Back In Time: Will Rogers - Oklahoma's Favorite Son

in the heart of Oklahoma a name Echoes through time like a cherished Legend from highways to schools businesses and even an airport his name is etched into the very fabric of this state ladies and gentlemen Will Rogers with his mesmerizing rope tricks Will Rogers rode a trail that led him to the Pinnacles of Fame a media Pioneer of his era he had an instinctive ability to blend Homespun humor with common sense commentary better to have turmo in your house in a legisl making him a trusted friend in countless American Homes Will Rogers effortlessly bridged divides counting movie stars presidents and kids among his closest confidants while never losing touch with the everyday people back home but it is in the heart of his home state that his memory shines the brightest [Music] Will Rogers was born in 1879 on November 4th election day he liked to joke that because his mom couldn't vote she had nothing better to do so she had him Will Rogers never lived in Oklahoma he's Oklahoma's favorite son but he was born in the Indian Territory just outside of uliga a couple of miles and uh he raised in Indian Territory his dad was a very prominent Cherokee uh they were the some of the early settlers they came over before the trailers settling on the vergis river just outside of uliga built a house that became known as the White House on the vergis clim and his wife Mary America Rogers raised their family at the sprawling dog iron Ranch will was the youngest of eight children and was just 10 when his mother died in May of 1890 he was devastated by the loss of his mom she was the nurturing one that really took him in and he was extremely close to his mom so I think that when he lost her it was just really that he really never got over but he never talked about [Music] it they say that will got a lot of his sense of humor from her and uh in her good demeanor but will was just a kind of a wild Soul The Ranch in uliga is in Rogers County but the county is not named after Will Rogers Will's father clim who was a great businessman great Rancher great leader in fact he was a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention the story is that clim was sick one day and he didn't want anything named after him but he was sick one day there at the Constitutional Convention and on that day they named Rogers County after Clen Rogers he was very prominent extremely respected and you know had this amazing Ranch that he worked hard to um put together and build you know his dream was just to have his his only son continue that Legacy and will did the opposite they went to the World Fair where there was a guy who was doing rope tricks and Will Rogers as a young man saw those rope tricks and decided I can do that he'd rope anything he'd rope the turkeys he'd rope the coyot he'd rope the Cals it ROP the cows the horses he rope his friends his dad gave him the the what he named the dog iron Ranch in uliga uh will ran that for three years but you know that was a business and will what didn't want to be a businessman he wanted to have fun or just be a cowboy and so he decided to give the ranch back to his dad got with a friend of his and decided to go to Argentina before leaving will had a few errands to run will met uh Betty Blake at the train station she was working behind the counter there and he went he had ordered a banjo and he went to pick it up and um that was their first encounter you've heard of love at first sight and this probably is one of those stories cuz will walked in Saw Betty he got so nervous uh when he saw her that he left and forgot to pick up what he went there for she went back to Arkansas but they continued writing then he started his round the world trip around this Southern Hemisphere and was sending her letters will wanted to see the world go south and live the life of a Galo he wanted to go where there were no fences although it's his dad who was building the fences so we got a pile and they went to Argentina they were going to make it big time in Argentina well he wouldn't broke found out there was a big cattle drive that was heading to South Africa so will hopped on that to make a little money went to South Africa he's dead broke in South Africa um not sure what he's going to do and he saw a sign for Texas Jack's Wild West show and Texas Jack needed somebody that could do the big krlin which was a big lasso trick that Will Rogers fortunately knew how to do with the money from Texas Jack Will Rogers headed back to Oklahoma and joined Colonel Zack Mulhall's Wild West show he got his first uh story in the New York Times by when a wild Bronco at a rodeo broke loose at Madison Square Garden will got his rope out and roped the steer and saved the crowd and now all of a sudden people want to see this cow puncher from Oklahoma that saved people's lives now will is kind of a commodity that people want to see and so then he gets into [Music] Vaudeville he would would come up on stage with a horse and he would do trick ropes and there were jugglers and magicians and then of course the dancing [Music] girls but will didn't go for the Big City Chorus girls his heart belonged to Betty they courted here and there and eventually um after seven or eight years of trying he'd like to say that roping Betty was the greatest trick that he ever did build as the Cherokee Kid he held New York audiences Spellbound with his rope tricks but he was not using his greatest gift he was not supposed to talk he would go on stage and do his rope trick and no no talking whatsoever and it wasn't until he messed up on a rope trick and made a comment and said well I got all my feet through but one and the audience laughed and he just fed off that laughter and then he was an Avid Reader and Betty saidou know you ought to talk about what you read in the newspaper and so he did so he started adding to his stick that you know what's going on in the world of politics uh today and that's where he became the first Johnny Carson and Jay Leno every comedian honors him and said he was the first comedian he truly was now instead of just seeing him trick rope the horse again now the Rope became kind of a side deal and will became a person person that was starting to talk about the issues of the day and so every show became different and that's when uh zigfield FY called up and said you know we want you to come work for us he signed on with foren zigfield as an act in between the girls changing as he said from nothing into nothing so um he that he said that was his uh his job so WC Fields is a big one in the show then Eddie caner was one and Houdini was in some and you know