It was the summer of 1991. My wife, Pat, and our son, Doug, and his friend, Penny, had driven up to Santa Monica to attend the Golden Boot Awards Dinner. That is an awards ceremony honoring the folks who made those movies we enjoyed so much. It was our second time attending. There was a dinner and a ceremony that honored several of the movie stars each year. Anyone can attend, and during the meet and greet session can introduce themselves to the movie stars and visit with them. The dinner cost $150 per plate, but we didn’t spend much on movies or concerts. We felt it was a good entertainment expense.

This event was a big deal, and had been created several years before by Pat Buttram, the old Gene Autry sidekick. Proceeds from the dinner went to the Old Actor’s Home. A few of the attendees were Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, George Kennedy, Sam Elliott, Angie Dickinson, Denver Pyle, Dale Robertson, Marie Windsor, Maureen O’Hara, and many others.

The venue was a convention hall behind the Santa Monica Hotel. The mixer before dinner gave everyone plenty of time to navigate the room and visit with a lot of people. After dinner and the ceremony, there was still plenty of time to circulate. The big stars like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and Maureen O’Hara were always surrounded by a mob, so you couldn’t get near them. Ms. O’Hara, one of the evening’s honorees, was attending on her 70^th birthday.

From grade school on I enjoyed the Saturday matinees at the Isis Theater. You could see a western for 12 cents. Gene Autry was always one of my favorites. Being from Oklahoma made him a kind of neighbor to us Kansas kids. His beautiful horse, Champion, was special, too. Champion was all decked out in a silver mounted saddle and bridle, and the bit had shanks that had been cast as replicas of six guns.

At the proper time, we entered the convention hall and located the table with our names on place cards. Then we decided to split up and go searching for the celebrities we each wanted to meet. This was before cell phones were in use, and we only had one 35 mm camera with us, so we decided to take turns with it during the evening. We had a lot of fun with it as the other guests were good about using the camera and taking pictures of us. To mention a few of the pictures:  Pat had one taken with Burt Reynolds, Penny with Iron Eyes Cody, Doug with Denver Pyle, and me with Dale Robertson. That was really a lot of fun.

After a time, I headed for the men’s room. After doing my business and washing up, I headed for the door. Just as I got there, the door started to open, and I stepped to the side to avoid being hit. To my surprise, here comes Gene Autry with his bodyguard two steps behind. I said “hi” and Gene smiled and said “hi” and came on in. Figuring that nobody would want to shake hands with a guy just leaving the men’s room, I went on out and rejoined the party. After all these years, it was great to see a childhood hero in person.

Dave Thomas

09/14/2023