Saddle up and sing a cowboy song
Local Indian trader buys Gene Autry's fancysaddle

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

This saddle, on display at Tobe Turpen's Indian Trading Post in Gallup, was used in several Rose Bowl Parades after cowboy movie star Gene Autry gave the saddle to a friend. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

GALLUP — For Perry Null, it was a chance to own a piece of Hollywood history.

t's more than a saddle. It's even more than a saddle with a lot of silver accessories. It's a saddle that was once owned and used by Gene Autry.

That's a name most young people today have probably never heard of and those that recognize the name might say, "Oh, yes, the guy who owned the California Angels."

But those of the more elderly persuasion know Autry as one of the top movie stars of the 30s and 40s and television stars of the 50s. Known as "The Singing Cowboy," Autry starred in dozens of westerns in the movies and in his own television series.

Null, a local trader, admitted that he wasn't one of those fans of Autry's who collected everything he could get, but when he had a chance to acquire the saddle from someone he knew, he couldn't pass it up.

It was a trade, but when asked how much he had to trade to get it, Null indicated that was something that a good trader never revealed. "Just say that these saddles have gotten upwards of $50,000," he said.

The saddle itself is in good condition and although it's a little heavy because of all of the silver, Null said if he had a big black horse, he wouldn't be embarrassed to ride it in a parade.

The saddle was made by Edward H. Bohlin, who has his own Hollywood name "the master craftsman for the cowboy kings."

He came to Hollywood and became a stuntman and continued to make one-of-a-kind saddles throughout the 30s and 40s.

The saddle at Null's trading post, located on South Second Street, was a gift to Autry who in turn gave it as a gift to Mort Kallis. From there it went to the collection of Ed Andysiak, who owned it for 25 years before it was acquired by Kallis's grandson who traded it to Null.

For Null, it's enough right now to own the historical saddle and have it on display at his store.

He remembers going to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody Wyoming some 36 years ago and seeing a display of saddles once owned by Autry and looking at them a long time, never knowing that one day he would also be a proud owner of another of Autry's saddles.

But it's likely, he said, that Autry, over his career, passed through Gallup a time or two on his way home or he may have made one of his westerns in this area; so, there is probably a connection to Gallup.

He knows that at least one resident of Gallup, Toby Turpen, who sold his business to Null several years ago, had at least a casual acquaintance to Autry, having been invited by Autry to attend the grand opening of his museum in California.

He admits that the saddle may have some business benefits maybe some others in the area may stop by to see it in the future but that wasn't the main reason why he bought it.

"You've got to have some fun," he said. "I saw it and decided I would have some fun with it."