it was hard to you know hard to follow up with Houdini I mean that was such a unique show will was always a big headliner because people wanted to hear what he had to say before his show he would look to see who's in the audience and he would have spotters go tell him you know there's a senator or there's a governor so when he would come out and do his show he just went right to him a famous person in the audience he' toss the rope and lasto him and pull him up on the stage and it was a great honor will was performing in Baltimore and woodwell Wilson was going to be in the audience and will got very nervous because the you know the president's there to hear him and they actually had to push will out on stage he did not want to go out and so he made a joke about Poncho via and how they were about to get Poncho via but they couldn't catch him because as they had head across the boorder our guys got stuck in all the red tape and you know everybody's kind of looking you know what's woodr Wilson going to do is he going to laugh is he going to how dare you and he laughed and that just released Will Rogers in 1918 Will Rogers made the next jump in his career and starred in his first silent film laughing Bill Hyde he started getting into the silent movies and that's what really you know put him on the map he did more silent movies than he did um talkie movies but he really didn't like the silent movies because he felt like that it did not give him an opportunity to communicate silent movies weren't his best thing but that there was a lot of money in that a lot of opportunity and So eventually they said you know you got to come out to um this place called Hollywood and see if you can make a [Music] living they went out to Hollywood they lived there for a little while but uh the people Hollywood didn't like the smell of Will's horses you know and uh so will decided to buy some property in Santa Monica which was way out it was back then it was way outside of town his California Ranch is spectacular in its own but he used to entertain Walt Disney um he taught Walt Disney how to play polo um Spencer Tracy how to play polo Clark G aable he rented the Charlie Chaplain uh set and he took a little horse Dopey over there and got a rider and he then produced what we now call roping tool he still holds for the Guinness Book of World Records a trick that's never been duplicated and it's in the roping fool it's three ropes three lasses and he catches the horse the front over the head it crosses at the chest and his front two feet he catches the rider and he also catches the Horse and Rider it's never been duplicated and so many people try have tried they're still trying it's amazing what he could do with a rope [Music] now that he had the money to travel will circled the globe three times making friends along the way from what my grandfather told me his love was travel he couldn't wait to be on the next adventure I don't think he sat there making a movie and thought this is so much fun this is what I want to do the rest of my life I think he made it it paid the bills and then he couldn't wait to go some where he was an adventurer he would send letters home some of those would end up in the in declare more progress at the time and but they were just little Snippets of what he has saying and where he was and he started writing these columns first he was asked to write the long columns and they were for weekly newspapers and he wrote those and one time as he was leaving to go to Europe and he was going to bound around Europe and he that was when he met with with the publisher of the New York Times and he said well just send me a telegram anytime you see [Music] something it was syndicated about 600 newspapers was running his columns in he was the most red columnist in the world 40 million people read his columns around the world he wrote more than 4,000 [Music] columns madelle join Coca-Cola in 1929 Roger signed a contract with the Fox film Corporation and made his first talking picture called they had to see Paris sound films made him a bigger star than ever before takys is what really got his career going because people then can hear Will Rogers talk but he was just he played kind of the same character you know just a downto earth person then how are we to know of your birth kind of gather from you that you you doubt I was born mostly i' Liv those things he went on the set he said I guess you guys know what this movie is about he said well as a matter of fact we've been out roping C never got around to reading the script what you can you just tell us what to say they went from there but they said that he'd get these scripts and his ad libs were better than the script as an ordinary rule what time of day is it it like us a little of noon said he like saving I guess not that's good at the time of his death he was the number one box office draw if Charley Temple didn't have a movie out by 1922 will was a world traveler star of stage and screen and had the most popular newspaper column where else was he to go but on the radio time to hear Will Rogers and his trusty alarm Club broadcasting from Los Angeles California Coast to Coast radio first time a big hookup he would he would do a Sunday night show where he get on and chatter I distinctly want you to understand that this is not any of Rogers comedy this comedy if any it belongs to the president and the Supreme Court and the US Constitution all Americans were able to hear will with his Oklahoma draw talking about the events of the day and that Drew I mean he was number one on radio he had the number one show because people wanted to hear his voice Congress is really just children that's never grown up that's all they are and they would all um they'd stay home and to listen to Will Rogers instead of going to Sunday evening [Music] Services during one of the darkest eras in American history president Herbert Hoover asked Bill Rogers for a favor it's a very important time in our country's history we have the Great Depression and everybody's wondering what we're going to do and the president wants to give a speech and uh how do I get an audience well let's get the biggest star in America to do the opening don't get scared and start turning off your radios H I'm not advertising or trying to sell you anything and he asked him to come on and speak and said will you please do something to get the confidence of America to make them feel good one thing now I say and have always claimed that things would pick up in 32 32 that why 32 well because 32 is an election year see when Americans were suffering so badly will was able to communicate with the people and