April 2018 40 Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known to film and television fans as Slim Pickens, began his career in his teens riding broncos, roping steers and finally becoming one of the premier rodeo clowns. As Rex told me, “Slim Pickens was a rodeo clown before we gave him his first shot in his first picture.” After his films at Republic Pictures, Slim went on to an extremely successful career in film and television. At the time of his death, on December 8th, 1983, Slim Pickens was still in great demand. In his second year at the studio, 1951, Rex made the top ten list and stayed there through 1954. Yates had his successful new singing cowboy! By 1951, things had changed greatly at Republic Pictures since Gene Autry had left in 1947. Gone was the large lineup of cowboy stars that made Republic the number one western “b” studio. John Wayne had become a superstar, while Gene, Roy and Dale Evans had gone into television. Bill Elliott tried his hand at television with two TV pilots but film-wise he moved to Monogram/ Allied Artists. Former studio cowboy star Don Barry found a home at Lippert, while Sunset Carson finally landed at Yucca Productions/Astor Pictures. For the record, however, the official last “b’ western to be made for theatrical release is considered to be “Two Guns and a Badge”, the final film in a small group tailored for former matinee idol Wayne Morris and released through Columbia Pictures. Entering 1952 only Rex and Allan “Rocky” Lane were steady western stars contracted at Republic Pictures unless you consider the “cornpone” films of Judy Canova; crooner Vaughn Monroe would also sing his way through two medium-budget features at the studio in 1950 and ’52. The last film Rex made for Republic would be “Phantom Stallion”, but Republic wasn’t done with him yet. In the future, the last “Singing Cowboy” would make a very non-traditional western drama for Republic’s television extension, Hollywood Television Service. As Rex would tell it, “Yates didn’t want anything to do with television, but he found out there was some money in it. I did a series called, “Frontier Doctor.” Shot ‘em in two and a half days, two a week, for 39 episodes. I carried a little doctor bag that an old doctor in my hometown gave me and I carried that in the whole series. It wouldn’t hold anything other than a hypodermic needle and a fifth of scotch.” By Charlie LeSueur Charlie LeSueur, AZ’s Official Western Film Historian. Encore Fellow @ Western Spirit, Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. 480.358.5178, azfilmhistorian@gmail.com, www.silverscreencowboyz.com Remembering Rex Allen Part IV Frontier Doctor was not just a different step for Rex Allen, and Republic Pictures, but a different type of western altogether. While Roy, Gene, and Hoppy rode the range, six guns blazing, Rex carried the ‘well-supplied’ medical bag. After Frontier Doctor, there would be sporadic on-screen appearances; however, a whole new career path was about to take Rex in a very satisfying direction for as the saying goes: “When one door closes, another opens,” the door that opened would become very lucrative for the last of the silver screen cowboys. The final chapter on Rex Allen next month. As Rex told me, “Slim Pickens was a rodeo clown before we gave him his first shot in his first picture.”