Trivia

He also was part of Roy Rogers' show "Hell Dorado Days".

He was also on the "Lamplighter" program that was aired over the Mutual Don Lee Network and was hosted by Ted Yerxa.

He got his first recording contract with a small record label, and recorded his first eight songs on April 1st 1944.

He continued in showbiz doing more shows with Sinatra in 1949, and making a movie in 1950 "Cavalcade of Broadway".

He was sent to Fort Blanding, FL. The Army trained him on the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) to be an infantryman. The jukeboxes in the clubs around Camp Blanding were playing his records and the other guys in his company knew it. Consequently, while he was on bivouac his boss, First Sergeant Lewinsky, flat out ordered him to join special service (entertaining). He began doing a show at the NCO club called "Eyes Front" ($27.00 per month plus a $5.00 bonus) where he was known as "Dick Goldhahn, The Metropolitan Hillbilly".

He recorded "Sioux City Sue" in July 1945 for a small label and when it became a hit, it was then recorded by twelve other artists in quick succession.

Dick Thomas, was an American singing cowboy, songwriter, and musician.

In April 1946, Bing Crosby covered his well-known song Sioux City Sue. (By this time, his record had already sold over 150 thousand copies and was number one in the nation for most played jukebox folk-record in Billboard Magazine) Crosby's version pushed the song onto the Lucky Strike Hit Parade for 14 consecutive weeks, reaching number 3 pop song in the nation.

He was best known for his 1945 single "Sioux City Sue", a Number One country hit and No. 16 pop hit that year which later became a country music standard and was included in a Gene Autry movie.

Dick Thomas achieved some acclaim as a songwriter in addition to being a hillbilly singer of songs. He wrote "Sioux City Sue" and other favorites. Before he took some time off for World War II, he was making a name for himself in Hollywood night clubs as master of ceremonies and singer.

In '46, Gene Autry had come out of the service, went back to acting, and made a movie called "Sioux City Sue". The success of Crosby's recording and Autry's movie prompted Dick Thomas to return to Las Vegas to be the Headliner at the Last Frontier Hotel.

He became the first act to record for National Records, with a series of discs that included "Sioux City Sue", a song he had co-written with Ray (Max) C. Freedman. Issued just weeks later, the song became a phenomenon. Thomas's rendition rapidly made an impact on the charts and was joined by a clutch of cover versions from acts such as Zeke Manners, Tiny Hill, the hillbilly novelty act the Hoosier Hotshots, Kid Ory, Bob Wills, Duane Eddie and Willie Nelson.

An agent hired him, in August 1943, to work at the world famous club, the Village Barn, doing a radio show every night as "Dick Thomas, the yodeling troubadour".

He played the part of a singing cowboy in 1947 in the movie "Powder River Gunfire." It came out in 1948.

In 1930, he became a Sunday school teacher for the Methodist church that his family attended and continued for several years. These were the days of prohibition and racial segregation. Although he kept teaching Sunday school for twelve years, he was angry with some of the clergy that would profess a life of poverty, but "live like kings".

His grandfather and father ran a 100-acre pig and truck farm in Philadelphia, PA. The farm, which spanned from present day Island Avenue to 89th street, was sold as a site for a new airfield. That small airfield eventually became Philadelphia International Airport.

Thomas visited the Iowa city he had immortalised, to judge a beauty pageant. He said later: When Ray Freedman and I wrote the song, we had no idea that there were so many beautiful girls in Sioux City, but now I know that Sioux City deserves its reputation for having more good-looking women to the square block than any other city in the United States.

He first entered show business after graduating from High School in 1934. A man named Frank Shannon hired him to do a radio show called the "S.S. All in Fun". The show, which was based on a mythical Navy ship, was first broadcast from WPEN at 22nd and Walnut in Philly (The studio seated about 500 people).

He was a second generation American.

The son of German immigrants, and raised on a South Philadelphia pig farm.