Smiley Burnette

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Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), also known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and television, as well as a B-movie cowboy.

He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who could play as many as 100 musical instruments, some simultaneously.

His career, which began in 1934, spanned four decades, with one stint on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction in the 1960s.

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Film career

He made his debut in December 1933, when Gene Autry was hired by Gene Autry to play accordion on National Barn Dance on Chicago's WLS-AM, on which Autry was the principal actor. Hollywood wanted musical talent for Western films as sound films became popular, and producer Nat Levine starred Autry and Burnette in their first film appearance (unbilled) in Mascot Pictures' In Old Santa Fe, starring Ken Maynard. Burnette performed and played accordion, and two of his compositions were included in the film.

He appeared in other small roles before beginning to a secondary but more prominent role in the 1935 film Adventures of Rex and Rinty. Levine gave Autry his first starring role in the 12-part series The Phantom Empire, with Burnette playing Edgar in a comedic role. Mascot's film debut by Republic Pictures was soon acquired by the Republic Pictures, and the Republic had a blast with the inclusion of Autry in its musical Western films. Burnette portrayed Frog Millhouse, Autry's comedic sidekick, with his signature floppy black hat and trick voice (imitating a deep, froglike croak) in each of the films. Their affiliation produced 62 feature-length Westerns.

Smiley Burnette appeared in ten other films with Roy Rogers by 1940, ranking second only to Autry in a Boxoffice magazine popularity survey of Western actors, the lone sidekick, was ranked second only to Autry, and the lone sidekick on film, and when Autry left for World War II service, Burnette provided a sidekick to Eddie Dew, Sunset Carson, and Bob Livingston. Burnette's film horse, white with a black ringed left eye, has also become popular, first as Black-eyed Nellie, then Ring-eyed Nellie, and finally as simply Ring Eye.

In the new Durango Kid series, he appeared in the Republic in June 1944 and became the sidekick to Charles Starrett at Columbia Pictures. In 56 films from 1945 to 1952, Starr and Burnette were paired. Burnette was still under employment when he was fired, so Columbia teamed him with Jock Mahoney for a new series of Westerns. Mahoney and Burnette were shot in a pilot film, but no one was released; Columbia recalled Burnette to its Gene Autry collection, reuniting Burnette with his former companion.

Smiley Burnette wrote more than 400 songs and performed a significant number of them on film. Willie Nelson, Riders in the Sky, and Johnnie Lee Wills later recorded his Western classic, "Ridin' Down the Canyon (To Watch the Sun Go Down). "On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar" (Jimmy Wakely's theme tune in the 1940s), "Fetch Me Down My Trusty," "It's Summer," "The Wind Sings a Cowboy Song," and "Western Lullaby" were among Jimmy Wakely's "On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar," "The Wind Sings a Cowboy Song," "The Old Covered Wagon," and "My Lullain He has written musical scores for films including The Painted Stallion and Waterfront Lady. Bing Crosby, Ferlin Husky, and Leon Russell recorded his songs. In 1939, Billboard's "Steamboat Bill" first appeared on Billboard's country chart.

Burnette invented and built some of his unusual musical instruments in his home workshop. For example, his "Jassackaphone," which he starred in the film The Singing Cowboy, resembled an organ with pipes, levers, and pull mechanisms.

He invented and patented Cinevision Talkies, a young home audiovisual device that was introduced in the 1940s. Four of his songs and 15 35 mm slides were included in each box, as well as a 78 rpm record. Each time a short tone was used during the performances, the slides were to be projected in order and advanced. An inside look at the album's inside, so those without a projector and screen could just shine a flashlight through the slides and admire them on the back. During a TV show guest appearance, he also demonstrated more than a dozen clever uses for a common wire clothes hanger.

Hollywood celebrities often left their publicity and advertising to the studios where they were hired, but Smiley Burnette took responsibility of his promotion personally. He was acutely aware of his box-office value and shrewdly marketed his name and image. He founded a national Smiley Burnette Fan Club, mainly aimed at the youth crowd, and gave away signed photographs and souvenirs to club members. He earned more money by appearing personally at theaters screening his films. Burnette's base of operations was in Springfield, Missouri, where he produced and hosted The Smiley Burnette Show, a nationally syndicated 15-minute radio show produced by RadiOzark Enterprises. He has appeared on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee from Springfield as a regular guest.

Gene Autry, a pioneer in motion pictures, died in 1953, and other cowboy actors had either left the films or were winding down their film careers. Burnette, who no longer interested in making B Westerns, turned to radio and television shows, including Louisiana Hayride, the Grand Ole Opry, and Ranch Party.

In early 1957, he filmed a pilot for a new ABC-TV series called Pig 'N Poke, a quiz show with a country theme, but ABC did not sponsor the program.

Burnette loved cooking, and in the 1950s, he founded The Checkered Shirt, the first of the A-frame drive-ins. The first location was located in Orlando, Florida, and two California (Redding and Escondido) are still open, but they are not owned by the Burnette family.

Burnette continued to make personal appearances at drive-ins, fairs, hospitals, town squares, and rodeos as the 1960s began. He appeared with Dewey Brown and the Oklahoma Playboys at a Friday-night dance at Jump's Roller Rink in Fairfax, Oklahoma, among other venues.

Charley Pratt portrayed railway engineer Charley Pratt on CBS-TV shows Petticoat Junction (106 episodes) and Green Acres (seven episodes).

Burnette died in Encino, California, a month before his 56th birthday, and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California, just months after filming began for the fourth season of Petticoat Junction.

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