If Will Rogers celebrated his birthday, it was in a very quiet way, much different from the big blowout Claremore has been throwing for him since 1938.
From the time the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore opened three years following his untimely death at 56 in an Alaskan plane crash, Claremore has hosted a Will Rogers Days celebration. With the exception of the war years when out of respect for servicemen serving overseas, Cherokee Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club, has conducted a wreath-laying ceremony at the family tomb on the Museum grounds.
Sometimes the festivities have been so simple as the Pocahontas tribute. Other years have seen big time internationally known people from Will’s past, radio and television coverage — and even a family reunion on the 125th anniversary of his birth. People come from far and near for the festivities, always highlighted by a parade.
This year’s celebration is a three-day event. It will start with a Friday, Nov. 2 9 a.m. birthday party at the Dog Iron Ranch at Oologah, hosted by the Oolagah Historical Society, Oologah Chamber of Commerce and Will Rogers Museums.
Pocahontas Club will have their traditional rite that afternoon at 2 at the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore.
“The Will Rogers Story,” starring Will Rogers Jr. and clips from the 1947 visit of Bob Hope to the Memorial for Will Rogers Days, will play in the Memorial theatre all day Saturday.
Saturday afternoon at 4, Claremore Reveille Rotary will sponsor a parade down Will Rogers Boulevard.
Lynette Bennett, award-winning film and television actor-writer, who wrote the script, will portray Betty Blake Rogers, in a one-woman show “Will Rogers Conscience of America,” at the Robson Performing Arts Center. A reception at the Museum will follow the 2 p.m. performance.
Sunday night, Will Rogers Rotary Club of Tulsa Gala will present the Will Rogers Spirit Award to Garth Brooks.
All activities are free to the public except for ticketed events. Tickets to the Lynette Bennett show can be purchased at the Robson PAC, 918-699-7390. Tickets for the Rotary Gala at $125 each are available by calling 918-749-6393.
Will Rogers’ first newspaper column on his birthday after he became a regular columnist fell on Election Day in 1926 — and his birthday (he was born on Election Day).
He was in Lubbock, Texas, and wrote about the election, making no mention of his birthday.
The next year he was at home in Beverly Hills and happy about the new Ford car, but added “PS, thanks for the birthday greetings, I was trying to keep it quiet.”
The next year’s Nov. 4 column was about Andy Payne of Foyil and his foot race and the ongoing political campaign. He wrote in jest that he was “coming out for myself.”
He spent his 1929 birthday at home in Beverly Hills, where he went to see a football game. He wrote about the number of players and substitutions. “Football don’t need referees, they need United States census takers. And that’s what’s drawing the crowds. People want to see how many boys are attending college.”
In 1930 he was in New York and the day after the election he wrote about a birthday party in Beverly Hills.
“Democrats gave me a birthday yesterday, Nov. 4. I was 51 years old and they elected fifty-one Democrats. When I am 91 we will be running this country.”
He was at home in Claremore when his birthday came in 1932. While he didn’t mention his birthday, you can bet there was some celebrating going on as usual when he visited his home county.
He wrote about the campaign, but said he wasn’t going to take sides; “I am going to write about aviation” another of his favorite subjects. He was just coming off a 21,000-mile journey through 20 countries. “… made in less than three weeks.”
He was at home in Beverly and Santa Monica in 1933 and 1934. A PS in his 1934 column, datelined Santa Monica was “I am pretty sore today. Am looking for the ones that reminded me that 55 years ago in Oologah, Indian Territory on Nov. 4, 1879 a baby was born. Anyhow played a game of polo and roped calves all day, so there is life in the old nag yet.”
He didn’t live to see his 56th birthday, but was in California most of the early months of 1935, where he was finishing up his movie obligations. He did spend some time in Oklahoma and on April 2, 1935 wrote, “All I know is what I read in the Claremore Progress. His April 1 and 2 columns were the last to carry an Oklahoma dateline.
(The Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore and Birthplace Ranch are open 365 days a year 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information about the museums or Will Rogers Days call 918-341-0719 or visit the website www.willrogers.com.)