Jack Elliott was born on May 7, 1914 in Gowanda, NY. He married Judy Rotman in 1940 in Chicago, and they had one child, John Michael Elliott, Jr. While in Chicago, Jack composed songs for Dale Evans, who was working at the Chicago Theatre, and he came to Los Angeles with her in 1942 for a radio audition. Both of them got the job!
In Hollywood, Jack composed songs for over 40 Western movies at Republic Studios alone, most notably for Roy Rogers & Dale Evans films. His compositions included the title songs for the following films in the 1940s and 50s: Lights of Old Santa Fe, Rainbow Over Texas, Bells of Rosarita, Bells of San Angelo, Song of Arizona, Heldorado, Under Nevada Skies, Roll on Texas Moon, Home in Oklahoma, Apache Rose, North of the Great Divide, Susanna Pass, Under Colorado Stars, Pals of the Golden West, Grand Canyon Trail and the title song from the Rex Allen film, Under Colorado Skies.
Not only were Elliott's songs used on screen; Roy Rogers had successful commercial recordings of "Roll on Texas Moon" and "Home in Oklahoma" for RCA Victor, and these recordings are still available today. Gene Autry's soundtrack recording of Elliott's beautiful "Twilight on the Rio Grande" has also been issued on CD.
Some of Elliott's title songs are more memorable than the films they came from, but in addition to title songs, Elliott wrote many other songs for those and other films. For example, film collectors may remember "Slumber Trail" from Under Nevada Skies, "Cowboy's Dream of Heaven" from Under Colorado Stars, "By a Laughing Spring" from North of the Great Divide, "Belle of the El Dorado" from Sunset in el Dorado, and a personal favorite of mine (which I play each year on my Christmas show), "Every Day is Christmas in the West," from Trail of Robin Hood, a beautiful song composed by Elliott with Foy Willing, that Don Edwards found on the film soundtrack and recorded, for the first time, in 1996.
"Lights of Old Santa Fe" was sung in two Roy Rogers films and, while not recorded commercially, it was a staple on radio broadcasts. In recent years, it has also been released on CDs of radio and/or soundtrack performances. There were many more songs, not all of which were Western, but fans of B-Western movies count many of them among their favorites, e.g. "Saskatoon," "What's Doin' Tonight in Dreamland" and "Saving for a Rainy Day."
Jack Elliott died on January 3, 1971, but by that time he had made a major contribution to the Western music genre, primarily through his work on films. Today, an internet search will turn up a number of other Jack Elliotts, who should not be confused with this member of the Western Music Hall of Fame (inducted in 2005). Part of the confusion may be due to the fact that John M. "Jack" Elliott's name appears on sheet music and in film credits as simply Jack Elliott.
Awards:
- 2005 Hall of Fame Inductees