Gene Autry And Three Christmas Classics (With A B-Side Bonus)

Is it just me? Or has there been a widespread push by The Whole World (meaning everyone except me) to pull the celebration of Christmas forward to the first of November? The retailers have done this for years, but now it seems to have spread. Fortunately, there are curmudgeonly old coots such as your humble author who will resist these new cultural norms. Which is why I have held off on this post until the traditional start of the madness joy of the holiday season on the day after Thanksgiving.

It seems that every performer has to do at least one holiday album, but few of them make a lasting impression. Other artists, however, have changed the way Americans celebrate the Christmas holiday by making records that have become part of all of our lives. If we go back to the mid 20th Century, I would like to nominate a recording artist who has become fairly obscure, but who may have made as big a splash in really durable Christmas songs as anyone – it was “America’s Singing Cowboy”, Gene Autry. For a short stretch, he consistently put new Christmas music on the charts, and they are songs that have been recorded eleventy bazillion times since by an incredibly wide variety of performers.

I will confess up front – I should listen to more old-school country music than I do. Whether the “Texas swing” of bands like Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, or the twangy sounds of the likes of Hank Williams, there is a gob of vintage country music that is still worth a listen today. One of the most influential artists of that genre, and one who does not get the respect he deserves, was Gene Autry

Orvon Grover Autry was born September 29, 1907 in Tioga Texas. With a high school education, Autry left his father’s ranch in the mid 1920’s for Oklahoma, where he became a telegraph operator. He had taught himself to play guitar, and would play and sing at local joints, and even in the telegraph office on slow nights. One of his customers turned out to be humorist Will Rogers, who suggested that Autry go east for opportunities on radio and records.

Gene Autry promotional photo, c. 1929

Because Victor records had a couple of other “hillbilly” singers, that company’s music director Nat Shilkret would not sign Autry to a contract. Shilkret told him to do some radio work for experience and come back later. Autrey did just that, but went to Columbia records instead, where he was signed in 1929. By 1932 he was churning out a string of country hits.

Autry was cast in a low-budget movie in 1934, as part of a “cowboy quartet”, which he parlayed into a string of 93 film roles over the next two decades. He also had hit radio shows, both as a civilian and during his enlistment with the Army Air Corps during WWII. After the close of the war, there was no more popular cowboy in America than Gene Autry, with the possible exception of Roy Rogers, whose star power was pushed by Republic Pictures while Autry was in the military and unable to make new movies. “This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with Christmas music?” is the question I sense many of you asking.

Autry had been invited to ride his horse (named Champion) in the 1946 Hollywood Christmas Parade in Los Angeles. At the time, the event was called the “Santa Claus Lane Parade”, and it was this name that gave Autry the idea for a song. He recorded it on August 28, 1947 and this would turn out to be the first in a multi-year string of seasonal classics. “Here Comes Santa Claus” was his own composition (with credit shared by Harriet Melka and Oakley Haldeman) and was released by Columbia late that year. The song’s lyrics are a well-crafted blend of the secular and the sacred, and the music lilts along with an easy Texas swing.

Even though it was plainly a Christmas song, it hit No. 5 on the country music charts of the day (and No. 8 on the pop charts) as late as January, 1948. Which is probably why Autry and Columbia re-issued the record in time for Christmas of 1948, when it performed as well or better than the first time (No. 4 country, No. 8 pop).

It is almost certain that his success with “Here Comes Santa Claus” is what had Autry back in the studio on June 27 of 1949, where he made one of the best decisions of his life. Well, it was actually Gene Autrey’s wife who made that decision, because Gene himself wasn’t crazy about a new song called “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”.

Rudolph was original a story written by Robert L. May and submitted to Montgomery Ward & Co. in 1939, for distribution as that year’s edition of the store chain’s annual Christmas booklet. May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, eventually turned the story into a song. According to one source (1), Marks hired an unknown singer (2) to sing “Rudolph” in Autry’s style and sent the demo to Autry in hopes that the famous singing cowboy would agree to do it.

