THE LIFE OF WILL ROGERS

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Will Rogers was America's Cowboy Philosopher.

Will Rogers was the #1 radio personality, he was #1 at the movie box office, he was the nations #1 most sought after public speaker, he was the #1 most read newspaper columnist, he wrote books, traveled the world and gave liberally to charities around the world. Will Rogers was beloved by all.

William Penn Adair Rogers was born on election day, November 4, 1879 in a log-walled, seven-room house, known as "the White House on the Verdigris River," in Indian Territory.

His parents were Clement Vann Rogers and Mary America Schrimsher Rogers. They lived on a sprawling frontier ranch near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma. Will Rogers' human nature, wisdom and humor were nurtured on the sprawling frontier governed by Cherokee Indians.

By the time of his birth, the pain of civil war and the rigors of frontier conquest had dissolved the challenge of carving civilization onto the rich and bountiful plains.

Clement Vann Rogers, Will's father, was a Cherokee senator and a judge who helped write the Oklahoma Constitution. Successful in agriculture and banking, Clem founded a ranch fenced by rivers, spread across miles and home to thousands of Texas Longhorns.

Mary America Schrimsher Rogers, Will's mother, descended from a Cherokee chief, easily mastered modern society, music, literature, etiquette and good humor. A mother of eight, Mary Rogers understood righteousness under God’s laws and performed countless charities.

The Rogers family was loving and close. Four children died in their youth, with Will and his three older sisters surviving to adulthood. The Rogers' famous "White House on the Verdigris River" was more than a home. It was a meeting place for commerce, government and community socials. There was sadness with funerals, but gaiety with parties, weddings and christenings.

When not learning on his mother's lap, Will Rogers was on the range as a hard-working cowboy. He never lost the lessons of a loving mother, the lonely frontier, the hard work of ranching or the community of sharing life’s bounty. Taught by a freed slave how to use a lasso as a tool to work Texas Longhorn cattle on the family ranch, Will Rogers mastered the lariat for trick roping on stages of the world.

From living among Indians and blacks, he carried lessons of brotherhood that came from understanding the pride of minorities.

Will Rogers’ masterful roping tricks would enter the Guinness Book of Records while his words about brotherhood and human kindness would be written across the heart of humanity.

Hard-earned lariat skills won Will Rogers employment as a trick roper in wild west shows and on the vaudeville stage.

His lessons of life, visions of humanity and kind spirit were formed into wit, jokes and observations that bespoke great human dimensions. Humor and folksy observations by Will Rogers were prized by audiences around the world. He proved visionary, well informed and simply a smart philosopher. He told truth in simple words so that everyone could understand.

WHO WAS WILL ROGERS?

Family Man

In his later life, when Jim Rogers was asked to reflect upon his father, Will Rogers, he said, “We grew up with two men: WR and Dad.”

WR, of course, was the man in the limelight, the hardworking, consummate performer and communicator. Dad was the gentle, beloved father of Will, Jr., Mary, Jim, and Fred, who died as an infant.

“My parents were ideal,” Jim Rogers said. “One of the truest things Dad ever said was, ‘The day I roped Betty was the greatest performance of my life.’ And that’s true. If it had not been for Betty Blake from Rogers, Arkansas, there never would have been the Will Rogers much of the world knew and loved.”

Aviation Fan

Will Rogers was a huge fan of aviation. He often said it was the best way to travel. Will's first flight was in Atlantic City in 1915. While on European tours, Will used commercial air services extensively; annoyed at the lack of commercial flight routes in the U.S., he made it a habit to maintain friendships with aviators all over the country.

He was close to Charles Lindbergh and offered the family some respite from reporters during the weeks after the kidnapping of their son.
Will was one of the few allowed to hop on U.S. mail planes, paying his way by the pound like a parcel.
He supported Billy Mitchell throughout his court-martialing and was a proponent for the creation of an air force in U.S.

Humanitarian

Will Rogers had a heart for people. His humanitarian efforts are often overlooked, but Will was very generous with his time and money.

In 1926, Will Rogers' support for an Indian Hospital to be built in his hometown of Claremore, OK was submitted along with supporting material for the associated legislation. It didn't pass that year, but later in 1929 the hospital became a reality.
Will took part in a flood relief tour in 1927 to support those affected by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Will was instrumental in the relief effort to help Nicaragua rebuild after its capital, Managua, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931.
Will made more than 50 stops in 22 days during a three-state drought relief tour for the Red Cross in 1931.
Will performed in many benefits over the years, particularly but not exclusively, for the Red Cross for a variety of issues from flood and drought relief to support for the troops in WWI. He also regularly gave a portion of his own salary to each such relief project.