even be funny we'll hold the distinction being the only nation in the history of the world that ever went to the PO housee in an automobile he never lost his ability to relate to the Common Man I mean he would always come home and he would talk about Claremore all the time he'd talk about Oklahoma you know just always had that his feet on the ground Betty raised those kids but my grandfather always said that when his dad was home he was Dad so when he would come home my grandfather always said we'd go all of us would get on a horse and we'd go trick rope and and trick ride and um there's home movies with you know will showing the kids out in the arena tricks by the early 30s he was the most trusted man in America the big boys were his friend like Rockefeller he's got a great picture with Rockefeller and he handed him a dime for a bet that he lost and he and with Henry Ford in 1934 he went to the uh the World Series and sat in the booth with Henry Ford will was just as comfortable talking to one of his former neighbors or childhood friends near uliga as he was with President Franklin Roosevelt was talking about trying to meet with trosy um in the in the Soviet Union you know trosy was kind of on the outs after uh After the Revolution and will really wanted to meet with him and he said you know if I just meet these these people you know I get to know them and you know there's just never been a man I didn't like he truly meant it I mean he tried to see the good in everybody in 1928 will ran a mock campaign for president in the pages of Life magazine the Marx Brothers volunteered to be his running mates but Henry Ford for instance took it very seriously and said Will Rogers this is no joke this is the man we need to have for President actually we nominated will and gave him our votes one time and so yeah and they said will was actually sleeping in the Press Box and he heard that and had a good laugh about it will was the patron saint of Aviation now so many people in America were afraid of of flying and Commercial Aviation was going nowhere but he went on a tour of Europe and saw that Europe was ahead of the United States in developing commercial Aviation he also when he came home he became friends with Charles Lindberg who in 1927 had crossed the Atlantic will wanted to promote Aviation and that's why he became friends with his fellow Oklahoman while he post he understood the promise and he every chance he'd get he would ride in a plane sometimes s you'd see there was an airplane a air mail plane out there he would buy stamps and put them on his flight suit so he could fly as a piece of mail a lot of people don't realize that we really owe a lot to Will Rogers for having our Air Force um he was a proponent to have our Air Force built I he saw that coming he said we need to get in the air because the next War that's where it's going to be fought from when Billy Mitchell was became very controversial making the argument in the US Army about why we needed an army aircore he took he took Mitchell's side and it became very very important and public opinion went with Billy Rell I wish so bad that he could see today's technology in air in space he he he would have been the one wanting to go to the Moon he believ in it completely and um you know when Wy said hey let's fly to Alaska will didn't even hesitate about doing that with wey post Ry was seeking a new mail route for the Post uh Postal Service and so he was the very top of the world in Alaska there was an old man up there that Will Rogers wanted to interview who would spent 50 years below zero he had written something to that effect and he wanted to interview that guy on the morning of August 15 1935 they took off from Anchorage and headed toward Point Barrow the weather was bad so Wy got lost and so they saw smoke curling up from an Eskimo Village and so they landed on the water one of the funny things that will said he'd get off the plane and go hey anybody here from clar Moore you know and make those jokes at the top of the world those people knew the eskimos they knew who he was and so he signed some autographs and got directions and visited with the locals for a little bit and they got back in the plane and took off Witnesses said they they took off and it was foggy they lost sight of the plane immediately uh but they said they heard sputter and they were not very high at all and they literally just came right back down nose first and were both killed instantly no one knows why that plane lost power and chrash the locals immediately went out to the plane it was waste high water I mean they were not in deep water um and retrieved the bodies and um one of the gentlemen ran to town and you know let everybody [Music] know when the word of the death of Will and Wy came back to America the news presses had special editions Congress adjourned for the day and everybody was so sad it was the biggest news happening in the whole world for people around the world it was as if a member of the family had died businesses closed movie theaters went dark and NBC and CBS Radio went off the air during the funeral at the age of 55 Will Rogers had touched the lives of millions people hour after hour walking by the casket mourning uh Will Rogers and he was buried in California until the Will Rogers Memorial was built years later and then his body was transferred there land for the Memorial in Claremore was donated by Betty so that people from all over the world could come and hear the story of an Oklahoma who was a friend to millions and genuinely cared about his fellow man I think his legacy is one of good citizenship he is a person that was respected by everybody the rich the poor of all Races of all nationalities he had tremendous empathy towards people he was a huge humanitarian when there was a large earthquake he would be on that plane going over to raise funds for those people I think that that's probably what he would like to have been best known for from a family standpoint that he was an amazing father even though he was you know pulled by so many people to do all these amazing things he just wanted to make people happy you know he really did he wanted to see people smile and wanted to ease their struggles that they had in their life and you know want to help them when they needed it just a good person all [Music] around coage coming into our lives is a peculiar time in our existence it a time about 2 or 3 years after the war it was just a man we needed didn't do nothing but that's what we wanted [Applause] done oh dude I just got started telling you what all is going to dig up in Washman but uh oh goodbye and good luck to you thanks