Tex Fletcher

Geremino Bisceglia (January 17, 1910 in Harrison, New York - March 14, 1987 in Newburgh, New York), better known as Tex Fletcher, was a singing cowboy with credits as a recording artist, Broadway and movie actor, night club performer, and radio and television personality.

Born in Harrison, New York, Fletcher was the fifth of eight children born to Italian immigrants Michael (a stonemason) and Josephine Bisceglia. Tex left home in 1924 at age 15, and joined the Sells-Floto Circus which traveled across the US and Canada.

He settled in South Dakota where he learned to handle horse and cattle while soaking up cowboy lore and campfire songs, in effect becoming a 'real' cowboy. He returned to New York in the early 1930s and took a radio job as a singing cowboy on WFAS in White Plains, New York.

The 1930s proved a busy and productive time for Fletcher, as he landed on big-time radio, starred on Broadway, starred in two movies, toured the country as a soloist and with a group, played Madison Square Garden, landed a record deal with Decca (that lasted well into the 1950s) and performed for the President of the United States.

Tex hit the trail running in 1932 singing cowboy songs over WFAS in White Plains, NY. In 1934 as he landed the role of Cowboy Answer Man on WWOR, New Jersey, at the height of singing cowboy craze, replacing close friend and cowboy star, Tex Ritter (he remained with WWOR for more than 20 years, going off the air in 1957). After a run on Broadway in the production of Howdy Stranger in 1937, Tex became a member of popular radio hillbilly group, “Tom Emerson’s Mountaineers,” then broadcasting nationwide over WMCA and affiliates, touring the country and with whom he appeared in the Hollywood musical production of “Down on The Barn” in 1938. This initial movie appearance brought the handsome singer to the attention of Hollywood talent scouts looking for a fresh face to star in a new series of sagebrush musicals planned by Acadia Productions to be made by Grand National Pictures, again taking the place of Tex Ritter who had moved on to another studio.

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