Historic Newspaper Archives

Gene Autry, who usually flies his movie company hundreds of miles in order to obtain authentic backgrounds for his westerns, found what he wanted for "The Cowboy and the Indians" practically in his own backyard–relatively speaking.

Some miles from Hollywood, and in one of the most torrid districts of southern California, is Pioneertown, a village built especially to serve the producers of western pictures. On the outskirts of the village is a huge billboard which used to read: "Live Here and Live Longer." After toiling there for a week in the Republic film, "Daybreak," Law Ayres borrowed a paint brush and a can of paint and added a single line to that sign. It now bears, below the original slogan, the sarcastic comment, "It only SEEMS longer!"

On the outskirts of Pioneertown is a huge billboard which used to read: "Live Here and Live Longer." After toiling there for a week in the Republic film, "Daybreak," Lew Ayres borrowed a paint brush and a can of paint and added a single line to that sign. It now bears, below the original slogan, the sarcastic comment, "It only SEEMS longer!"

Alan Hale Jr., has an important supporting role with Gene Aurty in Beyond the Purple Hills," filmed at Pioneertown, California.

Gloria Henry, young Columbia actress, is the feminine lead opposite Gene Autry in "Beyond the Purple Hills," shooting on location at Pioneertown.

The Old West isn't dead yet. It has recently had a re-birth in the founding of a real, old frontier town, Pioneertown by name, that will stand as a living monument to the West that was.