Billy Joe Rogers
(Deceased)
Billy Joe Rogers of Lavon, Texas is regarded as one of the finest saddle makers and leather craftsmen to be found.In addition, for many years Billy Joe Rogers enjoyed singing the old cowhand songs. His late wife often accompanied him on the accordian, while he played either the guitar or the banjo.
He performed at many of the major cowboy poetry gatherings across the Southwest.
In addition, he is a former rodeo cowboy, a rodeo announcer, and small rancher.
Billy Joe Rogers had to have his voice box removed in about 2009 due to throat cancer.
[My apologies have having passed along a report that he was deceased.--SP]
Dusty Rogers
Dusty Rogers, Western entertainer, was born as Roy Rogers, Jr., on Oct. 28 to famed Western movie stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. He grew up with his parents and five sisters and one brother on the family acreage in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, CA.
After Dusty graduated from high school, he moved to Middlefield, Ohio to work in the grocery store business. It was there that he met and married Linda Yoder in 1967. They eventually moved to Apple Valley, CA., to be near his parents and to help them run the Roy Rogers Museum.
Dusty Rogers' Western film credits includes parts in "To Forgive a Thief" and "Arizona Bushwackers". He also appeared, as a youth, in his parents' TV show, "The Roy Rogers Show".
Dusty starred in his own TV variety show on Channel 5 in Cleveland, OH., during the 1970's. And he was a disc jockey on WBKC radio in Chardon, OH. He also has several Western albums to his credit, and performs with his group called "The High Riders". And he wrote a book titled, Growing Up with Roy and Dale.
Dusty Rogers was the President and Executive Director of the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum, first in the original location in Victorville, California, and then the last location at Branson, Missouri. He and his banded regularly played in the "Roy Rogers Theater" there in the Branson museum and elsewhere.
Sadly, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum closed for good in December of 2009. Most of the memorabilia items were sold at auction.
Jim Rogers
(Deceased)
Jim Rogers was born to famed entertainer Will Rogers and his wife, Betty, on July 25, 1915, in New York. He was the third son, and was born while his father was performing on the Broadway stage.
When Will Rogers became a movie star, the family moved to California. And Jim Rogers, still a youngster, played a child's role in three of his father's films. And he went on perform in six Western movies, including three of the "Hopalong Cassidy" westerns.
Jim Rogers was active for many years as a family representative to the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma and for the Will Rogers birthplace ranch near Oologah, OK.
One of his brothers, Fred Stone Rogers, died in 1920. His father, Will Rogers, died in 1935 in a plane crash in Alaska with aviator and fellow Oklahoman Wiley Post. His mother died in 1944. His brother, Will Rogers, Jr., died in 1993. And a sister, Mary Amelia Rogers Brooks died in 1989.
Jim Rogers died of cancer at the age of 84 on April 28, 2000, at Bakersfield, CA. His body was interred on the grounds of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, OK.
Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers, singer and composer and actor and photographer, was born Kenneth Donald Rogers on Aug. 21, 1938, in Houston, TX. He was raised in poverty, living with his mother and seven brothers and sisters in a slub project in Houston.
While in high school, he put together an acapella group of singers that did so well they appeared on "American Bandstand." At the age of 19, Kenny had his first million-seller, "Crazy Feeling".
He then joined the "Bobby Doyle Trio". And in 1966, Kenny Rogers became a member of the "New Christy Minstrels". The very next year he formed "The First Edition". And that had such smash hits as "Ruby", "Reuben James", and "Something's Burning".
The First Edition broke up in 1976 and Kenny Rogers went his own way.
In March of 1999, Kenny Rogers was awarded the Recording Industry Association of America's prestigious "Diamond Award," celebrating sales of more than 10 million albums for his "Greatest Hits" album.
Along the way, he also developed an interest in photography. He became so good at it that he has two published books of his photos to his credit: Kenny Rogers' America, and Kenny Rogers: Your Friends and Mine.
His Western credits include such TV specials as The Gambler (1980), The Bambler: The Adventure Continues (1983), Wild Horses (1985), The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues (1987), The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), The Real West series (narrator and host; 1992), Rio Diablo (1993), and The Gambler IV: Playing for Keeps (1994).
His "Gambler" TV specials drew more than 100 million viewers from 1980 to the last one in 1994.
CLICK HERE to go to Kenny Roger's own web site.
Roy Rogers
(Deceased)
Roy Rogers started life as Leonard Franklin Slye on Nov. 5, 1911.He was born at 412 2nd St. in Cincinnati, Ohio. And at the age of eight, his family moved to Duck Run, Ohio (12 miles from Portsmouth, Ohio). He visited California in 1930 and soon returned to stay.
Roy Rogers teamed with his cousin, Stan Slye, to perform at minor events, while doing road construction or anything else to make a living. Fate brought he and another group of young men (Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan, and brothers Hugh and Carl Farr) together under the name of "The Sons of the Pioneers". They appeared together in their first movie, "The Old Homestead", in 1935. That was the same year that Roy appeared, as a heavy, in the Gene Autry movie, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". The Sons of the Pioneers appeared on the same program with Will Rogers in 1935, and it was the last for Will before he died in a plane crash on August 15, 1935.
