America’s Most Loved - The Legacy of Will Rogers

ROUTE - August 2022 - I n the steamy late-summer month of August 1935, the world mourned. Banks and federal buildings shut their doors. The U.S. Congress let out for the day, movie theaters closed, radio shows went silent, Wall Street shuttered its doors, and newspapers around the world splashed headlines of the death of America’s favorite humorist, Will Rogers. Flags were flown at half-staff by federal and state authorities.

More than 12,000 motion picture theater screens went dark for two minutes at 2:00PM on August 22 in tribute. Newspapers and editorials called on then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare a national holiday and day of mourning to honor Rogers.

On August 15, 1935, Will Rogers had died in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska, along with the famous Oklahoma aviator Wiley Post, and grief spread across the world in a black wave of disbelief, tears, shock, and sadness. As the news rocked the world that America’s top movie star, radio personality, and author had perished, the nation wept. The impact that this humble man from Oklahoma had on entertainment, popular culture, and journalism at the time were such that the national mourning of his death rivaled the grief usually reserved for presidents and heroes.

At the time of his death, Will Rogers was perhaps the most beloved and respected man in the world. At the height of his career, he was the top radio personality, the #1 Box Office draw, the nation’s most in-demand public speaker, and the most read newspaper columnist in history. He was a comedian and author of many books, a world traveler, and a staunch supporter of charities.

At the Will Rogers Museum in Oklahoma, the history and the accomplishments of Rogers, who famously said, “I never met a man I didn’t like,” keep his memory alive.

“For the first 40 years, people came here to pay their respects to Will Rogers. You walked in the door, you took your hat off, you paid homage to Will, and you reminisced about what he meant to your family,” said Tad Jones, Executive Director of the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma. “But today, there are very, very few people alive who remember Will. So, everybody here now is coming because they’ve heard about Will from their grandparents, or they come because they know their grandparents loved Will.”

Fortunately, the museum dedicated to one of the most beloved Americans in history is located right along Oklahoma’s stretch of Route 66. Tourists who may never have heard of the man who was once the top entertainer in the world now buzz through, thanks to the car clubs and bus tours that follow the Mother Road.

“Because of Route 66, a steady flow of people come to learn about the history of Will. They get to see and learn about his life. Most people are amazed at what a big star he was,” said Jones. “But it’s getting harder and harder to keep that legacy alive.”

A Mind of His Own

William Penn Adair Rogers was born on Election Day, November 4, 1879, in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), the youngest of eight children, to Clement Vann Rogers and Mary America Schrimsher, who were both of mixedrace ancestry, white and Cherokee. His first lungful of air was drawn in a seven-room log home known as “the White House on the Verdigris River” near present-day Oolagah. Will was a precocious child — sharp-witted but hard to control. Even as a toddler, he was a performer, and that spirit caused him to clash with his serious father, who wished Will to be more business minded.

“He was very restless. He had tons of energy, and he didn’t like school in the traditional sense. He loved to read, but he spent a lot of time goofing off and roping,” said Jones. “He was known for roping his friends and girls in the class.”

Will was such a character that his father tried different schools to straighten the boy out, including a military school.

“He just got more demerits, because he liked having fun. He was kind of a class clown. That didn’t work too well for the military. You can’t be roping people,” Jones said. “He never got past the 10th grade, but he did have a passion for learning, and he became an avid reader. But when he was growing up, he loved roping and loved being a cowboy.”

In 1899, Will’s father eventually gave him his birthplace ranch, where he had grown up. Will ran the Dog Iron Ranch for three years before realizing that he didn’t particularly like the business side of ranching — he just wanted to be a cowboy. So, at age 22, he sold the ranch back to his father, and in 1902, took off with a friend to South America.

“When he got down there, he discovered that it wasn’t very fun being a ‘gaucho’ and living off the land,” said Jones. “Will’s friend had left and gone back home, so Will was by himself. But these moments are when opportunities arise.”

Instead of giving up, Will loaded a bunch of cattle onto a boat and headed to South Africa. That proved to be a disastrous idea, and soon, the young cowboy was dead broke.

“He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he saw a sign for Texas Jack’s Wild West Show. They were looking for somebody who could do trick roping. Will spent his whole growing up roping. So, he applied for the job, and that was his first foray into show business,” Jones added.

Will had a way with the audiences, and he became a wellknown roper on the Wild West circuits, performing in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia before moving back to America. He landed in New York City in 1905, joining the vaudeville crowd as a trick roper after pulling off an act of daring that only Will Rogers could do. One night in April 1905, Will was at a show in Madison Square Garden when a wild steer broke free of the arena and began barreling through the crowds in the viewing stands. Will sprang into action and roped the steer, which earned him front-page fame from the newspapers.

The crowds loved him, and Will was signed by vaudeville producer Willie Hammerstein. For more than a decade, according to a 1915 New York Times article, Will worked for 50 weeks a year at the city’s myriad vaudeville theaters.

During his decade in New York City, Will married Betty Blake on November 25, 1908, and the two honeymooned in the “Big Apple” where Will was performing. Before his vaudeville career began, Will had met Betty in 1900 in Oolagah. The two had corresponded regularly, and in 1906, Will finally proposed. Betty wasn’t quite sure about being the wife of a performer, but she accepted. Eventually, her reluctance to being a performer’s wife faded, and she became his staunch supporter and lifelong love.

