Children have big role in Will Rogers’s Days 2009

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Multi-tasking
Just for fun, Will types on his trusty typewriter, the 1920s model laptop, with one hand and on a linotype typesetter with the other. From around the globe, his “Daily Telegrams” were sent to newspapers and read nationwide.  “Daily Telegrams” and a portion of “The Will Rogers Papers” are on the Will Rogers Memorial Museums website www.willrogers.com.

 

Don’t expect the Will Rogers dioramas to come alive during “Children’s Day at the Museum,” but do expect hundreds of youngsters swarming the grounds of the ranch in Oologah and Claremore museum during Will Rogers Days.

Sharing the life, wisdom and humor of Will Rogers for all generations is the mission of Will Rogers Museums. During the 2009 Will Rogers Days, Nov. 4-8, much of the focus is on the younger generation, according to Steve Gragert, Will Rogers Museums’ executive director.

Two of Will’s grandchildren, Kem Rogers and Bette Rogers Brandin, will be here for the events. Kem’s daughter, Jennifer Rogers Etcheverry, heavily involved in preservation of the Rogers’ California ranch, will also be here.

Hopefully as children learn about the rich heritage of Will Rogers, they will carry on a tradition started in 1938 when the Claremore Memorial opened and Pocahontas Club members vowed to honor Will every year on his birthday, said Julie Luna, the museums events coordinator.

The club, formed in 1899, will host their traditional tribute on the 130th anniversary of Will’s birth Wednesday, Nov. 4. Sponsored by Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club, the 2-4 p.m. event at the Memorial is themed “Hats Off to Will,” especially in honor of his wife, Betty. Donna McSpadden, wife of the late Clem McSpadden, a Will Rogers’ great-nephew, will be mistress of ceremonies for the museum program and also for a Saturday night event at the Robson Performing Arts Center with presentations of Pocahontas Club Phoenix Awards.

For more than 40 years, Will Rogers Days has been a day of celebrating Will Rogers’ life with other special events, a parade and special guests.  In the 1970s it was expanded to multiple days and the parade set on Saturday.

Will Rogers’ life after he left the home ranch took him on forays across continents, from the Broadway stage to Hollywood movie screen, careers as a newspaper columnist, radio broadcaster and philanthropist, raising thousands of dollars for the less fortunate.

Before his untimely death Aug. 15, 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash, he had starred in 50 silent pictures and 21 top motion pictures, winning top box office honors in 1934.  His movies show daily at the Claremore museum; open 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

He married, had four children and moved to California, never lived in Oklahoma after it became a state. But he was always true to his Cherokee and Oklahoma roots.

His quotes on the wall of the museum draw attention and laughs from all who pass through the galleries that tell of his life from his birth on an Indian Territory ranch to his death in the icy waters of Alaska.

During Will Rogers Days, Will’s life will be told to and by a younger generation when Oologah-Talala Upper Elementary students present “The Life and Times of Will Rogers” at the Thursday, Nov. 5, ranch birthday party and Friday’s “Children’s Day at the Museum”

His skills at roping will be replicated by youngsters who play Will in the production and by Andy Hogan, the museum’s historical guide and Will Rogers interpreter. A singing cowboy will play for a sing-a-long and old-fashioned games will keep the action going. Luna, museum events coordinator, said upwards from 200 students will be at the ranch and more than 400 are coming for Children’s Day at the Museum.

(See the Schedule of Events for details on times and places for the various celebration events.)