He was also the first movie star I ever saw and it happened twice in my hometown of Peoria, Illinois. He and his super horse, Trigger, were popular with youngsters everywhere and he made sure that as many could meet him as possible. He appeared in parades and attended state fairs, rodeos and assorted events for many years. The first time that I saw him at Bradley University, my aggressive mother pushed me to his side to let him know that her eight-year old son was a huge fan and that we shared a birthday. Roy acted like it was the most important information he'd received all week and the next thing I knew I was sitting in a saddle of unimagined glitz and glitter for my photo-op.
Roy battled it out all throughout his prime with another movie cowboy of longer standing, Gene Autry, You either preferred one or the other, kinda like Coke or Pepsi. Both worked for Republic Pictures, both sang, both had famous and beautiful horses (Trigger won), both had partners on screen. Roy occasionally moseyed away from this standard B westerns but Gene never did. Gene was a shrewd investor and businessman and became far wealthier than Roy.
Roy was better-looking and generally more likable. (I saw Gene and Champion in Peoria, too.) But Roy had a famous wife (Dale Evans) who frequently worked with him. He had a famous singing group (Sons of the Pioneers) that backed him up. By the time he moved on to television, he also had a famous German Shepherd (Bullett) and we knew Dale's buckskin horse was named Buttermilk. His partner, Pat Brady, also had a Jeep named Nellybelle. I guess some things you never forget.
Roy was an unusual actor in several ways. First, due to his public appearances and with children being his main fan base, he was enormously accessible. It was long been known that he stopped whatever he was doing and took the time to pay attention to a child who was seeking his attention.
He and Dale were never truly a part of the Hollywood community. One would not have found their homes on the bus tour in Beverly Hills. (For years they owned a large, mountaintop ranch in Chatsworth, California.) Their outsider nature is due chiefly to their strong ties to family and to their Christian principles which they lived and practiced on a daily basis. There were at various times nine children in the household. Roy had three children from a prior marriage and Dale had one. Together they had one child and adopted four more.
Lastly, it's about the types of movies he made. To say they were unusual is saying the very least. Those old Republic westerns were almost like serials. They were all about an hour long, the plots were alarmingly similar with the moral code of the Old West at the forefront. Roy's character's name in most of them was Roy Rogers! Many of the titles featured the names of states or geographical locations. There were such exciting titles as the Bells of San Angelo, Bells of Rosarita, Bells of Coronado, Romance on the Range, Cowboy and the Senorita and about 100 more.
Retrospectively, I thought they were fairly dreadful but you couldn't have convinced me of that when I was seven or eight, sitting on the floor in front of the TV with my boots, spurs, guns and holsters, cowboy hat and neckerchief. The best of the bunch was My Pal Trigger (1946). I am aware of four times that Roy broke away from this mold and we shall discuss those films in more detail.
Roy was born Leonard Slye in Cincinnati in 1911. His father worked at farming for awhile but to make ends meet he worked in a shoe factory for years. Young Len worked alongside him in both capacities. He had a knack for entertaining and he loved to sing. He even learned to yodel. While on the farm the senior Slye bought a horse, allowing Len to learn all there was about horsemanship.
In 1929 after an older sister moved to Southern California, the Slye family pulled up stakes and joined her. For awhile father and son worked in the trucking industry. Shortly thereafter, despite his shyness, he joined a singing group that sang on radio. His strong singing voice (I always loved it), yodeling and guitar-playing made him popular. He was married for three years in the early 30's. The same year of his divorce he married again, this time to a fan. They adopted a daughter and had two of their own but his wife died of complications from childbirth.
Also around this time he came across a palomino colt which he bought. Neither man nor horse knew at the time how close and famous they would become.
By 1934 Roy and his singing pals had gone through a couple of group names and a few member changes to become the Sons of the Pioneers. After their recording of Tumblin' Tumbleweeds, their popularity spread far beyond Southern California.
In 1935 Republic Pictures, already weighted down with Gene Autry and other cowboy stars, hired Len Slye. He simply sang in a number of movies until 1938. When Autry failed to show up for Under Western Stars (1938), Slye took over the starring role. He was renamed Roy Rogers, the last name specifically chosen to remind the public of Will Rogers, the famous humorist and cowboy star in his own right, who had died in 1935.
Roy met three-times-married Dale Evans in 1944 when they made their first movie together (they would go on to costar in 28 more) and they would marry in 1947. Theirs was quite a love story... never a hint of impropriety but they had their share of grief.
