Greetings family, friends and neighbors. Today's snippet is about 1950's singing cowboy Gene Autry and his effort to create a western themed amusement park to rival those of Walt Disney and Walter Knott.........Bill 

Historic Snippets 

MELODY RANCH 

In 1953 singing cowboy and western film producer Gene Autry selected the former one hundred and ten acre Monogram Studios Ranch near Newhall, California for the home of his Flying A Productions. Monogram had been the site of more than seven hundred fifty “B” western movies since 1915 and the ranch’s western and Mexican towns, hacienda, sound stage and corrals were the ideal locations to film his weekly television shows that included Death Valley Days and Annie Oakley. Autry renamed 

the studio Melody Ranch for his popular 1940 motion picture and for his weekly CBS radio show. 

Inspired by the popularity of Knott’s Berry Farm Ghost Town and it’s authentic steam railroad, Autry contemplated developing his Melody Ranch into a western museum and themed family attraction in addition to a working motion picture studio, and began a search for western memorabilia and vintage narrow gauge railroad equipment. He purchased the last remaining Rio Grande narrow gauge locomotive and moved it to Melody Ranch from Colorado, however it was only used as a static prop on several episodes of Gunsmoke, Have Gun will Travel, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Autry continued collecting narrow and standard gauge steam locomotives and rolling stock but after a 

wildfire threatened the complex and consumed the entire western street in 1962 he began losing interest in Melody Ranch. Autry began selling off the studio piecemeal and dismantling his railroad 

collection including a miniature ride-on Daylight train set that he donated to Travel Town in Griffith Park. The final twelve acres of Melody Ranch were maintained as a retirement home for several horses named Champion until the last horse died in 1990. Valuzat brothers, Renaud and Andre, purchased the remaining historic property, reconstructed western street, upgraded sound stages 

and production facilities, and began leasing their Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio to Hollywood studios, television networks and production companies. 

Gene Autry was a highly successful business person in dozens of endeavors including the creation of the Western Heritage Museum, now known as The Autry Museum of the American West, but was unable to fulfill his dream of creating a western themed railroad amusement park. Historic Melody Ranch continues to flourish as the filming location of dozens of western films including Deadwood, West World, Django and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

-Bill