In Old Monterey is a 1939 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Based on a story by Gerald Geraghty and George Sherman, the film is about an army sergeant and former rancher who runs into opposition from local ranchers when the United States Army sends him to purchase their ranch land needed for a strategic air base.
Theatrical release poster
Lester Alvin Burnett, better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who is reported to have played proficiently over 100 musical instruments, sometimes more than one simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction in the 1960s.
Burnette in 1937
Grave of Smiley Burnette, at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills