'Tuesaay, Jufy 21, 1998 Section of 'Ifi.e Sa[em :ll[ews He went from H nov r High t Hollywood an of nearly every segment of Pad: II the profession - motion pic­ By Lois Firestone tures, radio, television, mer­ HE SMALL TOWN BOY chandising and concert tours. T from Hanoverton arrived But in 1932, he was a novice. in Hollywood a few months He'd had some amateur experi- - before his 25th birthday and ence - president of the drama found a job as a swingshift club at Hanover School, the operator in a security service. lead actor in the senior class When he talked about the play at Lisbon High School and early days of his. 57 years in the a veteran of campus variety · entertainment industry, Art shows at Bethany College in_ Rush said lightly, "I had both West Virginia. · feet firmly planted on the His first venture in the busi­ ground - I had to, because ness was to package and pro­ there were holes in my shoe.s." duce a radio program. The Nearly six decades later, Art show didn't sell, but while he was still in Hollywood, a veter- was recording at the RCA Vic­ tor Studios, he conceived an idea which would revolutionize the radio industry. RCA was destroying the costly Vitaphone recordings and Art Rush tape the opening for one of R'?y' s feature fil~ on the Roy Rogers­ _ presses which had provided Dale Evans Happy Trails Theater aired on the Nashville Network m the 1980s. sound for motion pictures before the "sound of film" tech­ Benny Goodman Orchestra. America, which owned Univer­ nique had been perfected. Five years later, William S. sal Studios. Paley hired Art as managing At his own agency, he man­ Workers were cutting up the director of Columbia Manage­ aged Nelson Eddy for 22 years, presses with acetylene torches ment of - the name and discovered and launched into scrap metal to sell to Art gave to it - which was a _ careers, including Mario Lanza, Japan. subsidiary ofthe Columbia , and Alan Those outmoded Vitaphone Broadcasting system. Ladd. He packaged and pro­ presses could be utilized, Art Eight of the company's con­ duced the Red Ryder radio thought, to prerecord radio cert agencies were merged with series which aired ort NBC and shows - his thought was to the CBS Artists Bureau, making the Brave Eagle television use the machines to make large it one of the world's largest - series on CBS. electrical transcription disks. talenl: agencies. Over 200 artists Art and RoyRogers-met in It took a month of working of motion pictures, radio, the early 1930s. Like Art, he for nothing to prove to RCA records and concerts were on · was an Ohioan, born Leonard officials that the idea would the agency roster. Franklin Slye irr Cincinnati in work. At Columbia, he managed 1911. He was 18 when he came He was rewarded~ though. some of the world's greatest to California and b~gan playing Now barely past his 25th birth­ musical artists, among them in various music groups, the - day, he was named head of the Jackie Gleason, Buddy Clark, Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky RCA Victor west coast Mountaineers, and Texas Art phones from his dressing operatibn. _ Mary Martin, Tito Gui.Zar, :room during a: Rogers rodeo Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Outlaws. At RCA Victor he produced. Roy and two other - at Madison Square Garden records and albums for dozens Horowitz, Eugene Ormandy, in Manhattan in the 1970s. Paul Robeson, Orson Welles, singers, and Tim of entertainers, including Nel­ Spencer formed the Sons of the Art kept the bronze statue son Eddy,Jeanette MacDonald, Enzio Pinza, and Lauritz Melchoir. Pioneers in 1934. Roy changed ''Tumbling Tumbleweeds" Roy gave him on his office Perry Como, Jose Iturbi, his named from Slye to Dick were synonymous with the desk for years. Art's _sons Lawrence Tibbett, Betty Hut­ When Art left in 1939 to form Weston and finally to Roy . The Sons gave the b:ronie to the Roy ton, , Lily Pons, the Art Rush Inc. talent agency, Rog~rs. - were inaugurated into the Rogers Museum to be dis­ Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman, the Columbia business was Art signed the trio, and made Maurice Chevalier,. Tommy __ _ played in the special section sold tci one of the industry them and their signature songs See Rush, page 4 which honors Art Rush. Dorsey, Dinah Shore, and the titans, Music Corporation of famous. "Cool Waters" and Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980, followed by Roy.eight years later. Art took charge of the 100 feature films Roy made