Arizona Days (1937)

Tex and sidekick Grass join McGill's traveling show. When Price has McGill's wagons burned, Tex becomes the county tax collector to earn money. This leads to trouble as one of those owing money is Price who says he will not pay.

Director:

John English

Writers:

Lindsley Parsons (story), Sherman L. Lowe (screenplay) (as Sherman Lowe)

Stars:

Tex Ritter, Syd Saylor, White Flash

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tex Ritter	...	Tex Malinson
White Flash	...	Tex's Horse
Ethelind Terry	...	Ida McGill
Eleanor Stewart	...	Marge Workman
Syd Saylor	...	Grass Hopper
Tommy Bupp	...	Billy Workman
William Faversham	...	Professor McGill
Forrest Taylor	...	Harry Price
'Snub' Pollard	...	Cookie (as Snub Pollard)
Glenn Strange	...	Henchman Pete (as Glen Strange)
Horace Murphy	...	Sheriff Brown
Earl Dwire	...	Joe Workman
Budd Buster	...	Sheriff Ed Higginbotham (as Bud Buster)
Salty Holmes	...	Salty Holmes (Harmonica Player)
Oscar Gahan	...	Wagon Show Performer

Storyline

Tex Malison (Tex Riter), a happy-go-lucky cowboy and his stuttering sidekick "Grass" Hopper (Syd Saylor), join a traveling wagon show on its way to Tombstone, Arizoa. There, Tex has a run-in with the local gang-leader, Harry Pike (Forrest Taylor), whose band of renegades is terrorizing the territory. Sheriff Jake Higginbotham (Bud Buster) gives Tex the assignment of collecting $20,000 in back taxes owed to the county by the Pike faction.

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Plot Keywords:

b western | b movie | song | singer | singing | 

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Genres:

Action | Music | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in Cincinnati Thursday 22 December 1949 on WKRC (Channel 11), and in Los Angeles Monday 24 April 1950 on KLAC (Channel 13).

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Quotes

[Professor McGill's theatrical troupe billboards bill Tex prominently]
Tex Malinson: You're layin' it on kinda thick ain't you, professor? Them are pretty big letters... do you think I can live up to all that?
Professor McGill: A mere bagatelle, my boy. With myself as impresario, your success is assured.
Claude 'Grass' Hopper: Them's mighty big words, Professor, but you know Tex, he's a cowhand. He ain't no actor.
Professor McGill: My good man, I am a thespian. To one who has trodden the boards with the immortal Booth, nothing is impossible.

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Connections

Edited into Six Gun Theater: Arizona Days (2015)

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Soundtracks

Tombstone, Arizona
Written by Tex Ritter and Jack C. Smith
Sung by Tex Ritter

User Reviews

There Isn't Much on Display Here

A second disappointing follow up to Tex's first film, 'Song of the Gringo' (1936). Tex and his side kick, 'Hopper' (Syd Saylor, as a not so annoying comic relief) join a minstrel show in Arizona. This is the best part of the film, as it shows Tex on stage singing and then dealing with the villain Harry Price (the great badman Forrest Taylor) and his henchmen who enter the theater without paying.

Unfortunately, the only prints I've seen then cut out about the next ten minutes of the film, and suddenly Tex is a tax collector in a showdown with Price to get him to pay his taxes! There isn't much on display here. The prairie flower love interest is a cypher; we are also subjected to a too long ambush shoot out behind rocks. The only other 'high point' is a tense little bit of editing as the evil looking Price waits in the cantina to shoot Tex.

Tex does sing three co-written songs, one of which 'Tombstone, Arizona' has a four bar melody section taken directly from his version of 'The Big Rock Candy Mountain.' But that's okay! He also admitted in later years to how he 'stole' Leadbelly's melody for 'Goodnight Irene' and wrote new words recording it as 'I've Done the Best I Could.' He also borrowed 'Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay' for another of his hits. But all is forgiven Tex, because you did so many great songs, sang 'High Noon,' gave us John Ritter, and made some fairly decent westerns! But 'Arizona Days' is not one of them. I give it a 3.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Peripeteiai stin Arizona

Filming Locations:

Brandeis Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boots and Saddles Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1