to an art form that, with The Searchers, focused a Rembrandt-level spotlight on what a western could be.

At that time, television took over the role of the Saturday matinee while B-westerns filled the small screen. Cooper, Wayne and Scott, who were joined by veterans (in more ways than one) James Stewart and Audie Murphy, kept western fans coming to the movie palaces. Then the 1960s happened.

Cooper died. Scott retired. Producers found it was less expensive to film a car chase on Los Angeles streets than it was to truck horses and actors farther and farther out of town. Youths were sent to Vietnam, with their hands tied, to fight communists – eventually leading to politicians negotiating a loss for America. Cynicism began to replace the Code of the West.

As the American film industry struggled, the B-western immigrated back from Spain and Italy. The producers and directors of those low-budget films decided to put a European slant of the genre. There were no good guys, only bad guys with supernaturally fast draws killing even worse guys. The so-called Spaghetti westerns were basically caricatures of America’s films. Yet, they were profitable, for a while.

Then former TV cowboy Clint Eastwood returned to the states and began to recreate the American western, using the quick action and ultimate revenge of the European films while bringing back a bad-assed version of the good guy taking out the bad guys for the right reasons. His films got better and better – climaxing with The Unforgiven.

Then nothing rode the silver screen west – until just recently. Bone Tomahawk, The Revenant and The Hateful Eight have been touted as the long-awaited revival of western films.

I don’t believe strangely non-empathetic characters spouting 21st Century views while engaging in scenes of agonizing torture and murder are going to inspire other filmmakers to make westerns or audiences to return to the theaters. Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight) ignored the art that John Ford honed while embracing the worst of the European caricatures. In my opinion, his movies, especially his westerns, are, at their best, bad imitations of not very good films.

Following the release of his picture, the not-so-humble Tarantino spouted his anger at many theatergoers’ decision to see an upbeat space opera instead of his black-hatted bloodbath. That director has always been open about his personal views, so I doubt he cares if someone like me believes his cowboy-film efforts could be the final knife thrust in the murder of the western movie genre. And I have to call the murderer, the murderer.

MY FAVORITE B-WESTERN HERO by Tom Rizzo

 

Even in these days of multimillion dollar motion picture productions, it’s still fun watching B-westerns. Dozens of them are available on YouTube and plenty of websites exist where you can purchase various Western movies collections.


This week, my StoryTeller’s 7 interview features Darryle Purcell who created the Hollywood Cowboy Detective series aimed at honoring early B-Western film stars. A former newspaper editor and political cartoonist, Darryle creates his stories through a combination of words and images.



After I posted the interview, I thought back to when I was a kid plucking down a quarter to watch Saturday matinees in my hometown of Marion, Ohio. 

The afternoon included a one or two B-westerns, a serial whetting my imagination and desire to return the following week, and finally a cartoon. 

The stars that paraded across screen included Johnny Mack Brown, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett), Sunset Carson, William “Wild Bill” Elliott, and Alan “Rocky” Lane among them.  

Despite all the wonderful stars and stories available, my favorite happened to be Tim Holt, and his sidekick Ray Martin. 

Martin played Chito—or, more correctly, Chito Jose Gonzales Bustamente Rafferty.

 



Charles John Holt III got his start as a child actor in silent film starring his father, Jack Holt, soon after graduating from Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana in 1936. 

His sister, Jennifer, also played roles in B-movies. Holt, a workhorse for RKO Radio Pictures, played the hero in forty-six B-westerns for the studio.

On occasion, he departed from the western and proved his capability as an actor with roles in Orson Welle’s The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) in which Holt played an arrogant aristocrat, and Hitler’s Children (1943) playing Karl Bruner, a rapid young Nazi. In 1948, he took on the role of Bob Curtin, playing opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, by John Huston. 

Holt’s bread-and-butter roles, however, were played out as the boyish Western hero in the low-budget RKO productions. 

From 1941-1943 and 1948-1952, he ranked as a top ten box office star, highly popular among teen-age girls. Most film-goers were attracted by the actor’s on-screen charm, captivating grin and the ability to turn deadly serious when needed. 

The films included, Sagebrush Law, The Avenging Rider, Law of the Badlands, Cyclone on Horseback, Two-Gun Justice, Dynamite Pass, Desert Passage, The Stagecoach Kid, Thunder Mountain, Under the Tonto Rim, and Wagon Train. In 1939, he played the role of a military officer in John Ford’s Stagecoach, starring John Wayne.

According to B-western historians, Tim Holt made it a point to dress like a real cowboy during filming—even wearing gloves like actual cowboys. 

If you watch any of Holt’s westerns, you’ll see him often slipping gloves off and on or tugging them tighter on his hands. Like other Western film stars, Holt carried a Single Action Army revolver, grips made from Franzite, a plastic material that carried the design of deer antlers.

He put his career on hold to serve in World War II and returned a decorated combat veteran as a bombardier in a B-29. On the last day of the war, he was wounded over Tokyo and awarded a Purple Heart.

After the war, he climbed back in the saddle as Virgil Earp in John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946) starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp.

Early in his career, Holt had several different but typical sidekicks. After the war, however, he was paired with Ray Martin. 

Martin—as Chito—lent a freshness and serious to a role usually played with some level of buffoonery. He did not play the role of a cliched Mexican-American.

Handsome and well-dressed, he brought a certain elegance to the role. 

At times, he misspoke the English language but not in offensive or obvious ways. 

Chito’s linguistic mistakes were subtle. He comedic moments revolved mostly around his eager attempts at romance.

As an aside, Martin played Chito in the 1944 western, Nevada, produced while Holt was in the service.  

Author David Rothel, in the book Tim Holt said the studio paired Martin with a new star—one who had played several bad-guy roles. He and Martin never clicked on screen. The studio decided the new actor would be better suited in films with a darker story line. His name: Robert Mitchum.



When television began pushing the B-western market into the background, Holt left the business in 1952 and stayed away for about five years. He made his returned in a horror film, The Monster That Challenged the World, which didn’t do well. 



Over the next sixteen years, he appeared in only two other films, none of them B-westerns. 

Holt spent his time making personal appearances, producing rodeos and Western music jamborees. He also worked as an advertising manager for a radio station. 

Holt died on Feb. 5, 1973, of bone cancer in Shawnee, Oklahoma, at the age of 54.

 Married three times, Holt had four children—three sons and a daughter. He was interred in the Memory Lane Cemetery in Harrah, Oklahoma, where a street—Tim Holt Drive—was named in his honor. 

# # #