Home in Wyomin'
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William Morgan
Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette
Fay Mckenzie
Olin Howlin
Chick Chandler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When wisecracking photographer Clementine "Clem" Benson and reporter "Hack" Hackett try to get a story on radio singing star Gene Autry, Gene eludes the pair, who previously have ridiculed him in print. Gene instead attends to Pop Harrison, the owner of the rodeo troupe in which Gene and his pal, Frog Millhouse, got their start. Pop is worried because his son Tex is ruining the business through his drinking and gambling. While Pop, Gene, Frog and Frog's brother Tadpole head to Gold Ridge, Wyoming to help Tex, Clem and Hack are ordered by their editor to follow Gene. When they arrive at Bartlett's dude ranch, where Tex and the boys are preparing for their next show, Clem and Hack land in hot water when Hack's laughter at Tex's drunkenness provokes a fistfight. Hack easily bests the soused cowboy, and Gene uses the incident as an opportunity to give Tex a stern lecture. Tex agrees to start acting more responsibly, and Gene tells him to attend that night's barbeque so that the other troupe members can be informed of Tex's promised reformation. That night, while Clem goes to the barbeque, Hack follows three suspicious looking men who are guests at the ranch. At a saloon, eccentric miner Sunrise shows off some gold he has found, but he loses most of it to Hack, who is playing poker with the three men and Tex. The leader of the men, Crowley, is unnerved by Hack's intimations that he is aware of Crowley's shady past. Gene comes to the saloon to retrieve Tex, and Crowley, who is actually a gangster named Luigi Scalese, and his men follow Hack when he leaves, but their attempt to kill him fails. The next day, when Tex is performing at the rodeo, Hack is shot and someone replaces Tex's blank cartridges with real bullets so it looks as if Tex shot Hack during his act. The sheriff arrests Tex, and Gene and the others begin trying to clear him, although Clem believes that he is guilty. She tells Gene about Hack's suspicion of Crowley, and Gene prevents Crowley and his men from leaving the ranch. Later, while Clem is out on a date with Gene, Crowley steals Clem's photograph case to destroy pictures of himself. He leaves his fingerprints on the case, however, and the FBI is able to identify him when Gene sends the prints in. When Pop is shot after receiving the telegram about Crowley's identity, Gene suspects Crowley, who maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, Sunrise has lead Clem into the old gold mine tunnels underneath the ranch, and she discovers that the insane miner killed Hack and wounded Pop because he was afraid they knew where he found his gold. Gene saves Clem as Sunrise is about to kill her, and the miner falls down a shaft to his death. Later, Tex promises Pop that he really will straighten up, and Gene sings to Clem as they ride off together.
Director
William Morgan
Cast
Gene Autry
Smiley Burnette
Fay Mckenzie
Olin Howlin
Chick Chandler
Joe Strauch Jr.
Forrest Taylor
James Seay
George Douglas
Charles Lane
Hal Price
Bud Geary
Ken Cooper
James Mcnamara
Kermit Maynard
Ted Mapes
Jack Kirk
William Benedict
Cyril Ring
Betty Farrington
Tom Hanlon
Bill Kellogg
Lee Shumway
Champion
Spade Cooley
Roy Butler
Rex Lease
Crew
Gene Autry
Irving Berlin
George Blair
Smiley Burnette
A. P. Carter
Harry Grey
Russell Kimball
Raoul Kraushaar
Edward Mann
Don Marcotte
Johnny Marvin
Ernest Miller
Percy Montrose
Stuart Palmer
Fred Rose
Robert Tasker
M. Coates Webster
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some pre-production news items called the film Home in Wyoming. Most of the songs were missing from the print viewed. According to Hollywood Reporter news items, the picture was filmed on location at the Russell Ranch near Agoura, CA, and Tom Hanlon, who plays a radio announcer in the film, was the announcer for Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio show. Hollywood Reporter also noted that Barry Shipman had been signed to write "special action sequences" for the film, but his contribution to the release picture has not been confirmed. In the picture, Autry sings the popular Irving Berlin wartime song "Any Bonds Today?" According to copyright materials, Autry was "the first motion picture star to aid the U.S. Defense Bond Campaign by highlighting the official song" of the campaign. Modern sources include the following actors in the cast: Jean Porter, Stuart Palmer and William Kellogg.
