Author: Bill O'Neal

 

The engaging story of the life and career of Tex Ritter, (1905-1974). Complete with lots of photographs, his years on Broadway, at Monogram, Columbia, Capitol Records, Universal, and on TV are all covered. Here's an excerpt:

The same movie publicity machine that dubbed Roy Rogers "King of the Cowboys" also labeled Tex Ritter "America's Most Beloved Cowboy." After half a century Rogers still enjoys permanent identity as King of the Cowboys, and with equal loyalty a generation of movie fans, as well as a legion of Ritter's friends and colleagues, came to regard the versatile entertainer as nothing less than America's Most Beloved Cowboy...Tex Ritter enjoyed success in early radio, on Broadway, in scores of Western movies, in a recording career that covered hundreds of songs and narrations, as a songwriter, on television, and as a road performer in countless appearances across the United States and abroad. 

 

About the Author:
Bill O'Neal has been captivated by Tex Ritter since the age of ten, when he bought a 45 RPM recording of "High Noon"- which he still owns -immediately after seeing the movie. Bill is the author of 15 books and more than 400 articles. A long-time movie historian, for four years he wrote a monthly study of Western films, "Reel Cowboy" for True West magazine. Since 1970, hen he began teaching history at Panola College, he has lived in the country where Tex Ritter was born and raised.

 

Paperback. Discography. 157 pages.