Roy's first starring movie was "Under Western Stars" in 1938. And, since Gene Autry was on strike at the time, he was teamed with a comedic sidekick named Smiley Burnette. Smiley was in Roy's films during the 1930's and 1940's. Roy's favorite film of his was the 1943 movie, "King of the Cowboys," and that also became his title (especially with Gene Autry off in the service during WW II).
In 1938 he acquired "Trigger", a cross between a thoroughbred poppa and a cold-blooded palomino mamma. And it was sidekick Smiley Burnette who suggested the name (Trigger's registered name was Golden Cloud). Trigger died at the age of 33, in 1965, and Roy had him mounted on put on display in his museum in Victorville, Calif.
In 1944 the studio chiefs put a new female lead into his movie, "The Cowboy and the Senorita". It was future wife, Dale Evans (Frances Octavia Smith), who went on to make 28 movies and many TV shows with him. And it was she who wrote their theme song, "Happy Trails". His last feature film was "Mackintosh and T.J.," in 1976, the same year that both Roy and Dale were inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
Roy Rogers (a widower) and Dale Evans (a divorcee) were married on Dec. 31, 1947 at the Flying L. Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma. Bill Alexander, pastor of the First Christian Church in Oklahoma City, tied the knot.
Following the death of Robin Rogers, their only child together, Dale wrote the touching story of this Down's Syndrome baby in a groundbreaking book title, Angel Unaware. In Roy's glory years, his comic books sold more than one million copies per month.
Roy had made hundreds of recordings, usually singing what other people wrote. However, He did write "My Saddle Pals and I" (recorded on Oct. 21, 1937), "Down Along the Sleepy Rio Grande" (recorded Oct. 26, 1937, but unissued), "Cowboy Night Herd Song" (recorded Oct. 28, 1937), "Ridin' Ropin'"( recorded June 15, 1938), "The Man in the Moon is a Cowhand" (recorded April 17, 1939), "She's All Wet Now" (1939), "I Hope I'm Not Dreaming Again,"(1939), "You Can't Break My Heart" (with Spade Cooley, in 1945), "My Heart Went That-A-Way" (with Dale Evans in 1946), "My Chickashay Gal" (with Spade Cooley, in 1946), "Dusty" (with Dale Evans, in 1947), "No Bed of Roses" (with Dale Evans in about 1949), "Buck-Eye Cowboy" (with Dale Evans, 1951) and perhaps others.
Roy wrote My Favorite Christmas Story in 1960 (Fleming H. Revell Co.), with Frank S. Mead and with a prologue by Dale Evans. In 1986 Roy Rogers, Jr., with Karen Ann Wojahn, wrote Growing Up with Roy & Dale, published by Regal Books. In 1979 Roy and Dale, with Carlton Stowers, wrote their autobiography: Happy Trails: The Story of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, published by Word Books. That was followed years later with a slightly updated version, Happy Trails: Our Life Story, with Jane and Michael Stern.
He died of congestive heart failure at his home in Apple Valley, Calif., in 1998 at the age of 86.
CLICK HERE to see many more photos, to read poems about Roy & Dale, and to read more about their careers and his funeral.
Will Rogers
(Deceased)
Will Rogers was born William Penn Adair Rogers on Nov. 4, 1879 on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). He was born near what later would become the town of Oologah, Oklahoma.
His father, Clem Rogers, was a sucessful rancher, cattleman and banker. The Rogers ranch and Will's birthplace still stand and is now a tourist attraction near Oologah, Oklahoma. A freed slave taught him how to use a lasso as a tool to work Texas Longhorn cattle on the family ranch.
After the 10th grade, Will Rogers dropped out of school to become a cowboy in a cattle drive. He always regretted that he didn't finish school, but he made sure that he never stopped learning--reading, thinking and talking to smart people. His hard work paid off.
Will's roping skills became so outstanding that years after his death he was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing three lassos at once: One rope caught the running horse's neck, the other would hoop around the rider and the third swooped up under the horse to loop all four legs. Fortunately, his unsurpassed lariat feats were recorded in the classic movie, "The Ropin' Fool."
At 21, a young Will Rogers left Indian Territory for Argentina in hopes of finding work as a cowboy in this new frontier. In 1902, after failing to find his dream, he signed on to tend cattle on a boat heading for South Africa. It was here that he discovered Texas Jack's Wild West Show and became an instant hit as the "Cherokee Kid" with his fancy rope tricks. Along the way, he started making folksy humorous remarks just to fill the time when he was getting ready to do another rope trick. And, to his amazement, folks liked his off-the-cuff remarks even better than they liked his roping.
Returning home in 1904, he performed at the St. Louis World's Fair and later went with the show to New York City, making his debut at Madison Square Garden in 1905. During the next 10 years he would climb to top billing in vaudeville, starring in the Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1918 Will Rogers went to Hollywood and starred in many features and shorts in silent cinema.The classic, "Ropin' Fool", was made during this period. His first "talkie" was the film, "They Had To See Paris" (1929).
