In 1935, Houston was noticed by small production company Grand National Pictures, who hired him to play the lead role in a series of musical westerns including the 1936 film Captain Calamity and the 1938 film Frontier Scout. The 1938 film was successful and brought Houston to the notice of other production companies. That same year he would play a small role in Blockade with Henry Fonda and Madeleine Carroll, in which he was billed as "George Byron". In MGM's movie The Great Waltz, also released in 1938, he played the opera singer Fritz Schiller.
