An interview with cowboy film star Rex Allen Sr., from our Classic Movies special correspondent.

On Dec. 17, 1999, Rex Allen died of injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. He was only two weeks short of his 79th birthday. He will be missed. This interview took place over two years earlier.

By A.J. FLICK

Tucson, Arizona (Special to Classic Movies) - As much as he would have liked to make a great Western epic, Rex Allen Sr. was a victim of typecasting.

"You'd get kinda tagged makin' B Westerns, he says. "'Oh, I know Rex. He makes B Westerns.' They'd have to put the 'B' in."

"Rex was the last of the singing cowboys," says Western music/movie historian Fred Goodwin.

"Rex made some good movies, all low budgeted," he adds. "Republic Pictures at the time had the best sound effects, the best music scores, the best directors.

"They went out on location and filmed the movies in just a few weeks. Every time, Rex would show up and know his dialogue. Rex was a good studio actor, a good contract actor. He'd do whatever they wanted him to do."

For $300 a week.

"I worked in a lot of rodeos, theaters, and auditoriums, nearly every summer," Allen says. "I'd go back for eight days and do a film and go back to the road. Take the horse and load 'im up and grab a few musicians."

Allen's co-stars included Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens. Pickens became a lifelong friend whose artwork - including a sculpture and sketch - are displayed prominently in Allen's Tucson home.

And no singing cowboy worth his salt would venture out with a trusty steed. Roy Rogers had Trigger. Rex Allen had Koko, "The Miracle Horse of the Movies."

Unlike Trigger, though, Koko did not become a museum display when he died.

"Roy'll say, 'Guess when I go, Dale (Evans) will stuff me and put me right on Trigger,'" Allen says gleefully.

"Well, one of the Sons of the Pioneers one time said, 'I don't like the way Roy keeps lookin' at us, up and down, like he was measurin' where he was going to put us in the museum.'"

Koko was Allen's personal horse.

"I bought him when I first went out there (to California)," Allen says. "I furnished my own horse, my own wardrobe.

"Roy Rogers said, 'You furnish everything you need to make movies or else they'll have you wearin' my old wardrobe'!" Allen says, laughing.

One of Allen's trademarks was wearing his guns backward.

"I just wanted to be different than everyone else. I wanted to have a different colored horse, vest different, blocked my hat differently. Everything I could so nobody could say I was a copy of anybody else."

Most of Allen's memorabilia is on display at the Rex Allen Museum in Willcox, Ariz., about 85 miles east of Tucson, along with souvenirs. For more information on the Rex Allen Museum, call (520) 384-4583.

Allen, whose signature song is "Arizona Cowboy," lives in a comfortable home on the outskirts of Tucson with his third wife, Virginia.

"This is the first time I've lived in town in many years," says Allen, 76, who was born and raised in Willcox.

"I like it here," he adds. "It's a good town. If you have to live in town, Tucson is a beautiful place."

This year, as he has for the past 45 years, Allen will preside over Willcox's Rex Allen Days, Oct. 2-5. The festival honoring the town's favorite son will feature performances by Allen as well as his son, Rex Jr.

Rex Sr. says he was more than happy when Rex Jr., his oldest son, decided to go into show business.

"Oh, I thought it was great," Rex Sr. says. "He always had a great voice. He sings good. I think he sings better than anyone."

Rex Jr., who will bring his Las Vegas entertainment entourage called Arizona to Willcox, is known as "Chico" in the family.

"Before he was born, when my wife was carryin' him, she was startin' to show," Rex Sr. recalls. "She says, 'How big is he?' I say, 'Es muy chico.' Which means 'little guy' in Spanish. Then it just sorta stuck after he was born."

Though Rex Sr. limits his concert appearances to Rex Allen Days, he still is in demand for voiceovers and commercials. Last year, the Walt Disney Co. gave Allen a plaque that reads:

"As Disney's favorite narrator, you're strictly first rate.

"All of us in the studio think that you're great.

"From singing cowboy to Disney legend your career we rejoice.

"Thanks for entertaining the world with your wonderful voice."

It was signed affectionately by the characters that Allen has given voice to including Country Coyote, Wildcat Bobcat, Greta the Misfit Greyhound, Nosey the Sweetest Skunk, and Stud the Best Cowdog in the West.

Rex Allen Sr. has done it all. He's been a movie star, a radio star, a TV star, and a chart-topping singer.

"Had to make a living for all those kids," he says, smiling.

When asked to name his greatest accomplishment, he chuckles and says, "Just the whole thing."

"God gave him a voice," Virginia Allen chimes in, "and nobody has anything like it."

Rex Sr.'s dream to get into show business was fueled by his rancher father's hobby as a fiddler for dances and other events in Willcox.

"I was interested in singing since I was a little boy," Allen says. "I sang in the Baptist choir. And later, the choir in the Methodist church for the second service. I'd sing anywhere they'd let me."

His high school music teacher, Bernice McDaniels, saw Allen's potential as a singer.

"Should have given her 10 percent of everything I ever made," Allen says. "She cheered me on. Good gal."

But McDaniels wasn't too keen about her favorite pupil's desired music.

"She didn't want me to sing Western music," Allen says. "She wanted me to sing grand opera."

Continued on Page Two.

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