Clarence Allen labored with defining a style when he painted a larger-than-life-size portrait of Will Rogers in 1946.
That style, that painting by the former Tulsa World cartoonist, which hung for years in the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in Saranac Lake, N.Y., has found it’s way to Claremore’s Will Rogers Museum, where it will be unveiled 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct 5 and go on permanent exhibit.
Sharing in the unveiling here will be another Oklahoma connection, Rory Bruer, who spent his early childhood in his father’s native Catoosa. Bruer, president, Domestic Distribution for Sony Pictures Releasing, will combine a visit to the Museum with plans for a family reunion.
The son of Raymond Bruer, he lived in Catoosa before moving to California, where he has spent his entire career in the motion picture industry with Sony Pictures. He began in the mailroom at Columbia Pictures in 1977 and during the next 25 years worked in several sales positions and in 2002 was named to his present post.
Bruer has taken another page from Will Rogers and has been active in charity and philanthropic work his entire career. In January 2005, he was named president of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.
He is a supporter of the Variety Gold Hearts Campaign, ALS, MS and Susan B. Coman Breast Cancer Research Fund and helps in sponsorship of all Variety golf and poker tournaments.
“It’s amazing how the trip to visit the Museum coincides with the family reunion. I can’ t wait to get back to Oklahoma. Many years have passed since I have been back and I miss it a great deal.”
Todd Vradenburg, executive director of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, a California charity, arranged donation of the painting to Will Rogers Heritage Trust. It merged in 2002 with the Will Rogers Memorial Fund, established in 1936 in honor of the humanitarian and entertainer.
‘It is a rare and invaluable homecoming gift for Oklahoma,” said Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, Will Rogers Museums executive director.
“It is a unique opportunity for the Museum to have members of the California Foundation here for the unveiling and especially to share in Rory Bruer’s homecoming,” she said.
Accompanying Bruer and Vradenburg will be Bruce Snyder, incoming president of WRMPPF and president of 20th Century Fox Theatrical Distribution.
A newspaper artist-cartoonist almost four decades, Allen moved to Tulsa in 1929 to helped found the Tulsa World art department and later was art director and artist for both the World and Tribune.
The painting was formally unveiled in 1950 in New York, headquarters of the Will Rogers Memorial Fund for many years, by Spyros P. Skouras, then president of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., a two-column photo appeared in the New York Times.
Allen died in Tulsa in 1989 at the age of 91.
Since formation, the organization has provided financial assistance for healthcare needs to industry members in need. The merger allows help to even more people ranging from a monthly stipend to aid with medical rehabilitation and equipment, prescription medication, emergency grants, vocational training and information and referrals to relevant human service organizations.
Will Rogers Institute was originally founded to fund pulmonary research laboratories and fellowships and provide educational materials on health care to teachers, libraries and individuals.
Funds are raised through various benefactors, fund-raisers and through moviegoer’s purchases of special combo packs at concession stands after seeing the Will Rogers Institute movie trailer at their local movie theater.
Allen’s works have been exhibited at Tulsa’s Philbrook and shows in Italy, Montreal and New York. Three presidential libraries house his works.
In a 1940s magazine article, he is quoted as saying “the plan of rendering the portrait (of Will Rogers) was a difficult problem. It must be strong in color and power to be appreciated at a distance far greater than that of a drawing room or gallery. It must be handled in a style that would satisfy the most curious as to the visible character of the man.”
He emphasized features and fabrics by building his paints, layer upon layer, until in some places they reach a thickness of a quarter of an inch.
The painting donor of Toluca Lake, Calif., was a principal donor in publishing volumes IV and V of The Papers of Will Rogers by the University of Oklahoma Press, edited by M. Jane Johansson of Rogers State University and Steven K. Gragert of Will Rogers Museums.