in the ensuing years. His television production, The Roy Rogers Show ran from October 1951 to . September 1964. Art marketed and merchan­ dised over 400 products with Roy Rogers Restaurants, .coor­ dinated the-Rogers' Thousand Trails Inc. 93,000-member net­ work of 43 recreational vehicle · Art, Dale and Roy at the Rogers Museum in Victorville, parks in the United States. He­ Calif,. The 32,000 square-foot building is built like a fort and handled the Happy Trails contains a collection of Rogers memorabilia, executive offices Resort in and other and the Happy Trails Shop - and a special section honoring Roy-Dale Evans operations. Art's contributions to their lives. In 1986, Roy, Dale. Evans and Art flew to Knoxville, Tenn. where Roy and Daletaped new Placed under contract with openings and closings in color Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, her at Cinetel Productions for the first role there was with Robert nashville Cable Network. Taylor in "Society Doctor." She Dale's feature motion pictures · starred in MGM's first techni­ were seen weekly and three color feature, "Gypsy.Nights.''- times on Saturdays on the Roy Knowing Art wanted to meet Rogers-Dale Evans Happy her, Nelson Eddy arranged a Trails Theater on the Nashville party for Mary Jo and invited Network. him. They were married five · When the Pacific Pioneer months later, on Oct. 28, 1935. Broadcasters honored Art in Mary Jo retired from show November 1982 on his 50th business, but kept her hand in year in show business, it was by composing music and lyrics. Dale Evans who presented Art Several were published by the with the Diamond Circle Five million children were Roy Rogers Riders Club members Paramount-Roy Rogers Music Award, saying, "This goes tb a w~o watched Roy and Trigger in theaters Saturdays. Roy and Co. and Famous Music'of New member who has helped hun­ Tngger came on the screen, Trigger bowed his head as Roy ·York. · dreds, and we do mean hun­ ~ec~~ed the cowboy prayer, and then Roy turned the "meet­ The couple had two sons, Dr. dreds, of talented artists reach ml? over to. the theat~r manager who ran a Rogers feature. William A, Rush of San Jose, A studio still of Mary Jo the success they deserve." Tngger was m every film and TV show until he died in 1965 · Calif., a general surgeon artd Rush when she starred in The collaboration continued at the age of 33. Roy's dog, Bullet appeared in almost as former Air Force jet pilot; and "Gypsy Night," MGM's first until Art's death,. and made many films as Trigger. Robert Nelson Rush, a Burbank technicolor movie. both wealthy men. The lasting we would both have missed so the-Sixth at the Apple Blossom teacher. friendship enriched their lives ·· Festival in Winchester, Va. That Mary Jo passed away in much." Arbaugh-Pearce• immeasurably. Art commented Art had followed the career ·· same year she represented the 1988, and Art died a few on the handshake they of Mary Jo Matthews, a Man­ state of West Virginia at the months later, in January 1989. His sister Helen died in 1987, f"" eeni.~efl exchanged, marking .the only nington,_W. Va._girl, to the cel­ Rhododendron Festival in vr Funeral contract either ever needed luloid world of Hollywood.. Asheville, N. C. his brother Malcolm in 1989 Home when they embarked Off th~ir He'd read about her when he After graduation she headed and his other brother, Clarence passed away in 1990. · long journey: "There had to be was at Bethany and she was a for Broadway where she .RAY J. GAEENISEN 332-4401 a hand larger than ours student at West Virginia appeared in several musicals, Elizabeth Trough still lives in OWNER involved in that one, because University.. including "Bandwagon," "Gay Hanoverton, remembering the PERSONAL RECORDS She was crowned beauty . Divorcee," "Flyfug High" and wonderful growing-up years in & PLANNING BOOK queen at West Virginia Univer-. "Let 'Em Eat Cake." the family of William and Eli­ Because y.our last wishes sity three consecutive years, Mary Jo was signed by Col:-· zabeth Rush; and missing are so important ·them, and the sister and ~1 representing Kappa Kappa umbia Pictures for her first . ·,-~ Gamma Sorority: During her movie role and was geatured in brothers with whom she never ·:1. This FREE senior year at the college, she "20th Century" :with Carole lost touch and remained close 1· Record throughout their lifetimes. reigned as Queen Shenandoah Lombard and John Barrymore. Book Allows . 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