ArizonaRealCountry.com 17 January 2018 MY MEMORIES OF REX ALLEN the Arizona Cowboy, Part One By Charlie LeSueur My first meeting with Rex Allen was in the late 1980’s. I was to produce a television commercial with him; however, he hadn’t been informed the commercial was for television instead of radio which was his normal agenda. He wasn’t dressed for an on- screen endorsement, but he shrugged it off. I could tell something was wrong with his vision and he explained, “I recently fell at home and damaged my eye,” He further explained “I was so crossed-eyed as a child that when I bawled the tears rolled down my back. They took my left eye right out of the socket to straighten it out.” Despite this, I handed Rex the script. Looking at the copy for a couple of minutes he delivered the lines perfectly the first time. I had him re-do the commercial a few more times and each time it was letter perfect. Preparing to leave I had to ask him a question I wondered about. “Mr. Allen, instead of sidekicks like Gabby Hayes or Smiley Burnette, you had people like Buddy Ebsen, Slim Pickens, and Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer. How did you manage that?” Giving me that famous boyish grin he said one word, “Money.” In 1998 Rex was scheduled to receive the Cowboy Spirit Award at Scottsdale’s Festival of the West; as a special bonus former Republic Pictures co-star of 6 films, Mary Ellen Kay, would join him. Without missing a beat, forty-five years melted away as he walked over to his former co-star gave her a hug, a kiss and in that deep velvet voice said, “Hello, Mary Ellen.” Rex chuckled, “This is the first time I got to kiss Mary Ellen and not KoKo.” Rex Elvie Allen was born in Mud Springs, Arizona on December 31, 1921, his parents Horace and Fay raised cattle and goats. To help with the finances Horace would play the fiddle and call square dances. Mary Ellen would tell me, “When Rex was ten years old; his father gave him a guitar. I think that when he gave Rex the guitar, he figured that Rex would go out on the road and accompany him.” His father was also obviously responsible for Rex’s sense of humor as he explained, “Many years ago, my dad was a bachelor and a good-looking guy. They were having this parade, (The Rex Allen Days Parade), and I came around this corner of the bank building on Koko with all this ‘spangly’ stuff on waving at everybody. Dad was standing over on the corner with two or three old gals, and one of them said, ‘Horace, I’ll bet you’re proud of that boy aren’t ya?’ My dad said, ‘Yeah, I am proud of him.’ She said, ‘I wish I had a boy like that.’ Horace quickly retorted, ‘Well, if you old girls hadn’t been so damn persnickety a few years ago every damn one of you could have had one.’” To be continued next issue… 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