Will’s friendship with Texan a lasting one
The famous Electra Waggoner statue of Will Rogers “Riding into the Sunset” on Soapsuds was cast three times. One is at the entrance to the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, one at the entrance to Texas Tech University in Lubbock and the third on the Claremore hillside at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. Doris “Coke” Meyer of Claremore and Zack Stamper, son of Trisha and Wyatt of Inola, stand in front of the Coliseum on Will Rogers Road.
If this Frederic Remington bronze “Bronco Buster” looks familiar, it’s because there is one at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore as well as the front entry at Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, where Doris “Coke” Meyer of Claremore visited. Works of Remington and Charles Russell are the primary American West focus in the Carter museum.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Will Rogers met Texas publisher Amon Carter in 1922 and forged a lasting friendship.
The two shared many passions — sports, newspaper, aviation, philanthropy and art.
Doris “Coke” Meyer and 25 of her friends and neighbors spent two days in Carter’s town, learning more about the powerful magnetism between her great-uncle Will Rogers and the publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The group stayed in the heart of the historic Stockyards area of Fort Worth, watched longhorn steers driven to the rail lines, toured the Amon Carter Museum, saw the Electra Waggoner statue at the Will Rogers Coliseum. dedicated by President Dwight Eisenhower, and made stops at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Museum and Eisenhower’s birthplace in Denison.
The flamboyant publisher was probably one of Will’s best friends from their first meeting at the New York apartment of New York Giants Manager John McGraw. They shared a hotel suite with H.L. Mencken and Baltimore Sun Publisher Paul Patterson at the 1928 Democrat Convention in Houston.
Will Rogers influenced Carter to begin purchase of Charles Russell’s works, which formed the core collection of the Amon Carter Museum, opened in 1961.
When he died in 1955, Carter’s will established a foundation to house his collection and stipulated the formation of the museum.
His daughter, Ruth Carter Stevenson, who was 12 when Will Rogers was killed, is the leading force behind development of the museum and is president of the institution’s board of trustees.
Carter’s collection can be labeled American West with Russell and Frederic Remington the primary works. It has expanded to include other masters such as Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keefe, Alexander Calder, John Singer Sargent and others, and a large collection of American photography.
The Will Rogers Memorial Museum has a number of Russell works including the models and bronzes of “Stagecoach” and a pack train and “A Horse with No Name.” A section in the museum is dedicated to Russell’s friendship with Will Rogers.
The Claremore museum has Remington works including “Bronco Buster,” “Rattlesnake” and “Coming Through the Rye.”
Will Rogers often stopped at Carter’s suite at the Fort Worth Club and wrote of his delight in the house “soup salad” a mixture of canned tomatoes, cove oysters and lots of raw onions. His “Daily Telegrams” are dotted with mention of Amon Carter.
A longhorn steer head, a present from Carter, hung above the fireplace at the Rogers’ California ranch and is now in the family room at the Will Rogers Memorial.
Carter and Will collaborated in 1931 for a series of fund-raisers for drought-stricken states through the Community Chest.
Will Jr. worked at Carter’s newspaper six months after graduating from high school in 1931.
Betty Rogers’ wrote in her book “Will Rogers” that autograph albums belonging to the Carter children were on his desk to be signed when he left for Alaska. He decided to wait until he came home to sign them, she wrote.
Amon Carter asked Betty’s permission to fly to Seattle and sit in the plane with his old friend on the flight to Los Angeles
Carter had a significant role in establishing the Will Rogers Memorial Commission and the Claremore museum.