It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Sing, Cowboy, Sing (1937) – Musical #779

Studio:
Grand National Pictures

Director:
Robert N. Bradbury

Starring:
Tex Ritter, White Flash, Louise Stanley, Al St. John, Charles King, Karl Hackett, Robert McKenzie, Horace Murphy, Snub Pollard, Hank Worden, Chick Hannan, Milburn Morante, Oscar Gahan, Jack C. Smith (uncredited)
Performers: the Texas Tornadoes

Plot:
George Summers (Smith) and his daughter Madge (Stanley) are ambushed by a gang as they hauling freight wagons. Summers is killed, and the whole event is witness by Tex Archer (Ritter) and his pal Duke Evans (St. John) who are passing by. The mob who killed Summers were hired by a competing freight company, run by Kalmus (Hackett). When Kalmus and his gang realize that Tex likely witnessed the murder, they work to frame Tex and Duke for the killing.

Trivia:
• Tex Ritter’s horse, White Flash, has second billing.
• Several of the songs performed by the Texas Tornadoes were written by Tex Ritter.

Notable Songs:
• “Goodbye Old Paint, I’m Leavin’ Cheyenne” performed by Tex Ritter
• “Sing, Cowboy, Sing” performed by Tex Ritter
• “I’m a Natural Born Cowboy” performed by the Texas Tornadoes
• “Get a Horse and a Saddle” performed by Tex Ritter

Tex Ritter in “Sing, Cowboy, Sing”, with Louise Stanley. 

My review:
Until I started watching this Musical Monday, SING, COWBOY, SING (1937), I didn’t realize that that I hadn’t seen a Tex Ritter film until now.

Of the musical western/singing cowboy movies I’ve watched this summer, this is the first one set in the “western” time period of the 1800s.

In the film, Tex (Ritter) and his pal Duke (St. John) witness the murder of the owner of Summer Freight, George Summers (Smith). Summers’s daughter, Madge (Stanley), survives the attack and asks for the help of Tex and Duke. She wants justice for her father’s death, and also to keep the family freight company. Tex and Duke travel into town, pretending to be musical performers, while searching out the murderers. Kalmus (Hackett), the owner of a competitor freight line who hired the killers of summers, realizes that Tex and Duke may be witnesses and try to frame them for the crime.

Story wise, the plot of SING, COWBOY, SING (1937) is just okay, but some of the songs are nice. Tex Ritter, well-known as a singing cowboy and the father of actor John Ritter, is very pleasant in this film. I also realized, I’d never sought out any of Ritter’s western songs, so it was great to finally hear him sing after knowing of him. Ritter’s singing voice may not be as smooth as Smith Ballew, Dick Foran or Roy Rogers, but he more than others, he has the western cowboy twang and throws in a bit of yoddling as well.

The film opens with him singing “Goodbye Old Paint, I’m Leavin’ Cheyenne,” so we are automatically introduced to Ritter’s singing.

I also really enjoyed the Texas Tornadoes singers.

I also enjoyed Al St. John as Duke. It seems most of these bearded sidekicks are old-timers in these westerns, such as Gabby Hayes or Si Jenks. But under his beard, you could tell that St. John was younger and handsome than others in similar roles.

I’ll admit, this 58 minute movie did feel like it dragged a bit, but it had enough songs to keep me happy.

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