Gene Autry starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial "The Phantom Empire." Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film. Pat Buttram was picked by Gene Autry, recently returned from his World War II service in the United States Army Air Forces, to work with him. Buttram would co-star with Gene Autry
The Old Corral The Old Corral The film features an unshaven Roy Rogers in his second Gene Autry film, " billed under his actual birth name, Leonard Slye, as the leader of the O'Keefe Brothers, played by the singing Sons of the Pioneers, a troupe of western singers trying to break into radio. Rogers' first appearance, in which he and his group rob a busload of people to garner publicity, ends with Autry threatening to arrest Rogers as soon as he's back on a horse. Sixteen months after "The Old Corral" was released, in the wake of a walkout from the studio by