What I watched: The sixth episode of the first season of The Gene Autry Show, a family Western. In addition to the titular Autry, the show co-starred Pat Buttram as sidekick Pat, with guest stars Barbara Stanley, George J. Lewis and Billy Gray. The episode was directed by Frank McDonald and written by Jack Townley, and aired on Sunday, August 20, 1950 at 7:00 PM on CBS. It is now available on DVD and the Internet Archive.
What happened: Autry is introduced as “America’s Favorite Cowboy”, a clear shot across the bow to our masked friend. We see Autry help to herd some cattle and sing “Back in the Saddle Again.” After he’s finished the song, two guys show up to tell him that some outlaws have robbed a nearby bank and killed the sheriff. Gene is the sheriff’s deputy, so it’s his job to bring them to justice.
There’s an unconvincing-looking horseback chase, and they catch up to the pair. The bad guys hole up in a cabin and start firing, resulting in a shoot-out. Gene sneaks around back just as his sidekick Pat shoots one of the outlaws named Ben (Lewis). Inside the house, they run into a little boy who’s understandably very upset about his dad being killed. Gene eventually gets him to put down the rifle so they can take Dad to the doctor and then to jail.
With the adults taken care of, Gene sets his sights on re-educating the boy, named Jim (Gray). Pat and the others thing that the kid is just evil and sent to jail or reform school, but Autry wants to invite him up to his ranch. Meanwhile, the other outlaw tells Jim to be friendly with Gene as part of a plan to get his Dad out of jail.
Up at the ranch, Gene is preparing a birthday gift for Jim, against the wishes of Pat: Little Champ, a smaller version of his famous horse. Pat tries to make a birthday cake, and some slapstick ensues. Jim takes off with Little Champ before the party can get started. He gets the new deputy to abandon the jail by telling him Gene is there for a cup of coffee (not a great moment in law enforcement), and passes a gun to his dad, with words of a plan to break out tonight. Just as he’s about to leave town, Martha (Stanley), whose role seems to be just to be the girl, comes up to give him a speech about the power of friendship, which seems to get through to him.
Jim returns to the ranch, and guiltily returns Little Champ to Gene. Gene convinces him that he doesn’t have to be loyal to his father, because Ben hasn’t been loyal to Jim by not raising him to be a law-abiding citizen. When Dad attempts to break out, Gene is there and gets in a fistfight with him. Jim ends up with the gun in the scuffle, and throws it to Gene. Ben uses the kid as a hostage, saying that he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.
Gene reluctantly does what he says, allowing the man to rob the safe. But Jim stays behind and frees Gene. Ben also kills his accomplice. Gene chases him down on horseback, and the two horses are even briefly in the same shot. Gene finally catches up with the bad guy and tosses him off the horse. Jim holds him at rifle-point to break up the fight. All’s well that ends well, I guess.
What I thought: Gene Autry was already established as a Western star by the time he came to TV. In particular, he was known as one of the foremost stars of the infamous “singing cowboy” sub-genre. I hadn’t seen any of Autry’s movies before watching this — somehow the singing cowboys are not among the Western films on film studies syllabi. But I tried to come into the Gene Autry Show with an open mind, and I actually ended up mostly enjoying it. There wasn’t even any singing outside of the opening sequence.
The show is a half-hour, family-oriented (read: kiddy) Western, and as such I can’t help but draw comparisons to The Lone Ranger. Compared to the masked man, Gene inevitably comes off as more human and mortal. When he gets trapped in a jail cell towards the end of the episode, it’s actually a little alarming, whereas with The Lone Ranger I would just assume it was all a part of the hero’s plan.
The plot itself is also a marked difference. As opposed to the mystery-oriented crime stories of The Lone Ranger, “The Star Toter” hinges on an emotional storyline of Gene trying to reform a criminal’s son. The story is undeniably crude and simplified — Jim is converted mainly because Gene gives him stuff and his father turns out to be an absolute scumbag. But it’s nice to see a character drama as the crux of one of these stories. Gene’s heroic trait here is not his shooting arm or rapid steed (although he has both of those) but his compassion. It is his willingness to trust Jim, against the advice of every supporting character, that allows him to foil the father’s plan.
There’s also an undeniably Oedipal edge to the plot. Jim has to choose the replacement father figure of Gene, representing law, order, social approval and all of that other superego-y stuff over his actual father. To do so, he has to prove himself willing to kill his father by pointing his rifle at him. (The phallic nature of the gun also seems relevant here.) In doing so, he rejects a crude and immediate patriarchy for the broader patriarchal force of social order.
“The Star Toter” is an undeniably didactic story, with a lot of repetitive dialogue and speechifying about the sanctity of the law. But there’s something charming about its simplicity. If I end up getting the DVDs and watching all four seasons of this, I will no doubt start to be annoyed by this type of story. But for now, I’m interested in watching future episodes of The Gene Autry Show and maybe hear some more songs. And, good for me, there are several more first-season episodes available.
Coming up next: It’s a big night out on the town for our favourite puppets.
The Eternal Couch Potato 