A slightly blurry depiction of Columbia’s record sleeve for the 1949 issue of “Rudolph”.

When “Rudolph” was released in late 1949, it zoomed up to the top spot of both the country and pop charts. It came back as a top-10 hit in 1950, and has gone on to become second only to Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” as the top-selling Christmas single of all time. It is interesting to wonder why it took 15 years before “Rudolph” came to television in the famous holiday show that featured more of Johnny Marks’ songs (but this time sung by Burl Ives).

Autry’s Christmas Trifecta continued in 1950 when he was presented with another new song. Songwriters Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson pitched “Frosty The Snowman”, which Autry recorded on April 25, 1950. It was released September 11th as a 78 rpm single, and on October 9th in a 45 rpm version (both of which got a big promotional push starting December 14th of that year.) Trivia note (as if this whole piece isn’t one big trivia note): Frosty on a 45 rpm single was one of was one of Columbia’s earliest volume releases on a 45 rpm disc. Columbia was the last major record company to offer 45s because they had been the brainchild of arch-rival RCA-Victor. (I wrote about that fascinating format war in the recording industry here.)

Cover art for the 1950 Columbia single.

Frosty was another solid hit for Autry, and was good for a No. 4 showing on the country charts and No. 7 on the pop charts. Which was pretty good, considering that the record had to battle “Rudolph”, which was re-released in 1950 and charted too (No. 5 country, No. 3 pop). The song also faced competition from other recorded versions, including those by singers Jimmy Durante and Nat King Cole and by bandleader Guy Lombardo.

Oh yes, I promised you a bonus. Remember how Gene Autry was talked into “Rudolph”? The song he originally intended as the “A” side of that 1949 holiday record was a song by Gerald Marks (no relation to Johnny) and Milton Pascal, called “If It Doesn’t Snow On Christmas.”

I felt called to include it here because it is a longtime favorite of mine. You see, I had access to a copy of “Rudolph” on its original issue shellac 78 when I was a kid. That record is notable for two things – first, it is one of the lucky ones that survived my childhood stewardship, because those things would shatter into 30 pieces if they were dropped on the floor – something I proved on multiple occasions with other, less fortunate discs. But also because I came to love the flip side as much as I loved “Rudolph”. I have always wondered how this song might have fared had it not been for the monster hit on the other side of the record.

Autry went on to make more records, star in more movies and even have his own television show in the 1950’s. By the time he finally retired from entertaining in 1964, Autry could boast of roughly 100 movies and 600 records to his credit. He was an astute businessman and owned a company that supplied animals to rodeos and the ranch where many movies and TV westerns were filmed until it was consumed by fire in 1962. His final big investment was as owner of the California Angels baseball team from its inception in Los Angeles in 1961 until his death on October 2, 1998 at the age of 91.

Today’s world is an angry and fractious place. I believe that we need Gene Autry’s records more than ever. Autry’s singing goes down like hot cocoa on a cold evening – warm, smooth and sweet. And this was never more true than in the series of Christmas records that he hit out of the park between 1947 and 1950. I hope that spending a few minutes with these three (or four) old records makes your Christmas season just a little bit more pleasant than it might have been without them.

Note 1. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/gene-autry/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer

Note 2. According to songfacts.com, that singer was named Al Cernik. Cernik later changed his name to Guy Mitchell, and went on to sell 44 million records, including 6 million-selling hits in the 1950’s.

Much information was obtained from “Columbia Records 1939-1974” by William Brown, and available on the Internet Archive and at individual entries at Discogs.com.

30 thoughts on “Gene Autry And Three Christmas Classics (With A B-Side Bonus)”

    • I think there are a lot of us who haven’t thought about Autry in awhile (if at all). His movies don’t get the respect of the westerns of John Wayne, and most of his music is becoming obscure too. I think these Christmas songs may become his legacy.

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  2. You are likely correct about these songs becoming his legacy. There could certainly be worse things for which to be remembered.

    Long ago we somehow acquired a Gene Autry CD full of his Christmas songs. Mrs. Jason, Jr., picked up on this CD at an early age, always wanting to “listen to Gene”. It’s still a staple at our house and is likely about to emerge from hibernation.

