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Smiley worked on a local radio station and in Vaudeville after high school. Always interested in music, he was friends with Gene Autry and worked with him on the radio show "The National Barn Dance". When Westerns became a big draw with sound, the studios were always on the lookout for singing cowboys. In 1934, both Gene and Smiley made their debuts in In Old Santa Fe (1934). Smiley became well known as Gene's plump sidekick Frog Milhouse, and they worked together in over 80 Westerns. After Gene, Smiley provided the comic relief for other cowboy stars at Republic such as Sunset Carson and Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid). He also provided a lot of the music as he wrote over 300 western songs and sang quite a few in the films. Smiley was the first supporting actor to regularly appear on the Top Ten Western money-maker list. He became well known for his white horse with the black circle around one eye. When he used a team of white horses, as when he was 'Spec Specialist' Smiley Burnette, each white horse had one black circle around one eye. When the 'B' movie Western reign ended in 1953, Smiley retired from the screen. He made occasional appearances on television including being a regular on the music show "Ozark Jubilee (1959)". His last performance was as railroad engineer Charlie Pratt on "Petticoat Junction" (1963) from 1963-67.
A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse.
- Unknown
Smiley Burnette donated his original hat and shirt to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1962.
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Smiley Burnette
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Lester Alvin Burnette
March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967
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Burnette wrote more than 400 songs and sang a significant number of them on screen. His Western classic, "Ridin’ Down the Canyon (to Watch the Sun Go Down)," was later recorded by Willie Nelson, Riders in the Sky and Johnnie Lee Wills. Other compositions included "On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar" (Jimmy Wakely's theme song in the 1940s), "Fetch Me Down My Trusty .45," "Ridin' All Day," "It's Indian Summer," as well as "The Wind Sings a Cowboy Song," "The Old Covered Wagon" and "Western Lullaby." He also composed musical scores for such films as The Painted Stallion and Waterfront Lady. His songs were recorded by a diverse range of singers, including Bing Crosby, Ferlin Husky and Leon Russell. His performance "Steamboat Bill" appeared in Billboard's Country chart in 1939.
Burnette devised and built some of his unusual musical instruments in his home workshop. His "Jassass-a-phone," for example, which he played in the film, The Singing Cowboy, resembled an organ with pipes, levers and pull mechanisms.
In the 1940s, he invented and patented an early home audio-visual system called "Cinevision Talkies." Each package contained a 78 rpm record with four of his songs and 15 35mm slides. The slides were to be projected in order and advanced each time a short tone played on the record during the songs. An inside cover of the record album was white, so those with no projector and screen could simply shine a flashlight through the sides and view them on the cover. He also devised more than a dozen clever uses for a common wire clothes hanger after demonstrating several examples during a TV show guest appearance
Burnette enjoyed cooking, and opened a restaurant chain in the 1950s called The Checkered Shirt, the first A-frame drive-ins.[10] The first location was in Orlando, Florida; and two locations still exist in Redding and Escondido, California, but are no longer owned by the Burnette family.
He and his wife adopted four children - Stephen, Linda, Brian, and Carolyn.
Played 100 instruments proficiently.
He did a lot of traveling, and once received an award from the National Safety Council for having worn out 27 cars without being involved in a single accident.
Smiley was also honored at the 10th Annual Western Music Festival on November 5, 1998. Smiley's granddaughter, Elizabeth Burnette received the Hall of Fame Induction for her Grandfather Smiley, as her father, Stephen, proudly looked on.
On May 22, 1986, nineteen years after his passing, Smiley was honored at a special ceremony placing his star on the Walk of Fame. Smiley always said, “It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice.”
He considered his wealth by his friends and felt he was the wealthiest man alive. He felt this way because he reasoned “that you can spend a friend a million times but only spend a dollar once”.
Smiley felt and stated, “He had lived 5 lives compared to most and was very satisfied with his accomplishments.”
