Tex Ritter

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Tex Ritter
Ritter in 1970
Background information
Birth name	Woodward Maurice Ritter
Also known as	Tex Ritter
Born	January 12, 1905(1905-01-12)
Origin	Murvaul, Texas, USA
Died	January 2, 1974 (aged 68) Nashville, Tennessee
Genres	country music
Occupations	singer, actor
Instruments	guitar
Years active	1928 – 1974
Labels	Columbia Records, Decca Records

Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974), better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and was the father of actor John Ritter. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Biography

Ritter was born in Murvaul, Texas, the son of James Everett Ritter and Martha Elizabeth Matthews. He grew up on his family's farm in Panola County and attended grade school in Carthage. He attended South Park High School in Beaumont. After graduating with honors, he entered the University of Texas at Austin; he studied pre-law, majoring in government, political science and economics.

Radio and Broadway

An early pioneer of country music, Ritter soon became interested in show business. In 1928, he sang on KPRC-AM in Houston, a 30-minute show featuring cowboy songs. That same year, he moved to New York City and landed a job in the men's chorus of the Broadway show The New Moon (1928). He appeared as The Cowboy in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs (1930), the basis for the musical Oklahoma!. He also played the part of Sagebrush Charlie in The Round Up (1932) and Mother Lode (1934).

In 1932, he starred in New York's first broadcast western, The Lone Star Rangers on WOR-AM, where he sang songs and told tales of the Old West. Ritter wrote and starred in Cowboy Tom's Roundup on WINS-AM in 1933, a daily children's cowboy program aired over two other East Coast stations for three years. He also performed on the radio show WHN Barndance and sang on NBC Radio shows; and appeared in several radio dramas including CBS's Bobby Benson's Adventures and on the syndicated TV show Death Valley Days.

Ritter began recording for American Record Company (Columbia Records) in 1933. His first release was "Goodbye Ole Paint." He also recorded "Rye Whiskey" for the label. In 1935, he signed with Decca Records, where he recorded his first original recordings, "Sam Hall" and "Get Along Little Dogie." He recorded 29 songs for Decca, the last in 1939 in Los Angeles, California as part of Tex Ritter and His Texans.

Movie career

In 1936, Ritter moved to Los Angeles. His motion picture debut was in Song Of The Gringo (1936) for Grand National Pictures. He starred in twelve B-movie Westerns for Grand National, including Headin' For The Rio Grande (1936), and Trouble In Texas (1937) co-starring Rita Hayworth (then known as Rita Cansino).

After starring in Utah Trail (1938), Ritter left financially-troubled Grand National. Between 1938 and 1945, he starred in around forty "singing cowboy" movies. He made four movies with actress Dorothy Fay at Monogram Pictures: Song of the Buckaroo (1938), Sundown on the Prairie (1939), Rollin' Westward (1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (1940).

Ritter then moved to Universal Pictures and teamed with Johnny Mack Brown for films such as The Lone Star Trail (1943), Raiders of San Joaquin (1943), Cheyenne Roundup (1943) and The Old Chisholm Trail (1942). He was the also the star of the film in Arizona Trail (1943), Marshal of Gunsmoke (1944) and Oklahoma Raiders (1944).

When Universal developed financial difficulties, Ritter moved to Producers Releasing Corporation as "Texas Ranger Tex Haines" for eight features between 1944 and 1945. Ritter did not return to acting until 1950 playing mostly supporting roles or himself.

Recording career

Ritter's recording career was his most successful period. He was the first artist signed with the newly-formed Capitol Records as well as its first Western singer. His first recording session was on June 11, 1942.

In 1944, he scored a hit with "I'm Wastin' My Tears On You," which hit number one on the country charts and eleven on the Pop charts. "There's A New Moon Over My Shoulder" was a country chart number two and pop chart number 21. In 1945, he had the number one, two and three songs on Billboard's Most Played Jukebox Folk Records poll, a first in the industry. Between 1945 and 1946, he registered seven consecutive top five hits, including "You Two Timed Me One Time Too Often," (number one) written by Jenny Lou Carson, which spent eleven weeks on the charts. In 1948, "Rye Whiskey" and his cover of "The Deck of Cards" both made the top ten and "Pecos Bill" reached number 15. In 1950, "Daddy's Last Letter (Private First Class John H. McCormick)" also became a hit.

Ritter first toured Europe in 1952, where his appearances included a starring role in the Texas Western Spectacle at London's Harringay Arena. That same year, Ritter recorded the movie title-track song "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin')", which became a hit. He sang "High Noon" at the first televised Academy Awards ceremony in 1953, which received an Oscar for Best Song that year.[1]

In 1953, he began performing on Town Hall Party on radio and television in Los Angeles. In 1957 he co-hosted Ranch Party, a syndicated version of the show. He made his national TV debut on ABC's Ozark Jubilee and was one of five rotating hosts for its 1961 NBC-TV spin-off, Five Star Jubilee.

He formed Vidor Publications, Inc., a music publishing firm, with Johnny Bond, in 1955. "Remember the Alamo" was the first song in the catalog. In 1957, he released his first album, Songs From the Western Screen. He was often featured in archival footage on the children's television program, The Gabby Hayes Show.

In 1961, he also released the hit "I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven," released six years earlier by Eddie Dean.

Later career

Ritter in 1964

Even after the peak of his performing career, Ritter was recognized for his contributions to country music and artistic versatility. He became one of the founding members of the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tennessee and spearheaded the effort to build the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. In 1964, he became the fifth inductee and first singing cowboy to be honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame.

He moved to Nashville in 1965 and began working for WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry, earning a lifetime membership in the latter. His family remained in California temporarily so that son John could finish high school there. For a time, Dorothy was an official greeter at the Opry. During this period, Ritter co-hosted a late night radio program with country disc jockey Ralph Emery. His 1967 single "Just Beyond the Moon" with lyrics by Jeremy Slate hit number three on the country chart.

Senate campaign

In 1970, Ritter surprised many people by entering the Republican primary for United States Senate. Despite high name recognition, he lost overwhelmingly to US Rep. Bill Brock, who then defeated US Sen. Albert Gore, Sr. in the general election.

Personal life

Ritter was married to actress Dorothy Fay from June 14, 1941, until his death. The couple had two sons, Thomas Ritter and television actor John Ritter. He is also the grandfather of Jason Ritter. He helped start United Cerebral Palsy after Thomas was found to have the illness. Ritter and his sons spent a great deal of time raising money and public awareness to help others with the illness.

Death

Ritter's grave marker

Ritter had his last recording session for Capitol Records in 1973. His last song, "The Americans," became a posthumous hit shortly after his death. In 1974, he had a heart attack and died in Nashville. He is interred at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in Port Neches, Texas.

Legacy

For his contribution to the recording industry, Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard; he and John Ritter were the first father-and-son pair to be so honored in different categories. In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Ritter can be heard as the voice of Big Al, an audio-animatronic bear at the Country Bear Jamboree attraction in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. His character sings "Blood on the Saddle" and continues through the finale as the rest of the cast attempts to drown him out.

Filmography

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

• Tex Ritter at the Internet Movie Database
• Tex Ritter at the Internet Broadway Database
• Tex Ritter Museum - Carthage, Texas
• The Old Corral, the ultimate reference guide for B-Westerns
• Zwisohn, Laurence (1998). "Tex Ritter". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 447–448.
• O'Neal, Bill (1998). Tex Ritter: America's Most Beloved Cowboy. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press.

External links

• Tex Ritter at the Country Music Hall of Fame
• Tex Ritter at Find a Grave
• Tex Ritter / Edward Finney Collection at the Autry National Center