    Last week we were in Los Angeles. Driving around, I saw signs for the Gene Autry Museum near Hollywood. While not previously aware of its existence, finding it made me wish there was a little bit more time to stop and see it.

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    • I think Autry may have trailed only Bing Crosby as the king of the Christmas hit single, at least through the 1950s. And I am sure that he recorded quite a few others over the years. An album/cd of that collection would be a good one.

      In my research for this I learned that he had plans of turning his movie set ranch into a museum before it went up in that 1962 fire. I read that he did open a museum later. And I am wondering how Roy Rogers is so much better remembered today than Gene Autry. Maybe because once Autry retired in 1964 he concentrated on other things, whereas Rogers continued in the public eye for much longer. One other bit of trivia – actors Dennis and Randy Quaid are 1st cousins twice removed from Autry.

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      • I remember watching Roy Rodgers on TV as a kid, so I would have thought that was the difference, but Autry had a similar run of TV shows about the same period, maybe a little earlier? It’s a mystery!

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      • It really is a mystery. I wonder if it was that when Autry retired from entertainment in 1964, he seemed to retire 100% and went off and did other things, rather than trying to keep his entertainment portfolio alive and producing. And he never had a series of fast food restaurants that served roast beef sandwiches. 🙂

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  3. That pull toward earlier in the year is something I resist too. As a kid, I used to like Christmas music, but I was working graveyard shifts at a Denny’s after getting out of the military and I learned to hate “the 5 Christmas songs and all the bad covers by everyone”…

    I do enjoy Trans-Siberian Orchestra, though.

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    • Somewhere along the line, the classics I like got elbowed out by the more modern stuff I don’t. I have not listened to the TSO (that I know of) and will have to give them a try. But since they came along after 1960, I’m not making any promises. 😁

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      • It might not be your thing. They originated in a prog/metal band called Savatage (in fact, the Christmas Eve/Sarajevo song that everyone knows/has heard/including you probably) came from their album Dead Winter Dead.

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  5. If the world today truly is more angry and fractious than in the past, then it seems to me all the more reason to embrace the spirit of Christmas earlier than in the past! (By spirit, I don’t mean shopping or Santa or even months of hearing Christmas songs…)

    To that end, I have already put my tree up, not decorated, but with the sparkly lights that brighten the room (sunset here is at 4:30…) An evening drink of Eggnog with a warm fire in the fireplace. Thinking about what to say in my Christmas Letter, what tangle to draw for the card, what charities to support this year. Wearing red Christmas t-shirts…

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  6. I have my mothers 78 album of Gene Autry’s Rudolph in the basement…..and a 45 of Frosty the Snowman from when we were very young. I remember If It Doesn’t Snow on Christmas and liked it too, but I don’t know if it is on the B side of mom’s copy as there are boxes and boxes of paintings in front of it. I always liked his voice, and your description of it is perfect – hot cocoa on a cold evening – warm, smooth and sweet.

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    • You raise an interesting question about whether an album collection featured its own discs rather than a grouping of the singles discs. I have no idea.

      I have only a few old 78 albums, but that one of Autry’s Christmas music might be worth a few bucks on eBay today, if its in decent condition.

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  7. JP, well this post certainly brought back some nice holiday memories with my parents and I eating nuts-and-bolts (the Canadian version of Chex Mix) while listening to Gene Autry singing “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. I liked Gene Autry’s rendition of “Rudolph” better than the Burl Ives’ version in the Christmas special, just as I liked Gene Autry’s “Frosty the Snowman” over Jimmy Durante’s version from the Christmas special by the same name. I have watched both those Christmas specials countless times as a kid and as an adult and have both videos. I also had some holiday children’s songs in colorful vinyl 45s … I didn’t get to play them, but my parents would do so. I wish I’d saved them.

