Smiley Burnette
Lester Alvin (Smiley) Burnett (the ending e came later) was a brilliant song writer with over four hundred titles to his credit. He could play about any instrument you could name and a few you couldn’t name because he invented them. He did it all by ear. He couldn’t read a note of music. Burnett went to work at a small radio station in downstate Illinois where his professional persona began to emerge. He needed a character for an on-air kids program. He decided on Smiley, based on a character in Mark Twain’s Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. The moniker stuck.
Smiley’s musical ability in country radio got him discovered by Gene Autry. In 1933 Autry hired him to play the accordion on his National Barn Dance program on WLS in Chicago. The following year Gene and Smiley signed to do musical parts in two Ken Maynard films for Mascot Pictures. Their return to country radio was short lived when Mascot offered the pair 10 year film contracts. Gene and Smiley would go on to make sixty-four films together.
“Frog Millhouse” evoked a lovable, folksy, down-home, ‘awe-shucks’ comfortability that was Smiley Burnette. With a frog-in-the-throat for a voice, Smiley topped it off in a battered black hat with a turned up front brim, tablecloth checked shirt and baggy britches. Throw in a ring-eyed white horse and you had an unforgettable comedic package.
In 1936 Smiley met and married Dallas MacDonnell. The couple would raise four adopted children. The union would last the remainder of Smiley’s life.
World War II separated Gene and Smiley. Burnette went on to do nine films as Roy Rogers’ sidekick before paring with Charles Starrett from 1945 to 1952 in fifty-four Durango Kid series films. Columbia signed Burnette once again reuniting him with Gene Autry. With the decline of the B Western feature, Smiley turned to touring and personal appearances while pursuing his musical career. In the mid-sixties he appeared in the CBS TV comedy series Petticoat Junction as the railroad engineer Charlie Pratt.
Following his run on Petticoat Junction, Smiley Burnette was taken ill. He died of leukemia in February 1967. Smiley’s signature hat and shirt are part of the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum collection. You can find his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Next Week: Slim Pickens
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Ride easy,
Paul
Smiley’s musical ability in country radio got him discovered by Gene Autry. In 1933 Autry hired him to play the accordion on his National Barn Dance program on WLS in Chicago. The following year Gene and Smiley signed to do musical parts in two Ken Maynard films for Mascot Pictures. Their return to country radio was short lived when Mascot offered the pair 10 year film contracts. Gene and Smiley would go on to make sixty-four films together.
“Frog Millhouse” evoked a lovable, folksy, down-home, ‘awe-shucks’ comfortability that was Smiley Burnette. With a frog-in-the-throat for a voice, Smiley topped it off in a battered black hat with a turned up front brim, tablecloth checked shirt and baggy britches. Throw in a ring-eyed white horse and you had an unforgettable comedic package.
In 1936 Smiley met and married Dallas MacDonnell. The couple would raise four adopted children. The union would last the remainder of Smiley’s life.
World War II separated Gene and Smiley. Burnette went on to do nine films as Roy Rogers’ sidekick before paring with Charles Starrett from 1945 to 1952 in fifty-four Durango Kid series films. Columbia signed Burnette once again reuniting him with Gene Autry. With the decline of the B Western feature, Smiley turned to touring and personal appearances while pursuing his musical career. In the mid-sixties he appeared in the CBS TV comedy series Petticoat Junction as the railroad engineer Charlie Pratt.
Following his run on Petticoat Junction, Smiley Burnette was taken ill. He died of leukemia in February 1967. Smiley’s signature hat and shirt are part of the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum collection. You can find his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Next Week: Slim Pickens
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
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