After the advent of sound, Rogers rapidly became a top box office attraction.He made a total of 71 films. In 1934 he was voted the most popular male actor in Hollywood. And he was the best paid. Even during the height of the Depression --when ordinary people were glad to have any job and most earned less than $5,000 per year-- Will Rogers in 1930 earned a cool $300,00 per film (with no Federal income tax, don't forget). And he made several films each year. So a "poor boy" he was not. Never had been. But people loved him, whether they were dirt-poor farmers or Wall Street fianciers.
He was a highly paid radio star, as well. And Rogers' syndicated newspaper column was carried in more newspapers than that of any other writer.
Of course, Will Rogers probably could not make it as a stand-up humorist today on TV late shows or in the so-called comedy clubs across the country. He didn't cuss on stage. He never intentionally insulted or ridiculed anyone in his audience.He did not get into the face of his listeners and cram his humor down their throats. Still, he won the hearts of millions of his contemporaries with his down-home observations of life as it was being lived around him. And that humor still applies today, for one of the most popular Broadway stage shows is "The Will Rogers Follies". And there are several individual entertainers who stay busy doing one-man Will Rogers shows.
During his lifetime, he traveled around the globe three times-- meeting people, covering wars, talking about peace and learning everything possible. He was a believer in and a promoter of airplane travel. His advocacy of air travel and military air superiority won him the title, "Patron Saint of Aviation." He was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1977.
Will Rogers wrote six books. In fact he published more than two million words. He was the first big time radio commentator, was a guest at the White House and his opinions were sought by the leaders of the world.
"I never met a man I didn't like," was his personal credo of genuine love and respect for humanity and all people everywhere. He gave his own money to disaster victims and raised thousands for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.
Will Rogers had married Betty Blake in November 1908 after an 8 year courtship. He would say, "When I roped her, that was the star performance of my life". Will Rogers was very close to his wife, Betty, and their four children. The first, Will Rogers Jr.( 1911-1993), starred as his father in two feature movies ("The Story of Will Rogers," 1952) and was a war hero, a successful actor and a Congressman. The second, Mary Rogers (1913-1989), was a Broadway actress. The third, Jim Rogers (1915-2000), after starring in some cowboy movies as a young man, spent his life as a horse and cattle rancher. And the fourth child, Fred, died of diphtheria when he was two.
Will Rogers was one of the first celebrities to live in Beverly Hills. His home was located at 925 Beverly Drive. He helped the city of Beverly Hills defeat an annexation move by Los Angeles. And he was elected the first mayor of Beverly Hills . Will Rogers was instrumental in the election of Franklin Delanore Roosevelt as President in 1932. It is said, however, that he never personally cast a vote in any election. [Can anyone confirm that and say why??]
In 1922, Will Rogers bought 186 acres of ranch land in Pacific Palisades, a few miles west of Beverly Hills. And in 1924 he made it his permanent home. The home and grounds, now a State Park, are located just above Sunset Boulevard (before it reaches the ocean), about half-way between the San Diego (405) Freeway and Pacific Coast Highway. The estate had barns, corrals, horses, polo fields, and rugged canyons and hillsides--all with panoramic views.
At home, either on his ranch in Oklahoma or in the Santa Monica hills of California, he always enjoyed riding horseback, roping steers or playing polo. He would scratch his head, grin and quip that he figured there was something wrong with anybody that didn't like a horse.
In 1930, Will began yet another phase of his career: Radio. Between his radio addresses and newspaper columns, he reached out to over 40 million Americans a week. This was when the total population of the United States was 120 million.
Will Rogers and his fellow Oklahoman, aviator Wiley Post, died when their plane crashed shortly after take-off near Point Barrow, Alaska in Aug., 1935. He died as the Number One star at 20th Fox Studios and, arguably, perhaps only second to Wiley Post so far as being the best known personality around the world. He is regarded as the most loved personality of that era. A memorial service for Will Rogers was conducted at the Hollywood Bowl, and 10,000 people showed up.
The Will Rogers Memorial sits on a 20 acre hilltop in Claremore, Oklahoma. Rogers purchased the land in 1911, planning to build a home there after retirement from show business. Some years after his death in 1935, Mrs. Rogers donated the land for a lasting memorial to her husband. In 1944 Will's body was moved from a holding vault in California to the memorial. Mrs. Rogers was later buried beside him in 1944.
CLICK HERE to go to a Will Rogers Memorial web page.
CLICK HERE to go to the official web page of the Will Rogers State Park (Rogers' home and ranch up in the Santa Monica mountains).
W. Lane Rogers
After a career as a broadcast news director,W. Lane Rogers became a full-time writer in 1987. His first book was Crimes & Misdeeds: Headlines from Arizona's past (Northland press, 1995).
W. Lane Rogers was the book review editor for Tombstone Epitaph (Tombstone, Arizona). His articles appeared in numerous magazines, including Journal of Arizona History.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors.
Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or their agents
are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address
Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Light is shed upon the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
--- Bible: Psalm 97:10-11
Be sure to visit Stan Paregien's other web site, Paregien.Net
© 1999-2010 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
[ This page last revised on Nov. 30, 2010 ]