    I don’t remember the song “If It Doesn’t Snow On Christmas” but I liked it and yes, I can see kids worrying how Santa would get here without snow to land on the rooftops – laughing about using a bus. 🙂 I dwelled on how Santa would get inside the house since we didn’t have a fireplace! Gene Autry was lucky that Columbia Records liked his work and also lucky his wife convinced him to sing about our favorite, red-nosed reindeer. I’m sure Victor Records was kicking itself it never signed Gene Autry on.

    I also think the Christmas season starts way too early. Meijer reduces the price of all the unsold Halloween paraphernalia on November 1st and hauls out the Christmas trimmings and treats shortly thereafter. We have a radio station with non-stop Christmas music 24/7 from November 6th ending December 26th. I have always liked traditional songs better.

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    • I agree – I like Autry’s version better than Ives’ version of Rudolph too. I have been wondering if Autry was ever offered the voice roles on the Rudolph and Frosty television specials. He retired in 1964, but that was the year Rudolph was in production. I think Autry would have made a great narrator/singer for Rudolph, and for Frosty too. And you are right – Victor really blew a gold mine.

      Not only does the Rest Of The World start the Christmas season far too early, they kill it far too early too. The traditional season lasts for several days after Christmas, and in some traditions, as long as January 6th or so. But I guess nobody is buying things on those days, so it gets the heave-ho after the shopping is done. Do I sound grumbly or what? 🙂

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      • Spending about 2/3rds of my career in retail advertising, I can say that “seasonal creep” has been going on for a long time. The large department store I worked for in the 90’s even started moving Christmas items on to the floor before Halloween! The weird thing about this is that it doesn’t increase sales, for any season. Overall, people are going to buy what they are going to buy, they don’t buy more because it’s on the floor earlier. The only thing it impacts, is that those among us that are so crazed they have to start their seasonal shopping as soon as they can, may shop at retailers that put stuff on the floor early, so that those retailers get a bigger piece of the pie; but on-line shopping has killed a lot of that. Understocked items that become “the item of the season” also drives people into stores early to make sure they can secure one. I think most procrastinators wait too long anyway, so a lot of sales are going to be based on availability and price! The saddest Christmas event I’ve seen as an adult, comes from living in “semi-marginal” “bridge” neighborhoods, and being out on Christmas morning and seeing people lined up at 24-7 places like the Walgreens drugstores to buy toys, and anything else they can get that a kid might want, because they’ve…well for whatever the reason, it just tugs at your heart.

        Of course, the January 6th you speak of is Three Kings, and my younger sister and her husband, who are creatives and love the history of things, always had a Three Kings party with the cake and all. They are very interested in how people celebrated the holidays in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, especially in these cities in the northern midwest that had many different cultures that had emigrated from Europe only a generation before. A big “mash-up” of traditions!

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      • Gene Autry was a better singer than the others – their songs seemed more like a speaking voice than singing. I’m grumpy about the Christmas holiday cut-off too. It makes Christmas even more commercialized than it already is. You could extend the ambiance until the new year at least. Most people don’t take down their holiday decor and tree (unless it’s real and shedding needles like crazy) until the new year.

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    • This one is a little newer, and it sounds like they re-recorded Rudolph, either to take advantage of stereo, or because Autry had started his own record label.

      I discovered that time-saving hack too. I digitized one album maybe 15 years ago and it was fairly time consuming.

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  12. To your first paragraph I say “amen”, JP. “After Thanksgiving” or especially “Start of Advent” are the only legitimate starting lines for the Christmas season. Anything earlier utterly dilutes the magic.

    Speaking of magic, it’s an interesting coincidence you wrote about Autry. I was just in Palm Springs for a Thanksgiving family reunion, and our driving directions from the airport took us onto a street called “N. Gene Autry Trail”. I asked my son if he knew who Autry was (he’s 33; of course he didn’t). He did make the connection when I mentioned the original version of “Rudolph”. He even knew the Rudolph story was born as a commercial advertisement. Anyway, I checked Wikipedia for the relevance of Palm Springs and came up blank. All I can figure is Autry had a second home there (like so many other Hollywood stars of that era), and figured prominently enough into the local scene to earn a street name. The same can be said for Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Elizabeth Taylor.

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