El Brendel, in the character of an on-location radio announcer, hides behind a tree listening to the Sons of the Pioneers singing Moonlight in the Valley. One at a time, each one of the Pioneers is "shot" and falls over dramatically until only Len is left singing. When he, too, is shot, Brendel exclaims in a heavy Swedish accent, "They’re all good singers but they don’t last long!"

Left to right: El Brendel, Leonard Slye, Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, Hugh Farr.

        Oswald the Rabbit (with the voice of Bernice Hansen) plays a dimwit who wants to be a cowboy. Everyone laughs at him until he tames a really wild horse. The unidentified songs are by the Sons of the Pioneers. Since this was a cartoon, only their voices are heard. We did not view this film.

The cartoon characters on the right have the Sons of the Pioneers' voices.

            Wertheimer, a New York radio talent scout, Eddie Kane, shows up at Uncle Jed's barn dance on the invitation of Mary Carlisle, the adopted daughter of Willard Robertson (Uncle Jed), telling him about the musical talents of Lawrence Gray and the other four farm-hand musicians (Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan, Roy Rogers as Len Sly and Hugh Farr.) He hires the boys for a new radio program to be known as "The Old Homestead" broadcast from New York. Nancy and Uncle Jed accompany them, the latter as their manager. The show is a hit but everyone runs into problems. Finally, they all leave New York and return to the old homestead to broadcast the show from there. Fuzzy Knight provides most of the comedy. The Sons of the Pioneers have a respectable amount of dialogue and film presence.

            The Bob Nolan songs performed by the Pioneers are: Way Out There, Happy Cowboy and This Old White Mule of Mine.

Sons of the Pioneers left to right: Leonard Slye, Tim Spencer, and Hugh Farr.

The following images were captured from the movie:

Hugh, Len, Tim and Bob with (left) Fuzzy Knight and (right) Lawrence Grey.

The first 3 images are of the Pioneers in their loud, ill-fitting "country bumpkin" clothes. The last shows them adjusted to city life and style.

         This was the seventeenth in a series of twenty-four scheduled Thelma Todd – Patsy Kelly shorts and marked Karl Farr's first film appearance as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers. (courtesy of Les Adams, Barbara Bowen and Bob Robison.) We did not view this Hal Roach production. We understand that the Sons of the Pioneers sang, "Echoes from the Hills" by Bob Nolan.

Back: Karl and Hugh Farr, Tim Spencer, Leonard Slye and Bob Nolan.

Front: The Randall Sisters.

            We did not view the film but understand that it was a short featuring the Sons of the Pioneers and Bob's song, "I Follow the Stream".

            A western musical short featuring the Sons of the Pioneers as a hillbilly band. We did not view this film.

Standing: Leonard Slye and Bob Nolan. Seated: Karl Farr, Tim Spencer and Hugh Farr.

(Karl E. Farr Collection)

The Sons of the Pioneers are seated behind Joan Davis and Myra Keaton.

(Photo courtesy of Ed Phillips.)

(Photo courtesy of Ed Phillips.)

(Photo courtesy of Ed Phillips.)

            The Sons of the Pioneers had a very small close-up part in this Bing Crosby film while they sang their verses to I'm an Old Cowhand.

Bob with standing bass, looking down at Tim Spencer. Leonard Slye is in the lower right hand corner.

A Feud There Was  (1938  - Warner Brothers cartoon)

The mike in the frame on the right has KFWB on it and, possibly, the announcer is a caricature of Harry Hall.

         The West Coast's answer to Broadway's Stage Door Canteen, the Hollywood Canteen was created as a GI morale-booster by film stars Bette Davis and John Garfield. Virtually everyone involved donated their salaries to the Canteen fund.

HOME ON THE RANGE (Republic / Hale - 1946 04 18)

"Let me tell you how I got into Home on the Range, my first starring picture. They wrote a picture for me called Don’t Fence Me In. It was to have all of Roy’s [Rogers] cast in it: Gabby Hayes, Dale Evans, The Sons of the Pioneers—the whole bunch. This was when they thought Roy was going into the Army. They wrote it for me and gave me the script. I learned every part in it. I studied that script day and night. Then one day they called me up to the office and told me Roy was not goin’ into the service and I wasn’t goin’ to make the movie, that Roy wanted to make it.

            "It broke my heart a little bit. They knew that, I guess, because it wasn’t long after that that Loud Gray, the producer, started dreamin’ up a  little script about animals that he called Home on the Range. It was to be Republic’s first color film, and they put me in it. Robert Blake was in it, too. He was a little boy about, oh, ten or eleven years old—a great little kid. (Monte Hale to David Rothel in The Singing Cowboys, 1978, p. 233)

Bob Nolan, between scenes of the Monte Hale film, Home on the Range.

(Calin Coburn Collections)

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Shug Fisher, Bob Nolan, Lorna Gray

            A 1945 William A. Berke musical comedy starring Glen Vernon, Marcy McGuire, Felix Bressart, Ann Jeffreys, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, and also the eleven year old concert pianist Richard Korbel. We did not view this film.

         We did not view this film, the fourth entry in a five-part series.

Pecos Bill from "Melody Time" - Walt Disney - 1948 07 31

        An animated compilation of various musical artists, "Melody Time" contained a mini movie called "Pecos Bill", narrated by Roy Rogers as a campfire story to two children, Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten. The Sons of the Pioneers had a small speaking part and backed Roy singing "Blue Shadows on the Trail" and "Pecos Bill". Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan were also responsible for writing the cues.

Tim Spencer, Lloyd Perryman, Hugh Farr, Bob Nolan and Pat Brady.

(Calin Coburn Collections)