EARLY SUCCESS

Wild West Travels

Young Will Rogers had an itch to travel and experience the old west. At age 19 he left school to work on a cattle drive in Texas. Later his desire to see the world led him and a friend to travel to Argentina in search of work. Work was hard to find, and he ended up working at a horse ranch in South Africa in 1902.

In South Africa, he joined Texas Jack's Great Wild West Show and Circus and later, in 1903, he became known as, “The Cherokee Kid.”
In late 1903, he left Texas Jack's and joined Wirth Brothers Circus for a tour of Australia before returning to the United States in 1904.
In 1904, he joined Zack Mulhall's "Cowboy Carnival" where he worked with Tom Mix and Jim Minnick.
In 1905, still with the Mulhall crew, he was part of incident in which a steer jumped into the crowded stands at Madison Square Gardens. According to various accounts, Will either roped it or ran it back onto the arena floor. This event vaulted Will Rogers into the New York City spotlight.

Vaudevillian

Will Rogers used his skills as a cowboy to perform in Wild West Shows where he was known as “The Cherokee Kid.” Wild West shows paved the way for Will to the Vaudeville. Will hit the vaudeville stages in the mid- 1900s; at first, it was a silent act with rope tricks. When he missed a trick, Will's occasional comments would cause audiences to laugh and he was encouraged to begin speaking during his act.

Will perfected his act for years on a series of vaudeville circuits, in theaters across the globe.
He performed alongside other famous vaudevillians like Eddie Cantor, Blanche Ring, and Ernest Hogan.
Will signed with showman Florenz Ziegfeld in 1915. By 1918, Will Rogers was a certified Broadway star, earning $1,000 a week in the famous Ziegfeld Follies.
He performed alongside Follies stars like Fanny Brice, Bert Williams, and W. C. Fields.
He was a favorite of the Follies girls, known for his respectful treatment of the girls and reputation as a family man.

INTERNATIONAL FAME

Newspaperman

“All I know is what I read in the papers,” became one of Will Rogers’ trademark quips. And Will used the newspapers to reach millions of Americans. His witty and profound observations in his regular newspaper columns made Will Rogers a leading journalist of the early twentieth century.

Will Rogers had two of the most popular newspaper columns throughout the 1920s and 30s.
His daily and weekly columns were syndicated in newspapers across the country.
Rogers travelled with his typewriter and submitted his columns by telegram.
His columns were so popular that Baltimore Sun writer H. L. Mencken said, "I consider him the most dangerous writer alive today."
He put two million words in print during his lifetime.

Radio Pundit

Always a talker, Will Rogers was a natural for radio. His warm and entertaining voice needed only amplification, and radio provided just that. In a time when World War I and the Great Depression dominated the national scene, Will Rogers’ down-home charm proved irresistible to radio audiences.

Will first appeared on the radio in Pittsburgh in 1922 radio was in its infancy. He continued to appear on radio through the 1920s and made his first regularly scheduled broadcasts in the spring of 1930. His weekly Sunday evening show was among the top fifteen radio programs in the country.

Will had about 15 minutes to fill and had a hard time sticking to his time limit. He used an alarm clock to cut himself off; it became his trademark.
He usually brought in a studio audience so that he could tell if his comedy was working.
One of his few radio missteps was an impersonation he did of President Calvin Coolidge on air in 1928; Coolidge was not amused.
His most famous radio address was for the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief in 1931; becoming known as the "Bacon and Beans and Limousines," speech.

Philosopher

Around the campfires of yesteryear, cowboys spun yarns and shared laughs. Will Rogers perfected this storytelling art form and carried it to the stages of the world, delivering down-home humor.

Will debunked the mighty and reined in the weaknesses of government and follies of mankind. Humor was his tool.

His insight became the hallmark of his time and permeated generations that came later. Clear and concise, pointed but not barbed, Will Rogers made sense.

His lessons of life, visions of humanity and kind spirit were formed into wit, jokes and observations that bespoke great human dimensions. Humor and folksy observations by Will Rogers were prized by audiences around the world. He proved visionary, well informed and simply a smart philosopher. He told truth in simple words so that everyone could understand.

Movie Star

No media escaped Will Rogers’ masterful performances. Will became a pioneer in early silent pictures, starring in fifty. Sound was added to celluloid in 1929 and introduced Will’s voice to a new media for Fox Film Corporation, later to be known as Twentieth Century-Fox. In just five years, Will starred in twenty-one acclaimed motion pictures, winning top box office honors in 1934 and becoming Hollywood’s highest-paid actor.

Will worked for top studios, from Goldwyn to Fox, and legendary directors, from Hal Roach to John Ford. In rarefied salute to his stature and reputation, the name Will Rogers always was listed above the title of the movie.

