Ride ‘em Cowboy - A lifetime’s recognition for Robert E. Lee Brown – leathermaker to the stars
One of the US leathermaking industry’s most revered figures, 91 year-old Robert E. Lee Brown, will receive recognition for a lifetime’s service to the US film industry later this month (April 2001), when he is inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s ‘Hall of Fame’, at Oklahoma City.
At the event, to be held on April 21, Brown will receive a ‘Directors Award’ for his contributions to the careers of such film stars as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) – all of whom rode on his saddles, drew guns from his holsters and herded cattle wearing his chaps and belts.
Born in Geneva, Kentucky, in 1910, Brown moved to California with his parents when he was around ten years old, and began his career as a commercial artist. By the time he had reached his mid-twenties, however, Brown’s main interest had switched to leather carving and designing, and with fellow craftsman Frankie Paul, he set about building a successful business in downtown Los Angeles.
Almost inevitably, Brown’s work caught the attention of the Hollywood film industry and in 1938 he was contracted to supply his first saddle. Sadly, history does not record the name of the film for which this first item was procured but, as the years went by, Brown’s reputation as a designer and leathermaker increased. By his own estimate, between 1934 and 1950, Brown hand-made more than 50 silver saddles.
The artist Norman Rockwell, a friend of Brown for many years, once said of the man: "Bob has found his medium. His love of the west and his knowledge of leather perfectly complement his artistic talent and training. He began creating the beautiful leather masterpieces that have won him the respect of artists in all fields. He was not influenced by any special style but his own and he evolved a method of laying out his patterns and adapting them to leather."
Away from his studio, Brown served as a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County from 1952-70 and taught leatherworking in the United States as well as in other countries.
The curator of the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, said, "Bob Brown has created a strong visual identity for the cowboys of film and television by crafting elegant leather accessories. He is deserving of public acknowledgement of his contributions to the cowboy way."
Brown's distinctive leather goods, saddles, etc. are widely displayed in the US at such prestigious venues as the William S. Hart Museum, the Roy Rogers Museum; both in California, and the Buffalo Bill Museum in Colorado.
William Brown, (no relation), but the owner of William Brown Holster Co., says, "Bob has taken a rich and colourful history and made it come alive through the artistic creativity and style he gave to America's movie cowboys. He has seen and interpreted the cowboy in a way few have or ever will."
