A revival of interest in Will Rogers is spreading on the wings of a Broadway musical, books, home movies, new art and songs.
"Never Met A Man I Didn't Like," both a new book and a popular single by Keith Carradine, star of "The Will Rogers Follies" Broadway hit musical, characterizes the renewed interest.
The 1991 stage dazzler talks about both Will Rogers and Oklahoma. Two museums, The Will Rogers Memorial at Claremore, Oklahoma and his "Dog Iron" Ranch at Oologah, Oklahoma are both the recipients--and a vital force-- of the revival.
A business plan by the Will Rogers Memorial Commission charts events and points to new horizons six decades after Will Rogers death at age 55.
The major thrust comes from the Tony-award winning The Will Rogers Follies that played to more than four million persons during its first two years on Broadway and three companies that toured the United States and Canada. Colleges and community playhouses are staging the show.
Another cause of renewed interest is an apparent parallel between today's peculiar times and the roaring 1920s and the depressed 1930s when Will Rogers brightened gloom with anecdotes and dispensed antidotes for mistaken public policy.
"We'll be the first nation in the world to go to the poor house in an automobile," he drawled about disparity between rich and poor during the Great Depression.
Politics was
top target for pundit Will Rogers. An actual favorite son nominee for president
in 1932, Will Rogers was a 1928 prank White House candidate promising only to
"resign if elected." Decades later his wry platform promises remain fitting:
"Whatever the other fellow don't do, we will."
His philosophical renderings appeared in six books, scores of magazine articles and 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns. His droll humor surfaced as adlibs in the 71 movies where he starred but seldom learned the script; in his numerous nationwide radio commentaries and in the Ziegfeld Follies where he chatted nightly with New York audiences for a decade.
Will Rogers, besides winning slots in the Guinness Book of Records for trick roping feats--he called himself the "Poet Lariat'--spawned unique irony and home spun humor that have spurred today's revival.
The national touring company of The Will Rogers Follies opened with Keith Carradine. Mac Davis then Larry Gatlin succeeded Carradine at the Palace Theater in New York. Pat Boone played Will Rogers during the one-year run at the Will Rogers Theater in Branson.
The Troika Organization of Rockville, Md., starring Bill O'Brien as Will Rogers, toured the United States 1994-96 with "The Will Rogers Follies" directed by Steven Mining. The tour included the summer of 1995 at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City and termed it "a big success for Troika." For information about future tours, contact Troika's Deb Fiscella (301) 468-6800.
Theaters interested in producing "The Will Rogers Follies" should contact Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc., (212) 688-2525, for information, scripts and about royalties.
James Whitmore, who opened the one-man show "Will Rogers USA" three decades ago, revived and continues to book show tours in the 1990s.
Actors playing Will Rogers in one-man presentations are:
The Sarkeys Foundation financed production of a CD-ROM that contains all of Will Rogers' two million written words; 1,400 photographs, four hours of radio talks and extensive movie outtakes.
Twentieth Century Fox after 50 years has re-released four of Will Rogers "talkie" movies. The Will Rogers Heritage Trust re-released 12 of his silent films, largely two-reel slap stick comedies produced by Hal Roach.
"Judge Priest," directed by John Ford and Will Rogers' own "Ropin' Fool" movies are available in home video. Television stations that show classic movies often revive the shows and the HBO, "Look Back in Laughter," is available for home video.
Thousands of persons who annually visit the Will Rogers Memorial at Claremore and the Birthplace at Oologah have made the same general observation: "Will Rogers' words are still meaningful today."
Admiration for the man, that range toward hero worship, seems not to rest only on his many talents and achievements--but on his integrity, unassuming demeanor and candor. Amid Hollywood and Broadway glitter, his loyalty to wife and to family values are legendary.
Truths of the Oklahoma range and ethics of cowboy life on cattle drives are eternal harmonics that Will Rogers practiced and set to simple words: "Live your life so that when you lose, you are ahead."
In Oologah, the bucolic town near the two-story, log-walled ranch house is booming with optimism about the establishment of a "living history" 1879 ranch on the 400-acre "Dog Iron" that once sprawled across 60,000 acres.
Where thousands of Texas Longhorn cattle grazed on Clem Rogers' 19th Century ranch, today a growing herd of 50 Texas Longhorns" has been introduced. Allen, Carrie and Wesley Hill of Mounds, Oklahoma, donated a registered bull named "Task Force" to rebuild the legacy.
During the 1990s, the Will Rogers Memorial Commission joined with Will Rogers Heritage, Inc., to modernize, expand and beautify the Will Rogers museum in Claremore.
More than $6 million was invested in the museum and ranch--half private donations and half public money.
The Oklahoma Legislature, led by Senator Stratton Taylor and Representative Dwayne Steidley, has dedicated both innovation, energy and funding to the ranch and the museum. After all, in the depths of the depression, taxpayers of Oklahoma eagerly provided funding for the 1938 opening of the museum.
Today, the museum is a nine-gallery attraction totally accessible to the handicapped. It offers 21st Century attractions.
Twenty audio-visual installations operate daily amid fine art, genuine artifacts, documents and story lines to recount the life and contributions of Will Rogers.
On the 20-acre grounds, amid a sunken garden, is the family tomb where Will Rogers and family members are reposed.
"Never Met A Man I Didn't Like," is chiseled in granite.
A heroic size bronze statue of Will Rogers, commanding the centerplace of the museum's rotunda, also bears the same creed of brotherhood: "I never MET a man I didn't like." That was Will Rogers' legacy to humanity meaning everyone should be given a first chance at first meeting.
For children, an educational area has been opened with interactive exhibits and inspiring exposure to Will Rogers--a role model for the 21st Century.
At Pacific Palisades, California, the ranch that Betty and Will Rogers built during the 1930s beckons as "Will Rogers Historical Park." The quaint home, polo field and stables are rich in American heritage.
At Colorado Springs atop Cheyenne Mountain, the Will Rogers Shrine is an acclaimed reminder of Will Rogers' rich contributions and inspiring life.
Will Rogers, a legend of the past, portends as the legacy for a richer tomorrow.