February Schedule
March Schedule
Will Rogers’ contract with 20th Century Fox called for “no less than three, no more than four” motion pictures per year. He liked to work continuously the first half of the year so he could take off the second half and do the things he enjoyed — like flying around the world.
In August 1935, four movies were in the can — but there was talk of another — before he left for a trip with Wiley Post. That flight that claimed their lives in an Alaska crash. Two of his last movies were released after his death.
All four are on the schedule when 2 p.m. Sunday matinee double features start Jan. 7 in the Will Rogers Museum’s large theater. Admission is free.
“Life Begins at Forty,” released in April 1935 in Radio City Music Hall, will debut the matinees. Will is cast as Kinesaw H. Clark, editor of a small town newspaper, who also wrote an advice column entitled “Life Begins at Forty.”
It will be followed by “Ambassador Bill,” (released in 1931, where, true to his roots, Will plays Ambassador Bill Harper, an Oklahoman appointed ambassador to Sylvania, a fictitious country somewhere in Europe.
During the intermission, excerpts from “Roping Fool” and other shorts from the Museum archives will show, according to John Little, Museum film curator. The second movie will begin at 3:30.
Following is a schedule of January movies in order of showing, release date in parenthesis.
Jan. 14 — “Too Busy to Work” (1932), Will is Jubilo, whose wife — while he is away at war — takes his baby and runs away with another man. He searches for them to find his wife had died leaving the baby girl with a family who took good care of her. He leaves without revealing his identity. Dick Powell co-stars as the man his grown up daughter loves; and “David Harum” (1934), finds Will playing opposite Evelyn Venable, who as Evelyn Venable Mohr, visited Claremore. He is a banker in upstate New York with horse-trading roots. Stepin Fetchit and Noah Beery Sr., who became a close family friend, have supporting roles.
Jan. 21 — “Doubting Thomas” (1935), cast as Thomas Brown of Brown’s Breakfast Sausages with Billie Burke as his wife; and “In Old Kentucky” (1935), crowds flocked to see movie released in November after his death in which he plays Steve Tapley, horse trainer.
Jan. 28 — “Mr. Skitch” (1933), Will cast as Mr. Skitch, Zasu Pitts as Mrs. Skitch, traveling by car with their family of six, hoping to regain the family fortune lost in a bank failure, comes out of financial problems in Hollywood; and his last picture “Steamboat Round the Bend” (1935), directed by the famous John Ford. Will is Dr. Pearly with a cure-all Pocahontas remedy as he travels on the Claremore Queen, involved in a steamboat race against the Pride of Paducah. Powered by almost pure alcohol, the Claremore Queen wins the race.
February Matinee Schedule
Will Rogers Museum Theater
Free Admission
Sunday Matinee Double Feature
Feb. 4
2 p.m. - “They Had to See Paris”
3:30 p.m. - “A Connecticut Yankee”
Feb. 11
2 p.m. - “Dr. Bull”
3:30 p.m. - “Handy Andy”
Feb. 18
2 p.m. - “So This Is London”
3:30 p.m. - “Down to Earth”
Feb 25
2 p.m. - “Business and Pleasure”
3:30 p.m. - “State Fair”
March Matinee Schedule
Will Rogers Museum Theater
Free Admission
Sunday Matinee Double Feature
Mar. 4
2 p.m. - “Lightnin’”
3:30 p.m. - “Judge Priest”
Mar. 11
2 p.m. - “Young as You Feel”
3:30 p.m. - “The County Chairman”
Mar. 18
2 p.m. - “Life Begins at Forty”
3:30 p.m. - “Ambassador Bill”
Mar. 25
2 p.m. - “Too Busy to Work”
3:30 p.m. - “David Harum”