Two cowboys, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in Moulton Texas: a young boy's movie dilemma. (original) (raw)
This short but amusing story comes to us from H. Ben Johnson in Moulton, Texas. Moulton's population is about 1,000, but we'll let you know exactly after the census.
It seems that during WWll, Gene Autry gave up movie making and joined the Air Corps. During his absence, Roy Rogers became pretty popular with the young moviegoers, including Ben.
A local theater manager exploited this rivalry by running a double feature of one Autry picture and a Rogers film, then having the kids vote on "King of the Cowboys".
Ben had always been a big Autry fan, but there was something about the way Roy held back his tears when he had to shoot Trigger's mother (suffering from a cougar attack). With this vision fresh in his young mind, Ben cast his vote for Roy.
After his eyes adjusted to the bright daylight, he realized he had betrayed his ol' pard and trail buddy, who was also, let's not forget, a veteran. Knowing what he must do, Ben set his jaw, squared his shoulders and went back and saw both movies again, casting his second vote for Gene.
That, dear readers, is the Cowboy Way.