Gene Autry Guitar Club

9/22/2018

Yesterday I picked up 3 badges from the Toowoomba Collectors Fair. One was a standard Joan Read 2CH badge, I probably have 4 of them already. Another was this one which was a total guess. Gene Autry Guitar Club. If nothing else, it was interesting and I hadn't seen one before.

I got a bit of time this afternoon to do a little research and I found that it was a guitar and lessons that you paid off, similar to the Smoky Dawson and Tex Morton guitars, but limited to 500 members.

The club was run from Sydney and I found ads on Trove for 1946-1948, Australian Women's Weekly (opposite) and local newspapers, Longreach, Ipswich and Maryborough.

For me, the most interesting thing was that there were radio sessions by the same name on 4IP, 4MB, 4LG and the 4LG ads mention joining the club and getting a badge.

Longreach Leader 1946

1947

Queensland Times 1947

Longreach Leader 1948

My good friend Paul Kelly, Country Music Collector, heard about my find and messaged me and advised that he had a Gene Autry Guitar Club guitar. He imported it from the U.S. I was surprised at how plastic it was and the cardboard carry case. Not the quality of Paul's Smoky Dawson Guitar which I had seen previously.

Paul brought it to me today to allow me to take a couple of photos to add to this story.

Thank you Paul, appreciate that.

If you were a member of the Gene Autry Guitar Club, please email me via the contact page and let me know what it was like.

If you were a member of any of the Australian Radio Listener Clubs, I would love to hear about it. I am currently working on a book of the clubs and it looks like including more than 300 clubs, but there are a few I have no information on.

Ian Grieve

6 Comments

Margaret Smelt

8/26/2019 05:17:55 pm

Hi ,my DAD Jack Kolder was a singer on 2CH, 2GB 2UW 2SM which was a children's program,in the late 46 early 50s, my MUM is turning 100 on the 29th February 2020, next year , I would love to know were I could get a copy of his singing ,he sang on program's in the evening on most stations other than the children's program and had a fantastic voice .
We had a bakery in Artarmon "Holland Rusk" and he would go in the evening to sing on the radio.One of the programs was sponsored by "'Aeroplane Jelly" .
I have put his name into the Archives with no luck , My brother has some of his sheet music with his photo on it and a photo with him in front of the microphone.
He sang in the bakery all the time for his practising time .
We as a family would be most grateful If you could help us out for our mums 100th birthday .
Regards
Margaret Smelt
0452428733

Ian Grieve

8/27/2019 12:37:41 am

G'day Margaret, did he sing under his own name? You mention a few Sydney Stations, but is there a record of what programs he sang on. You mention a children's program but didn't name it, do you know what it was?

The sheet music your brother has, is there a chance of scanning or taking a photo of it so I can get the song title and any other mention it may have, to give me clues.

I did a name search on magazines I have already scanned to see if his name came up, but nothing so far.

The best way to contact me is via the Contact Us link on the Home Tab on this website.

Ian

Brendan Monck

8/26/2019 10:36:42 pm

Hi, just wondering how I would access radio audio archives from 1951 Melbourne radio? I am searching for a recording of a speech that was broadcast in september 1951.

Thank you

Ian Grieve

8/27/2019 12:34:33 am

G'day Brendan, what sort of speech and on what station? Was it in a news report? If it is ABC you would need to contact their Archives. If it was a Commercial station perhaps the National Film & Sound Achives in Canberra.

I don't know of a collector who has collected speeches, would need more detail in order to ask.

The best way to contact me direct is through the Contact Us link in the Home tab on this site.

Ian

Michelle baldwin

3/16/2023 02:48:01 pm

Hi I have a gene autry guitar club pin I found in my dads collection and wondering what the value is.

Ian Grieve link

3/16/2023 03:03:56 pm

Green or Blue. There are two colours. The blue is the most common. You can find them around $20.00 I have only seen one green and I bought it, for the same price, lucky buy.

Author

Ian Grieve has been Collecting, Researching and Documenting Australian Old Time Radio since about 1998. He enjoys the thrill of finding and identifying shows thought to have been lost and then researching their history as well as the people involved in their production.

Gene Autry Guitar Club

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