Gene Autry 12 acres. A decade after he purchased Melody Ranch, a brushfire swept through in August 1962, destroying most of the original standing sets. However, the devastated landscape did prove useful for productions such as "Combat!." A complete adobe ranch survived at the northeast section of the ranch. In 1990, after his favorite horse Champion, which lived in retirement there, died, Autry put the remaining 12-acre ranch up for sale. It is now known as the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio and Melody Ranch Studios on 22 acres. The ranch has Melody Ranch Museum open year-round; and one weekend a year,
Gene Gene the Dancing Machine its studios after cancelling the series and production moved to what is now KTLA's studios in Los Angeles; since Patton's full-time job was working for NBC and not for Barris, he remained there. Patton died in Pasadena, California on March 9, 2015, from complications from diabetes. Gene Gene the Dancing Machine Eugene S. Patton, Sr (April 25, 1932 – March 9, 2015), also known as Gene Patton and more widely known by his stage name Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, was a television personality, dancer and stagehand who worked at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Patton was the first African-American