HORSE IN BALLROOM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 October 1939, Page 5

HORSE IN BALLROOM

GENE AUTRY INCIDENT. When Gene Autry recently rode his horse in the ballroom of the Savoy Hotel, London, the incident took people right back to the colourful days when a publicity man could get a covered wagon into the Lord Mayor’s Show as a promotion stunt for a new film. Not since Tom Mix rode his horse in the Savoy has a star visiting England been as lavishly and enthusiastically received by his employers. And this is the more notable because Autry, hero of the world's children and favourite in the “small halls,” is all but unknown to Londoners and smart city filmgoers. The whole affair was a sharp lesson to some who are apt to assess popularity by what the West End likes. It was a smack in the eye for screen sophistication. The reception was a publicity man's dream. Crowds gathered off the Embankment to watch Autry unload his magnificent horses from their luxury travelling stable. Crowds gathered afterwards, off the Strand, to see him photographed on his horse, Champion, outside the hotel, surrounded by admiring pages. Inside the ballroom, Gene put Champion through his paces across the very expensive carpet, coaxed him to eat sugar off a table for the photographers. The two little sons of a well-known film critic were given a big thrill by being snapped on the horse, being shown their hero’s gun by their hero himself. They nearly stole the show.