Tex

[W. Gray]

I grew up watching old cowboy movies on television. The Three Mesquiteers (John Wayne was for a short time a Mesquiteer), Eddie Dean, Johnnie Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely,  Don "Red" Barry, Lash Larue, Durango Kid, Whip Wilson, Sunset Carson, and a bunch of others.

Sometimes, I could go to the movies on Saturday afternoon and pay to see some of these guys.

My favorite, though, was Tex Ritter. He was my hero and I had a couple of his 78-rpm records. I particularly liked the way he talked and how he pronounced his words.

He sang the soundtrack to High Noon and Wichita.

When I went to Vietnam, he had signed up with the USO to entertain the troops. One evening I was having dinner with some others, and in he walked—I mean staggered. He was drunk.

It was painful, though, to see an old hero acting in that manner. He sat next to my table for dinner. None of us at my table tried talking to him because he was making a spectacle of himself.

Afterwards, he took to a makeshift stage and began singing--very horribly. He slurred his words, continuously snorted, and told jokes that might have been funny but he messed them up.

Some might recall that he was a passenger on a liner that was hijacked to Cuba. He kept joking that everyone on the plane wanted him to do something since he was the one who always fought the outlaws and never lost.
He admitted he was probably more scared than anyone else on the flight was. That brought a few laughs and a lot of applause.

Everyone showed him respect, though, but I was relieved to go back to my billet.

He did have someone with him who he introduced as his son John. We did talk with John but he was quite young and I thought he might have been too young to be in a war zone. He showed no signs of inebriation that I can recall.

To make matters worse, Tex Ritter died in a jail although I do not think he was an inmate.

Of course, John Ritter went on to be a bigger star than his dad. I always wanted to see him play his dad in a movie. 

[T. Sackett]

    According to this Tex died from  heart failure.

http://www.nndb.com/people/200/000050050/

[Bonnie M.]

He was one of the singers we really liked, too.  There seemed to be a lot of those "good old boys" who drank too much, and some of them pretty much messed up their lives.  What a waste, and what a shame!

[W. Gray]

One of his band members had been arrested for some offense and was being held in a jail in the Nashville area. Tex went to the jail to bail him out and while he was there he suffered a heart attack and checked out.

The original news stories had him dying in his cell, which might be true depending on whether or not anyone was trying to cover for him.

[T. Sackett]

He was one of the singers we really liked, too.  There seemed to be a lot of those "good old boys" who drank too much, and some of them pretty much messed up their lives.  What a waste, and what a shame!

Yeah, and Hank Williams, Sr. was one of them.  He died way too young.  Drugs and booze sure does have a way of messin' people up.  But have you ever noticed that these performers are worth more dead than alive??  Elivis' estate is worth more now than when he was living and Hank Williams' music still lives on and the royalties aren't to be sneezed at.

[Wilma]

And then there was Eddie Dean's brother, Jimmie Dean, who sang cowboy songs with KFBI's Dinner Bell Gang in the 40's.  Never heard of him, huh?  He was much better then Eddie Dean.  He just didn't hit the big time.   And, yes, I said brother.  He was uncle to the Jimmie Dean we know now.  KFBI was a radio station in Wichita in the early 40's.  The show was local and had a live audience if anyone wanted to see it.  It aired at noon weekdays, the cast consisted of about half a dozen people and a dozen characters.  The band was Vern Nydegger, his brother, Lee and Lee's wife, Mildred, plus Jimmie Dean on guitar.  Everybody played several instruments.  Sounded big time to me, a small time girl.

[W. Gray]

Something somewhat disturbing is contained in the attachment to bounty hunter's previous response.

He provided a web page giving information about Tex Ritter.

At that page, which gives a short background on him, it shows Tex Ritter's gender, his race, and his occupation. Sandwiched in among this information is:

            "Sexual Orientation: Straight"

Does this mean we are heading to a time that when we give out data such as gender, race, and occupation, for IDs, etc., we will also be expected to state our "other preferences?"

[Bonnie M.]

I wondered about the "Sexual orientation" also!  I had never seen that listed.  Isn't that interesting?

[W. Gray]

People remember what they were doing when JFK was shot.

Hank Williams Sr was so big, many people can remember what they were doing when he died.

I was in Howard at the time in my grandparents apartment above McKee's dime store. I was awakened by a Wichita radio station blaring out that he was dead.

No one could believe it and it was talked about a good part of the day.

It seems to me the cause of death given by the announcer was a heart attack.

It was a long time before I knew the real reason.