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March 18th, 1911 — February 16th, 1967

Above: A publicity portrait of Smiley Burnette circa 1946, in the outfit he wore throughout his B-western career.

The rotund and rubber-faced Lester Alvin “Smiley” Burnette–musician, singer, composer and slapstick comedian–was one of the most popular B-western performers of the 1930s and 1940s, one of the only “sidekicks” to rate as a box-office attraction in his own right. When singing, Burnette could hit almost every note on the musical scale; when acting, he could also hit every note on the comedy scale, from manic energy to poker-faced calm. Burnette’s best work was in his features with Gene Autry, but he began his distinguished matinee career as a sidekick in cliffhanger serials.

Burnette was born in Summum, Illinois, the son of a minister. He became interested in music at a young age, and had learned to play over half-a-dozen instruments before he was ten years old. He dropped out of school in his early teens to help support his family, and worked at innumerable odd jobs until he landed a job at a

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Smiley Burnette created the Western music standard "Ridin' Down the Canyon" and was a prolific composer of songs for Hollywood's singing-cowboy Westerns. He also wrote many novelty songs for children and the Australian cowboy classic "My Pinto Pony and I."

A child of Presbyterian ministers, he began performing country music as a boy in his home state of Illinois. Burnette reportedly earned his first money as an entertainer at the age of nine — $3 for a performance at a YMCA banquet in Carthage, Illinois. He quit school before finishing the ninth grade to work to augment his family's income. After jobs as a taxi driver, canning factory worker, truck driver, delivery boy and hotdog vendor at University of Illinois football games, he became a radio announcer. For a local children's radio program, he adopted the nickname "Smiley."

Gene Autry was a rising star at the National Barn Dance radio show on WLS in Chicago. The program was country music's most important radio outlet at the time. While on tour in Illinois, Autry's accordion player got sick. The theater owner suggested Bu

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Smiley worked on a local radio station and in Vaudeville after high school. Always interested in music, he was friends with Gene Autry and worked with him on the radio show "The National Barn Dance". When Westerns became a big draw with sound, the studios were always on the lookout for singing cowboys. In 1934, both Gene and Smiley made their debuts in In Old Santa Fe (1934). Smiley became well known as Gene's plump sidekick Frog Milhouse, and they worked together in over 80 Westerns. After Gene, Smiley provided the comic relief for other cowboy stars at Republic such as Sunset Carson and Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid). He also provided a lot of the music as he wrote over 300 western songs and sang quite a few in the films. Smiley was the first supporting actor to regularly appear on the Top Ten Western money-maker list. He became well known for his white horse with the black circle around one eye. When he used a team of white horses, as when he was 'Spec Specialist' Smiley Burnette, each white horse had one black circle around one eye. When the 'B&