| Artist: Stuart Hamblen |
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| Wikipedia: Stuart Hamblen |
Stuart Hamblen, (born Carl Stuart Hamblen) (October 20, 1908–March 8, 1989) was one of radio's first singing cowboys in 1926, and later became a Christian songwriter, temperance supporter and recurring candidate for political office.
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Hamblen was born to the family of an itinerant Methodist preacher on 20 October 1908, in Kelleyville, Texas, USA. He married to Suzy Daniels and fathered two children with her. Hamblen's father was Dr. J. H. Hamblen, a minister in the Methodist Church in Texas, who in 1946 founded the Evangelical Methodist Church denomination in Abilene, Texas.
From 1931-52, Hamblen had a series of highly popular radio programs on the West Coast of the United States[1]. He composed music and acted in motion pictures with such other stars as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and John Wayne. He was the first artist signed by MCA Records in 1934.[2]
He was also a racehorse owner for a portion of his career,[3] until 1949 when he underwent a religious conversion at a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles. He soon gave up his secular radio and film career (and horse racing) to enter Christian broadcasting with his radio show, "The Cowboy Church of the Air," which ran until 1952.[4]
During a 1963 crusade in Los Angeles, Graham called Hamblen's conversion "the turning point" in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's ministry, where before Hamblen accepted Christ the crowds were rather small. Graham said Hamblen was the No. 1 radio personality in Los Angeles, which drew in crowds. That evening, also Graham's first coast-to-coast television broadcast, Hamblen shared about his faith and sung/spoke his signature hymn "It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)." Graham attributed Hamblen's hunting skills as instrumental in capturing a wild panther in the Los Angeles area prior to the crusade.[5][6]
Stuart Hamblen died 8 March, 1989, in Santa Monica, California, USA, of brain cancer.[7]
Hamblen wrote the popular songs, This Ole House and Open up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine in) (not to be confused with the 1969 hit song by The 5th Dimension, or the song from the Broadway musical Hair). Other songs include Hell Train, It is No Secret (What God Can Do) (not the contemporary Christian song of a similar name in the 1980s) and Blood on Your Hands". Some of his post-conversion songs depict a rather wrathful version of the Gospel, sung with such good-natured high spirits that they have an ironic appeal to the non-religious.
It Is No Secret was likely to have been inspired by the Billy Graham prayer meeting, in which Hamblen became a born-again Christian, and a spiritual conversation with John Wayne. The song would go on to be sung by popular singers Eddy Arnold, Pat Boone, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb.[8]
"This Ole House" was reportedly inspired while on a hunting trip with John Wayne. The two men came upon what looked like an abandoned shack, wherein was the body of an elderly man, apparently dead of natural causes. Hamblen wrote the lyrics to the song on the spot, on the back of his lunch bag, and composed the melody within a week.[9]
In 1955, Hamblen had a hit single with "Open Up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)," along with his family under the name "Cowboy Church Sunday School." Hamblen was accompanied by wife Suzy, daughters Veeva Suzanne and Obee Jane (Lisa), and two of the girls' friends. The song was recorded at the 33 RPM speed so that it sounds like children singing at the normal 7-inch single phonograph speed of 45 RPM. The tune hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts in 1955.[10] "Open Up Your Heart (And Let the Sunshine In)" was played on an episode of the television cartoon series The Flintstones in the mid-1960s and was sung by characters Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.
Hamblen was inducted into the Country/Western Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, was presented the ACM Pioneer Award 1972, received the Gene Autry Golden Boot Award 1988, and was inducted into Texas Country Music Hall of Fame 2001[11]. He later received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Jefferson, Texas (near Hamblen's birth home of Kelleyville, Texas) celebrates "Stuart Hamblen Days" each year, with a bronze plaque dedication taking place in the city park in 1998, sponsored by a local opera house.[12]
Hamblen supported the American temperance movement and ran as the Prohibition Party's candidate for U.S. president in the 1952 presidential election. Hamblen garnered 72,949 recorded popular votes and no electoral votes in an election in which Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President for the first of two terms, defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson.[13][13]
Previously, Hamblen ran for California's 20th congressional district seat as a Democrat, losing to Carl Hinshaw in the 1938 election cycle. The race was a close one, with Hinshaw at 47 percent and Hamblen with 41 percent of the vote.
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