In the early 1950's the Rogers had a natural child, Robin, afflicted with Down's Syndrome and she lived two years, dying of complications from mumps. Evans wrote a touching book about their daughter called Angel Unaware. I remember it as being the first book with an adult-themed message that I ever read. My grandmother bought it for me. She thought I could handle it. In 1964 their daughter Debbie was killed in a church bus accident.
Let's chat about those four movies that were far different from the scores of Republic westerns that Rogers made. Dark Command (1939) saw Republic trying to compete with the big studios by producing an A western. It largely succeeded thanks to a cast that starred Claire Trevor, Walter Pidgeon and Roy's fellow Republic
buddy, John Wayne. Roy convincingly played Trevor's kid brother whose behavior concerned her. It is pre-Civil War in Lawrence, Kansas as the story focuses on Trevor's romance with William Cantrell (Pidgeon), soon to be a Confederate guerrilla leader who burned Lawrence and murdered many. Young politician Wayne would challenge Pidgeon for Trevor's affections.
In 1944 he, along with scores of Warner Brothers' stars, were featured in Hollywood Canteen, a tribute to the real-life nitery that hosted servicemen for drinks, food and dances with famous actresses. The crowd also witnessed numerous comedy routines and musical numbers. One of the latter featured Roy and Trigger doing their version of Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In. Roy sang, Trigger danced. Roy's old pals, the Sons of the Pioneers, performed Tumblin' Tumbleweeds.
My favorite Roy Rogers movie is unquestionably 1952's Son of Paleface where he and Trigger costarred with Bob Hope and Jane Russell. That twosome had made Paleface in 1948 and its popularity begged for a sequel. In a rare case, I thought the sequel was better. It is one of the first movies I ever remember seeing.
Roy plays a uncover agent (who sings) out to discover who's committing a series of robberies. (Spoiler alert: it's Russell.) Hope is around mainly to just be Hope and regale us with his brand of cinematic lunacy. The most memorable things I remember is Hope, Russell and Rogers singing the delightful buttons and bows and Hope and Trigger sharing a bed and fighting over the covers. The real-life friendship of this human trio comes through loud and clear.
Roy's next film didn't come until 23 years later... and it was his most unusual of them all. Mackintosh and T.J. is a quiet little story, somewhat maudlin, about a drifter and his son who wind up working for a rancher and Mackintosh (Rogers), ends up being framed for a murder. While I liked the movie mainly because Rogers is in it, I have always wondered why he made it, especially after not making a film for so long. Its sub-themes certainly seem a little racy for a Rogers movie.
The King of the Cowboys had a radio show for 10 years. And then on television, The Roy Rogers Show ran for six years on NBC in the 50's and another three years in the early 60's on ABC.
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| I went to school with this. Honest. |
Rogers was second only to Walt Disney in marketing his own name. He was an action figure, a comic strip and appeared in adventure novels. There were lunchboxes, thermoses and all kinds of western paraphernalia and clothing. His name was on the marquee at a restaurant chain. He and Evans were advocates for adoption and gave to many charities. His fame was global and he knew more than anyone that part of it was due to that horse.
Oh yes, Trigger. As beautiful a horse as one was ever likely to see in a movie, he was known to one and all in Hollywood as the smartest horse in the movies. There didn't seem to be anything he couldn't do. Roy said he was quick and smart as a whip and that Trigger seemed to recognize applause and ate it up. Roy said that he was grateful that of all the times he rode the stallion, they never fell. Trigger won the Patsy award (Oscars for animals) for his work in Son of Paleface.
The Rogers owned a museum in Apple Valley, California. I visited it once (duh) and enjoyed talking with their son. Neither really ever dropped out of sight, appearing with some regularity on late-night talk shows, on the popular variety shows of the day and on Christian broadcasts.
Both Roy and Dale died of congestive heart failure in their beloved Apple Valley. He was 86 when he passed away in 1998 and she was 88 when she died three years later.
He will always belong to my youth. I am sure he is the only movie star I ever met who appeared as happy to meet me as I was to meet him. He was never without his infectious smile. He represented kindness, decency, respect and humility to me. He was not only a cowboy on screen but off screen as well. Be what it may, I have never had many heroes but Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys, was certainly one of them.
I know how to end a piece on Roy Rogers and some of you know it, too.
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Guilty Pleasure
Of course you knew I would love this story!! Crying and singing along to Happy Trails :)
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