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Smiley
Burnette
"Some
folks worry about the cost of life without knowing the value of it.
Way I figure it, happiness is like a butterfly. You can chase it, but
if you just settle down it'll light on you."
Birth Name:
Lester Alvin Burnette
Induction Year: 1971
Date of Birth: 3/18/1911
Place of Birth:
Summum, IL
Date of Death: 2/17/1967
Place of Death:
Knoxville, TN |
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Former Occupations:
canning
factory employee, taxi driver, hotdog vendor on the University of
Illinois campus during football season, truck driver, motorcycle
delivery boy |
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Career Milestones:
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1920--performing
debut at age 9 at a Y.M.C.A. banquet in Carthage, IL; paid $3.00 |
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1928--announcer
and entertainer at WDZ (then in Tuscola, IL) |
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1933--hired
for Christmas Eve WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago by Gene Autry |
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1934--went
to Hollywood with Gene Autry to try luck at film career; made
"The Phantom Empire" |
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1934--first
Hollywood film role in "In Old Santa Fe" with Ken Jaynard
for Mascot |
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1935--appeared
in "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" with Gene Autry |
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1955-1963--toured
the U.S. doing comedy routines and singing his own songs,
accompanying himself on guitar or accordion |
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early
1960s--starred on nationally syndicated radio show produced by
RadiOzark in Springfield, MO |
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1963-1966--appeared
in CBS-TV's "Petticoat Junction" |
Catalog
Highlights
Riding
Down the Canyon
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Co-writers:
Gene Autry
- Artists:
Gene Autry, Willie Nelson & Leon Russell, Riders in the Sky,
Johnnie Lee Wills
It's
My Lazy Day
Hominy
Grits
Mama
Don't 'low No Music Playin' in Here
Catfish,
Take a Look at that Worm
Jackass
Mail
My
Home Town
Comments:
Seldom
took him more than 30 minutes to write a song; occasionally, he did
it in 10 minutes while his family waited breakfast, and then would
sell it to the studio by reading or singing the lyrics over the
telephone; wrote the type of songs he sang best--children's, western
novelty and hillbilly (country) songs
Credited
with coming up with the name "Trigger" for Roy Rogers' horse
Became
known as "Frog" (Ole Frog Millhouse), Gene Autry's
sidekick in the westerns they made for Republic Pictures |