GRAND NATIONAL PICTURES

After Mascot Pictures’ success with Gene Autry and the new singing cowboy movies in the early 1930s, Edward F. Finney, a film publicist with a lengthy resume, decided to capitalize on the emerging trend of musical Westerns for the new Grand National Pictures company. After scouting and screen testing, Finney settled on radio singer Tex Ritter as his new singing cowboy and signed Ritter to a five-year contract of eight films a year at $2,400 per film. The company had a very short existence, from 1935 to 1940.