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 Until we meet again ...
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| The Great Lawn in Central Park for last night's Concerts in the Parks program, which featured both The New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. 7:50 PM. Photo: JH. |
July 14, 2010. It rained yesterday in New York. Coming down in torrents in the late morning just like the weatherman predicted. And with it came high humidity. Muggy. Just like you don’t want. More of the same is predicted.
I went to lunch at Michael’s with my old friend Beth DeWoody who had just come from Christie’s where she’d seen the exhibition of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum Collection, which goes on the auction block today and tomorrow at their Rockefeller Center headquarters. She insisted I go have a look before the day was out, and after our lunch I walked the six blocks down to the auction house to have a look.
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| Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 1989 when he was 78 years old and still looking just like the guy we remembered from the movies in the 50s. |
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| Roy and his sidekick Gabby Hayes. |
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I hadn’t thought about Roy Rogers in years but eons ago, when I was a kid, the Saturday afternoon second feature at the movies was very often a cowboy picture. There were several cowboy stars – Gene Autry being the most established (in my time) and his horse “Champion” Gene Autry was also a very successful songwriter – Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, Here Comes Santa Claus (Here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane ....), and Back in the Saddle Again.
He eventually became one of the richest stars in Hollywood, owning among other lucrative properties, the Los Angeles Angels, and acres and acres of real estate. He also had a radio show in the 40s and 50s as well as a TV show after that.
Roy Rogers, however, was my favorite partly because I loved his horse “Trigger,” and I loved his partner (his wife in real life) Dale Evans. They were a typical 50's couple to this child, highly identifiable to the children of that era, and therefore accessible as parent/idols. His film plots were simple and easy to re-create while playing “cowboys” after the movie.
Born Leonard Franklin Slye in Cincinnati in 1911, he was one of a long line of film cowboys that took hold of the audience’s imagination in the early days of silent films.
When his time came, he played on the audience’s appetite for show business, famous for his fancy cowboy costumes, his horse and his dog (“Bullet” – who is also up for auction), his ability to sing and play the guitar (“Happy Trails to you; Until we meet again…”) and the fact that he always caught the bad guys (he could outshoot them), closed the picture with a song and everyone lived happily ever after.
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| One of Roy's costumes from Nudie the Rodeo Tailor. Estimate: $2000 - $3000. |
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| A group of five of (many groups of) Roy Roger's personal watches. Estimate: $200 - $300. |
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| Roy's Bonneville. Estimate: $100,000 - $200,000. |
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| Roy's original boots, preserved in bronze. Estimate: $3000 - $4000. |
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Cowboy movies seem absurd these days because in fact they were so hokey, promoting an image of the Wild West which was totally erroneous and not dissimilar to American suburbia of the 50s in sensibility and tempo. Roy Rogers looked like he could have been someone’s ideal father also. He was also known (to us fans) as “the King of the Cowboys” after he made a movie of the same name in 1943 – a very appealing title to a kid.
In retrospect, Roy Rogers was a clever businessman, a brilliant marketing product, and the film industry being what it was then, without doubt, none of his image was accidental. He was also indefatigable.
He rode his horse “Trigger,” always referred to (in radio announcements and movie trailers) as a “golden palamino” (and all the kids wanted a “golden palamino”). He had a bumbling sidekick, a much older grandfatherly type named “Gabby” Hayes whom he always treated with the greatest respect; and a pal named Pat Brady (who drove the army surplus jeep Nellibelle). He sang and played the guitar when he wasn’t out fighting for law and order and justice in the West, and he had a pretty wife named Dale. He was the all-American cowboy of his age.’ The ultimate Good Guy.
Rogers moved West to California when his name was still Slye, looking for work with his father during the Depression. Because he liked playing the guitar and singing he decided to pursue a career. He formed a group called “Sons of the Pioneers” and had a couple of hit records (“Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”). He got work in an Autry picture and when Autry walked out over a contract dispute in 1938, Roy Rogers was assigned the lead in “Under Western Skies.”
He became, unlike Autry, a real matinee idol. His films (made mostly at Republic Studios) were mainly filmed in Trucolor instead of the black and white that was used for most “B” pictures. Color was still a novelty in those days and they enhanced the picture (and the stars) for the audience.
The guy had vision that was unusual for his time. By 1940 he was very popular and prosperous. He signed a contract with Republic Studios that gave him the right to his likeness, his voice and his name for merchandising. This was unheard of in those days and probably came about because the studio didn’t see much future in it. From that grew a small industry of comic books, cowboy adventure novels, playsets, toys, costumes, boots, etc. For many years his property rights were almost as successful as Disney’s were for their films and stars, and he was second only to Disney for the number of items bearing his name. Between 1935 when he made his first film, and 1975 when he made his last, he appeared in more than 100.
The exhibition at Christie’s demonstrates very clearly that the man behind all this was a shrewd businessman who lived out his public image. He and his wife Dale adopted several children and were actively involved in charities for homeless, adopted, and handicapped children. He worked all the time (he also did radio, television and eventually lent his name to the famous food franchise), long after his cowboy movies went out of popularity. At the end of his career, he and Dale opened up a museum of his memorabilia and collections.
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| Trigger (foaled in 1934, died in 1965). Estimate: $100,000 - $200,000. |
Dale's charm bracelet. Estimate: $7000 - $9000. |
Yesterday was the last full day of exhibition of the collection which includes a great variety of memorabilia including some spectacular items, like his cars, his horses and animals, his boots, his costumes and his personal photographs and letters.
Exhibitions of personal collections are always interesting for what they say about the former possessor. Among the photographs are photos of his very humble beginnings back in Ohio where he really was (just after the turn of the century) truly a “son of a pioneer.”
Progress and prosperity came as the result of hard work, an entrepreneurial attitude (although it never would have been identified as such in his day) and keeping his eye on the Main Chance. The result was a unique and varied collection of 20th Americana, empowered by the development of technology.
The collection – Just inside the entrance are two stuffed horses – “Buttermilk” (whom I remembered as Dale Evans’ horse in the movies), and Trigger Jr. which was used entirely as a performing (dancing) show horse. |
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| Roy's and Dale's costumes (perfectly maintained and preserved). |
| One of three chandeliers. Estimate: $6000 - $8000. |
| A variety of movie poster collections, estimates ranging from $1000 to $3000. |
| The boots, in groups of four pair. Estimate from $600 - $800. |
| The Bonneville, especially outfitted by Nudie the Rodeo Tailor. |
| The interior outfitted with a saddle inlaid with silver dollars as well as a steering wheel and accelerator with same. |
| Trigger being watched over by Bullet "The Wonder Dog" German Shepherd breed, AKC name "Bullet Von Berge" Born 1949. Trigger estimate: $100,000 - $200,000. Bullet estimate: $10,000 - $15,000. |
| Trigger Jr. (the dancing horse) Tennessee Walking Horse used in dance routines and for parades and rodeos. Foaled in 1940, died in 1969 (no relation to Trigger). Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000. |
| Buttermilk (Dale's horse used for 'The Roy Rogers Show" in 104 shows). A buckskin gelding foaled 1941, died in 1972. Estimate: $30,000 - $40,000 |
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