Champion the Wonder Horse dime novels, children's stories, and comic books. Their popularity matched some of the most popular film stars of their day, even receiving equal billing with Autry above the leading ladies on film posters and lobby cards. The original Champion received thousands of fan letters each month. Champion the Wonder Horse Champion the Wonder Horse was the on-screen companion of singing cowboy Gene Autry in 79 films between 1935 and 1952, and 91 television episodes of "The Gene Autry Show" between 1950 and 1955. In addition, Champion starred in 26 episodes of his own television series "The Adventures of Champion" in
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on tape for syndication ..." Beginning in the late 1990s, in cooperation with the Autry Qualified Trust and The Autry Foundation, Gene Autry's movies were fully restored and issued on DVDs by Image Entertainment as the Gene Autry Collection series. Offered through the Autry Museum of the American West, the DVD for each film includes excerpts from or else a complete "Melody Ranch" radio show. Typically the audio and video quality is excellent. For example, the "Gaucho Serenade" DVD includes excerpts from the "Melody Ranch" show of June 2, 1940, location not stated, - Opening Theme: "Back in the Saddle