In my view the Searchers was the best movie ever made. Great story, great characters and great cast with so many really memorable character actors. I read somewhere that the Ken Curtis characterization (the voice with the really pronounced drawl) was the model for what the producers wanted in the Festus character but they made Fesus a bit seedier looking than the character in the Searchers.

I've got a DVD of several of Roy Rogers' old Westerns from his pre-TV days and a couple of them have the Sons of the Pioneers in roles as ranch hands by day and singers by night. Ken Curtis is recognizable as one of the group.

SC