Ahead of his time, in his 1922 production "The Ropin' Fool," Will used shoe polish to make his ropes show up better on film and slow motion footage so audiences could truly see his rope tricks in action.
Will was one of the few silent movie stars to successfully transition to talkies.
"In Old Kentucky" was Will's last movie, it and "Steamboat Round the Bend" were both released after his death.
Will made more than 70 films during his career and at the time of his death, he was the top male motion picture box office star.

DEATH & LEGACY

In August of 1935 Will and famed aviator, Wiley Post left to survey a mail-and-passenger air route between the U.S. and Russia, by way of Alaska Territory. On August 15, 1935, Will and Wiley took off from Fairbanks, bound for Barrow, the northern-most settlement in the U.S.

After refueling at Harding Lake, Post landed at a lagoon 15 miles southwest of Barrow to get directions. Just after takeoff the engine failed, causing the plane to crash, killing both men instantly. Ever the pioneer, Will Rogers was born in Indian Territory and died in Alaska Territory in 1935.

A NATION MOURNS

With Will Rogers’ untimely death, debate began quickly on how to honor America’s Cowboy Philosopher. Betty Rogers decided on Claremore, Oklahoma because of the 20 acres they had bought in 1911 where the couple planned on having a home after retirement.

An informal Commission of people from around the country was created, including such notables at Herbert Hoover, Charles Schwab, Nelson Rockefeller, Elliot Roosevelt and Henry Ford.

People from across the nation gave nickels, dimes and quarters to the effort and the Oklahoma legislature stepped up with a $200,000 appropriation to help make the Memorial a reality. A ranch house design by John Duncan Forsythe was chosen. The centerpiece would be a Jo Davidson statue of Will Rogers.

Ground was broken on April 21st, 1938 and in just a few shorts months the facility was complete and was dedicated on November 4th, 1938, the 59th birthday of Will Rogers. The dedication ceremony was heard around the country on the radio with President Franklin Roosevelt giving a touching tribute to Will and the new Memorial.

Will Rogers was originally buried in California, but in 1942 a new sunken garden was built in front of the Memorial and Will Rogers was interred there in 1944. Betty passed just a few months later and was also buried in the tomb.

WILL ROGERS MEMORIAL
DEDICATED 1938

With Will Rogers’ untimely death, debate began quickly on how to honor America’s Cowboy Philosopher. Discussion on the location of where to build a monument or memorial was at the top of the list.

California, Oklahoma, New York and Texas were the states discussed, but finally Betty Rogers made the final decision of Claremore, Oklahoma because of the 20 acres they had bought in 1911 on a beautiful hill in Claremore, where the couple planned on having a home after retirement.

An informal Commission of people from around the country was created, including such notables at Herbert Hoover, Charles Schwab, Nelson Rockefeller, Elliot Roosevelt and Henry Ford.

People from across the nation gave nickels, dimes and quarters to the effort and the Oklahoma legislature stepped up with a $200,000 appropriation to help make the Memorial a reality. A $500,000 appropriation was passed through the U.S. Congress, but was vetoed by Franklin Roosevelt stating that there was not a definite type of memorial proposed.

After the veto, a smaller, but wonderful ranch house design by John Duncan Forsythe was chosen. The Memorial was to be built with native limestone and with granite shipped from Vermont for the rotunda floor. The centerpiece would be a Jo Davidson statue of Will Rogers.

Others buried at the Memorial are three of their four children, Fred Stone Rogers, 1918-1920, Mary Amelia Rogers Brooks, 1913-1989, and James Blake (Jim) Rogers, 1915-2000, and Jim’s wife, Marguerite Astrea Kemmler Rogers, 1917-1987 as well as Jim’s oldest son, James Kemmler (Kem) Rogers, 1939-2014.

The Memorial was open to the public, but was almost bare except for the Jo Davidson statue. The crowds that came to pay their respects were large and Betty ended up giving a major portion of Will Rogers memorabilia to the Memorial. Over time, the Memorial also became a world class museum as paintings, sculptures and other artifacts were added to the collection.

In 1982, a new wing was built on the Memorial with a theater, library, office space and exhibit space. A children’s area was dedicated in 1995.

Today the Will Rogers Memorial Museum houses the world’s largest collection of Will Rogers memorabilia and his entire collection of writings.

In 2015, Gordon Kuntz donated the 2nd largest collection of items to the Memorial Museum including one of a kind movie posters, movie stills, books, correspondence and much more.

You can spend hours touring the Will Rogers Memorial Museum learning about his life, wisdom and humor. We look forward to your visit.

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