(November 4, 1879 - August 15, 1935)
Will Rogers was a popular American vaudeville performer, actor, newspaper and radio columnist, and humorist. Born in Cherokee Territory (now Oklahoma), Rogers was a poor student, far more skilled with a lariat than a textbook. After tenth grade, he left school to work as a cowboy and, in South Africa in 1902, joined "Texas Jack's Wild West Show & Circus," touted as "the Champion Trick Roughrider and Lasso Thrower of the World." 1 By 1904, Rogers had learned enough of show business to return home and begin his ten-year vaudeville career. Within a year, he was a regular at New York City theatres including Willie Hammerstein's late-night show on the "Roof Garden" stage atop the Victoria Theatre. Rogers began his act with fancy rope tricks, then a friend would ride Rogers's horse Teddy onto the stage and Rogers would lasso Teddy by all four feet; this was followed by throwing two ropes at once, catching the horse with one lasso and the rider with the other. Instead of conforming to the silent vaudeville performance category "dumb show," Rogers quickly discovered that the audience enjoyed his witty, plainspoken comments as much as his roping. His quips began as expressions of his profound modesty: lines such as "I'll do it ef I hev luck" and "I'm handicapped up h'yar, as the manager won't let me swear when I miss!," which Rogers would invoke when his quite difficult tricks failed to come off. 2
Rogers was sent on his first circuit tour in August 1905; he was well received in Toledo as well as Detroit, Rochester, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. In 1907, he married Betty Blake, a smart, funny socialite from Arkansas. While Betty spent much of her time establishing a home for their quickly growing family, Rogers made his Broadway debut. "A poet with his lariat," he played himself in The Wall Street Girl; on opening night, he was given the task of interrupting the performance to announce that the Titanic had sunk. 3 In 1915, Rogers joined Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, a sophisticated late-night show after, and on the rooftop above, the Follies. For this repeat audience, Rogers had to develop his comedy, telling new jokes he pulled from each day's newspapers and kidding with celebrities in the audience. Rogers joined the mainstage Follies in 1916, playing with Eddie Cantor and W. C. Fields.
By now, Will Rogers was a major star. Sam Goldfish signed him for the 1918 silent film Laughing Bill Hyde; before long, the Rogers family headed west to the Goldwyn Pictures lot. Although Rogers's melodramas were not overwhelmingly successful - not surprisingly, since his verbal repartee was not well showcased in silent pictures - he made a name for himself both by writing many of the "title cards" for these films and by the restraint of his "human and real characters," in contrast with Charlie Chaplin's acrobatic style. 4 Rogers then starred in 21 "talkies"; he was America's #1 box office draw in 1934, as well as its most popular newspaper columnist and weekly radio broadcaster.
Rogers became an unofficial American "ambassador," holding benefits for victims of disasters and, after the Great Depression hit, giving radio talks on unemployment. Rogers was increasingly politically active and kept up with developing technology, particularly the airplane, as well. On a round-the-world flight with aviator Wiley Post, their plane crashed south of Barrow, Alaska, killing both men. In tribute, CBS and NBC went off the air for thirty minutes.
1. Yagoda 62
2. Yagoda 92
3. Yagoda 130
4. Yagoda 167
Resources
Yagoda, Ben. Will Rogers: A Biography. 1993. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2000.
An excellent and easily readable biography, Yagoda's story includes dozens of photos and extensive endnotes.
Maturi, Richard J., and Mary Buckingham Maturi. Will Rogers, Performer. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1999.
With photographs and movie stills on almost every page, the Maturis' study traces Rogers's work from vaudeville through an extensive annotated filmography.
Rogers, Will. Papers of Will Rogers (1879-1935). In four volumes. Ed. Steven K. Gragert and Jane Johansson. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1996-2006.
Rollins, Peter C. Will Rogers: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1984.
Rollins provides several brief sketches on Rogers's biography, national appeal, and vision, as well as synopses of all materials by and about Rogers.
"Will Rogers." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers 8 August 2007.
"Will Rogers." IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0737259 8 August 2007.