Beil daughter sees father’s work
Charles Russell sculpted the original three-man “Changing Outfits.” When Will Rogers saw the work he wanted a copy — but none was available. He commissioned Charles Beil to model the plaster copy which for many years was in the family home. It was acquired by Will Rogers’ grandchildren. In the 1990s, Kem, Charles and Bette Rogers gifted Beil’s fragile three-part rendering to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. A bronze recast is in the foreground of the present display. Beil’s daughter, Carol Moore from Calgary, Canada, was in Claremore in April and was excited to see the piece, which her father had told her about. Her husband, Gordon, who is in the oil business in Calgary, was in Tulsa for a Society of Petroleum Engineers meeting. It gave them the opportunity to visit Claremore and see the museum and other Russell works. Rogers, Russell and Beil were close personal friends. The Rogers’ children and their cousins remember playing with the plaster model as children, not knowing the importance of the artists.