Meanwhile, other trick ropers started coming into vaudeville, and Will knew he needed to expand his show.

“So, one night, he messed up a trick and he made a comment, and people laughed. And he was kind of upset because trick roping was his craft,” said Jones. “People told him afterward, ‘No, no, that was good. You want people laughing.’ So, he started making mistakes on purpose, and had different lines that he would say to make people laugh.”

Observing the popularity of Will’s patter, Betty suggested that he start adding comments on the goings-on of the day to his shows.

“That’s when his star just took off,” said Jones. “He became like Johnny Carson or Jay Leno or Jimmy Fallon. He hosted a show every night that was unique. People couldn’t wait to see who Will was going to make fun of that night.’”

The Making of a Star In 1915, Rogers signed on with Florenz Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic, a vaudeville revue that performed at midnight in the top-floor nightclub of Ziegfeld’s New Amsterdam Theatre. Appearing in his cowboy outfit and playing with his lasso, Will opened every night with the line, “Well, what shall I talk about? I ain’t got anything funny to say. All I know is what I read in the papers.”

From Midnight Frolic, Will moved to the prestigious Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway in 1916. With a mix of good-ole-boy humor and self-deprecating fun, no one was safe from Will’s satire. Although he picked on both political parties equally and poked fun at the newsmakers of the day, he never came off as snide, malicious, or mean.

The Follies was only the first step in Will Rogers’ journey to becoming the most popular entertainer alive. He performed with the Follies from 1915 to 1925, but thanks to his popularity and his witty monologues, he was soon noticed by the movie industry. His first silent film, Laughing Bill Hyde, was made in 1918, and for the next few years, producer Sam Goldwyn cast him in more silent movies.

When sound films began, Will Rogers was among the first to become a true movie star.

“At the time, Will and Charlie Chaplin were the two most successful people to come out of vaudeville. Charlie Chaplin was the top in the silent movies and Will did what they call the ‘talkies,’” said Todd Vrandenburg, executive director at Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.

Will made his first talking picture, They Had to See Paris, in 1929 with the Fox Film Corporation. He went on to star in other popular films, including A Connecticut Yankee in 1931, based on Mark Twain’s humorous novel, and State Fair in 1933. In total, Will starred in 71 films—50 silent films and 21 “talkies.” So much more than just a movie star, Will also became a prominent radio broadcaster and political commentator.

Besides penning the most popular daily syndicated column in the U.S. (writing a total of more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns), he authored six books. He was even nominated (but declined) to run for governor of Oklahoma and became honorary mayor of Beverly Hills in 1925.

“Journalists like to refer to Will as the original Tweeter. Will was sending out his daily telegrams all the time when he read the paper and had his observations. The wires would pick up those daily telegrams and all the newspapers would run Will’s quote of the day,” said Vrandenburg. “He really was the most popular person in the world.”

A Relevant Legacy

While the world mourned the death of Will Rogers, it also moved quickly to honor him. Will’s wife Betty built a memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma, which was dedicated in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1944, Will’s body was moved from California to be laid to rest at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, along with his son Fred, who died at age two. That same year, Betty passed, and now rests beside her husband and son. During the 1920s, Will had bought land in Santa Monica and built a home and ranch on 359 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

After his death, Betty donated Will’s ranch, along with the 31-room ranch house with neighboring guest housing, a stable, corrals, riding ring, roping arena, polo field, golf course and riding trails, to the California State Parks system. In 1944, the Will Rogers State Park was created from his property as a historic park. Keeping Will’s legacy alive more than 60 years later, however, is becoming more of a challenge.

The Will Rogers Memorial Museum battles that challenge every day, as does Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, Will’s great-granddaughter.

“It stuns me that people don’t know who Will Rogers is, but I guess time marches on. It’s hard, and that’s my job and role as the family spokesperson,” said Rogers-Etcheverry. “I just want to keep his legacy alive. I’m a co-founder of a foundation that we are starting in the California Pacific Palisades, which will support Will Rogers State Historic Park.”

Route 66 also keeps Will’s legacy alive. In 1952, Route 66 was dedicated as the Will Rogers Memorial Highway after the movie The Will Rogers Story debuted. The movie starred Will Rogers Jr. playing his dad, and the entire cast of the movie drove Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica in honor of Will.

Visitors can learn more about “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son” at various museums and sites throughout America, including the 400-acre Will Rogers Dog Iron Ranch and Birthplace Home in Oologah, Oklahoma. Of course, the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore is the pinnacle of all things Will Rogers — it has the largest collection of Will Rogers memorabilia in the world, plus all of his writings.

“Will Rogers was a great citizen role model, and part of what we do here at the Will Rogers Museum shows what kind of person he was. Here was a man appreciated by all of the countries; it didn’t matter your race, religion, ethnic background, or income levels. Everybody loved Will Rogers,” said Jones. “Why did so many people love him? He worked hard. He treated people with respect. He looked at the good in people. He didn’t take things too personally. He laughed. We share that if you can implement these traits, then you can succeed, have good friendships, and have a good and fulfilling life as Will Rogers did.”

Route 66 has been home to many colorful personalities since its inception in 1926. Many of them have since passed on, but the legacy that they leave, and the impact and joy that they brought while here, well, lucky for us all, that just seems to linger on. Oklahoma’s Favorite Son. The Cowboy Philosopher. Every man’s friend.

Not bad for a restless school drop-out with a penchant for roping anything that moved.