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University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company 72-29,908 ROACH, Jr., Samuel Frederick, 1939- LARIAT IN THE SUN: THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1972 History, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © Copyright by Samuel Frederick Roach, Jr. 1972 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE LARIAT IN THE SUN: THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY SAMUEL FREDERICK ROACH, JR. Norman, Oklahoma 1972 LARIAT IN THE SUN; THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company PREFACE "Can it be that a whole generation carries a wound in its heart for Will Rogers and the next, its own offspring, does not even know who he was?"^ Will Rogers died more than thirty-five years ago. At that time, he was one of the best known and most beloved Americans that had ever lived. Since the cowboy-philosopher's demise, at least sixteen books concerning him have been published. None of these volumes contain a documented analysis of the Oklahoman's complete life. This work rep­ resents an effort to fill that void. It is somewhat unorthodox in its eval­ uative methods and use of source material. This characteristic has been imposed by the nature of the evidence which exists concerning the crack­ er-box philosopher. The Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Okla­ homa, has been extremely helpful in this project. However, the files of the Memorial are not open to the researcher and he is only allowed to ^Frank Tripp, "We Need Will Rogers, " Fresno Bee, November 8, 1948, cited in Reba N. Collins, "Will Rogers, Writer and Journalist " (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Oklahoma State University, 1967), pp. 8-9. I l l XV examine those materials which the curators, Robert Love and Paula M. Love, make available. Therefore, some primary documents housed at the Memorial are cited from secondary sources because I was not allowed to see them. Mr. and Mrs. Love are very protective of their holdings and seem to let each investigator view only a portion of their collections. The published material which exists concerning Will Rogers also possesses peculiar characteristics. Many of the sources accepted in one portion of this study are criticized sharply in other sections. This is due to the contradictory nature of the works themselves. For exam­ ple, numerous comments made by P. J. O'Brien in his. Will Rogers: Ambassador of Good Will; Prince of Wit and Wisdom, are definitely not true. Nevertheless, O'Brien evidently saw some of the travelogue films which Will made in Europe during 1926 and he includes some of the dialogue from the series in his treatise. This is the only source which records these comments. There is no known reason not to accept them as authentic recreations. Therefore, Ambassador of Good Will. despite its faults, is considered a valid source concerning the 1926 travel movies. ^^Both William R. Brown and E. Paul Alworth have indirectly alluded to this problem. William R. Brown, 'The Rhetorical Tech­ niques of Will Rogers " (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 1964), pp. 416-417; Paul Alworth, "The Humor of Will Rogers " (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. University of Missouri, 1958), pp. 2-3. V This examination cannot claim to be a definitive study of Will Rogers. However, it will, hopefully, present a new, critical and doc­ umented account of the great humorist's life. The contribution that he made to his society and the requirement of scholarship demand such a beginning. I wish to thank the Library staffs of the University of Oklahoma, Emory University and Kennesaw Junior College for the assistance they have given me in this endeavor. Mr. Robert Love and Mrs. Paula Mc- Spadden Love of the Will Rogers Memorial, Claremore, Oklahoma, de­ serve my unqualified indebtedness for unselfishly providing me with many previously unavailable materials, I owe Will Rogers, Jr. and Jimmy Rogers my heartfelt thanks for their cooperation. Special appreciation is extended to the Administration of Kenne­ saw Junior College, and especially to George Beggs. Their help has allowed me to devote my full energies to this effort. The Kennesaw Junior College Foundation has generously supported my work with vital research grants. I can only hope that my performance has justified their confidence in me. The History Department of the University of Oklahoma has sup­ ported me in an unqualified manner over many years. I can never ex­ press my appreciation to them. Dr. Gilbert C. Fite helped conceive this project and guided it to fruition through an exceptional display of professional and personal consideration. This study could not have been VI completed without his supervision. And finally, to my wife, Carole Hyde Roach, I am grateful for unfailing encouragement and a belief in me that surpasses human under standing. AN HISTORICAL NOTE Please don't write my life! ... Every guy that has a pencil and some old fool scrap paper is going to put my life right in between the kivers of a dime novel (maybe nickle). I guess it is the same in each state. The disappointed writers of Kansas are perhaps after notorious characters up there. The unpublished writers of Texas are perhaps telling the early life struggles of some old Texas highbinder. That these gentlemen dident know you, or maybe had just met you once or twice in their lives never seemed to hinder their idea that they was the one to do your life. What kinder hurt me about all this life writing epidemic is that no one that knows me has ever suggested writing one (that kinder hurt my pride ). Most of my life has been lived alone. I never run with a pack. In my later years Mrs. Rogers could perhaps give you a few details, but no one of my various authors has ever seen or asked her. Besides I havent even started living. I am going to cut loose here vii V l l l some day and try to get some life into my life and even then it wont be fit to tell about. The first part will be uninteresting and the last part will be too scandalous. I am just tipping the boys off to sharpen their pencils and go after somebody else. Why dont they pick on Governor Bill Murray? Bill has done more, lived more in a year than I ever did or will. So Bill, I hearby pass on a batch (I think it is a dozen) of amateur Carl Sand­ bergs. Give em a chance, they are all fine boys. I got nothing against em. But let em practice writing your life. Yours can stand it. But my poor little life Bernard Shaw couldent make it look like anything. Will Rogers, 1933* *Donald Day, editor. The Autobiography of Will Rogers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949), pp. vii-viii of Foreword by Will R ogers, Jr. and Jimmy Rogers. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ............................................................................. iii AN HISTORICAL NOTE........................................................... vii Chapter I. Early Years ............................................................. 1 II. A R estless and Alienated Youth ......................... 29 III. Seeing the World; Will's Early Wanderings. 60 IV. Vaudeville .................................................................. 94 V. Going to Work for Ziegfeld .................................... 116 VI. New Careers ................................................................ 145 VII. More of Hollywood and the " F ollies" .................. 175 VIII. Public Lectures and Journalistic Activities. 190 IX. Radio Performing and W r itin g .............................220 X. Mass Media Stardom . .................................... 253 XI. Will and the Great Depression ............................. 273 XII. The Last Curtain - Unannounced ...........................293 XIII. Conclusion ............................. 308 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................. 316 LARIAT IN THE SUN: THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS CHAPTER I Early Years Some people say that this patch of land we call the Will Rogers Country, and the Oklahoma it became a part of, held the last flare of the Anglo-Saxon spirit, that here was its last frontier.