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“Git yourself another singin’ cowboy,” the tall, handsome actor angrily informed movie magnate Herbert J. Yates. “I ain’t gonna do it no more!” The speaker was John Wayne. He had been cast as “Singing Sandy” for several years in a series of “B” westerns produced at Lone Star-Monogram. Wayne, who couldn’t carry a tune, had his voice dubbed by Smith Ballew. At first he went along with the casting as a gag, but unfortunately the idea had caught on. During personal appearances he often found himself backed into a corner by fans shouting to him to sing a song. Wayne got fed up. When Monogram and several other small independent production companies sold out to Yates in 1935 to form Republic Pictures, the rangy actor told the boss to get himself another crooner. When Wayne made his first western for Republic, “Westward Ho”, it was strictly action fare.