Down and out rodeo stars Gene Autry (Gene Autry) and Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) leave New York City for California with their car and horse trailer. Along the way they discover young Ronnie Willoughby (Clifford Severn), a school boy from London, has accidentally stowed away in their car. Having just arrived from London by steamship, Ronnie climbed into the car and fell asleep, believing they were Jenkins and Carter, sent by his father to take him to his father's "ranch" in California.
Ronnie does not know that his father, Frederick Willoughby (Lester Matthews), is actually in San Quentin State Prison, framed for embezzlement by his employer, Edward Martin (Joseph Crehan) of the Western Packing Company, to cover his own criminal activities. Willoughby agrees to appear as a witness on behalf of the small independent ranchers of California in a lawsuit against Martin, who has been driving them out of business to gain a monopoly. To prevent Willoughby from testifying, Martin schemed to kidnap Frederick's son Ronnie by sending the boy the cable that invited him to visit his father's large spread, "Rancho San Quentin." The plot was momentarily derailed when the boy mistook Gene and Frog for his escorts.
Gene recognizes Willoughby's name and suspects that something is not right. He decides to retain custody of the boy until he can investigate. While driving along the road, they nearly collide with Joyce Halloway (June Storey) and her little sister Patsy (Mary Lee), whose car goes into a lake. Joyce is a socialite, a wealthy ranch owner, and a runaway bride who is wanted by the police for taking the jilted bridegroom's car. She and Patsy stow away in Gene's horse trailer, and after several spats, Gene agrees to drive them to their California ranch. Along the way, Jenkins and Carter, having picked up Ronnie's trail, try to kidnap the boy, but Gene and Frog foil the attempt.
After Gene and his group arrive at Joyce's ranch, she offers Ronnie refuge, pretending it is Rancho San Quentin. Gene sends Willoughby a wire telling him that Ronnie is with him, but the convict mistakes it for a kidnapping note and breaks out of prison to rescue his son. Martin sends his henchmen to join the posse in pursuit of the fugitive, which has orders to "shoot to kill." When he arrives at Joyce's ranch, Willoughby learns that Ronnie is safe and surrenders to the sheriff. When Martin and his henchmen attempt to hijack the train carrying the Willoughby back to prison, Gene saves the day. Frederick is exonerated and returns to Joyce's ranch claim his son, while Gene agrees to stay at the ranch as Joyce's new foreman.[2]
Walter Miller was one of the top paid leading men in the silent era before transitioning to villain roles in talkies.[3] He was born Walter Corwin Miller on March 9, 1892 in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He was educated in Brooklyn, New York. Miller started his acting career doing stagework before being signed as a leading man by Reliance, a small independent film company.[3] By 1912 he was working for D. W. Griffith, and later appeared in feature films for 20th Century Fox and MGM.[3] He made ten popular serials with Allene Ray before being signed to Mascot Pictures by Nat Levine, for whom he made six serials. Later he made ten serials for Universal Studios, two for Columbia Pictures, and two for Republic Pictures.[3] During the filming of a fight scene in Gaucho Serenade, Miller and a fellow actor agreed to do the fight for real. For the next two days he complained of back pain, and while doing some closeup shots on the Republic backlot, he suffered a heart attack and died a short time later.[3] Although all of his scenes had been completed and remained in the film, Republic omitted his name from the credits.[3]
Wendell Niles was a prominent radio announcer, best known for his work on The Don Ameche Show and Gene Autry's Melody Ranch.[4] In 1932, he began working in films, mainly in the role of a radio newscaster or police broadcaster. In his later career, he was known for his television work as announcer on Let's Make a Deal and Truth or Consequences.[4]
Filming and budget
Gaucho Serenade was filmed March 21 to April 8, 1940. The film had an operating budget of $77,885 (equal to $1,693,860 today), and a negative cost of $83,633.[2]
