IARCHS NEWS - Fall 2005

The summer ’05 show in Waukee I RCHS Iowa Antique Radio Club and Historical Society IARCHS NEWS - Fall 2005 Usually by this time of year, I’d be remarking about “the frost on the pumpkin” and so on as I hunkered down to write the fall newsletter. But with the autumn we’ve had so far, I’ve been too busy soaking up rays while I finished cutting firewood – in a “T” shirt – to get serious about any indoor activities yet; including the newsletter. But, the tree color and the calendar finally convinced me that this can’t last, so it was time to pull together a quarterly report of club events…. We had another nice crowd for the show n conjunction with the Mid-Iowa Hawkeye antique power fair in Waukee again this I haven’t talked Dean into becoming a year. I didn’t manage to muster any other member just yet (he splits his time between members to help, but had a ball as usual Iowa & Colorado with frequent trips all over visiting with the crowd, young and old alike including a recent stint in Baghdad where he and on Saturday, to my surprise a friend was working to help restore their electrical from my high school days, a traveling grid), but he sure seemed to have fun talking engineer who is working in the Grimes area to the crowd and playing the old sets in the for the next year or so, wandered through display, so he’s still a potential member. and wound up taking a couple turns behind the display. 1 Also in this issue we have a BRIEF history held in conjunction with this exhibit of IARCHS complied by some of the long time members followed by a LARGE listing each year of Iowa based radio manufacturers that any collector in the state will find is a handy reference and finally yet another installment In 2003 and 2004 radio exhibits were set in Sherry Cowden’s excellent series on radio cowboy shows featuring Roy Rogers. up and staffed at the Iowa State Fair. Dave Perkins The Waukee Antique Power Show in ============================ July of 2004 and 2005 has recently A Brief History of IARCHS become the public outreach for the club. A variety of other outreach activities in In 1994, a small group of radio Dubuque, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids collectors headed by Gerald Lange and and elsewhere have hosted by club Dennis Hilberg organized and decided to members. form an Iowa club dedicated to old radio collecting and preserving Iowa radio A quarterly newsletter is published. The manufacturing and radio broadcast annual meeting is generally held in history. conjunction with the April radio auction in Marshalltown and additional meetings An early project was to establish a whenever else they can be arranged. listing of Iowa radio manufacturers and Local meetings of enthusiasts have their history. recently become part of the club social agenda. For four years in the late 90’s the club CHECK OUT THE CLUB WEB participated cooperatively in a radio SITE AT WWW.IARCHS.ORG swap/sales meet along with the local Ham club and PC club in Dubuque around Labor Day. An informative radio display for the public was part of the event. In 1995 and 96 a radio exhibit was set up at the Maquoketa Historical Museum and ran for 45 days. A swap meet was 2 contest. He didn’t win, but as a result of that appearance he was asked to become a singer and guitarist for the Rocky Mountaineers band. Another vocalist, Bob Nolan, was added to Remembering provide harmony. Nolan later left the group, with Tim Spencer replacing him. After leaving Broadcast the Mountaineers himself, Leonard sang with by Sherry Cowden of OKVRC several unsuccessful groups over the next few years. Oklahoma Vintage Radio Collectors Before giving up altogether, in 1933 he decided Hopalong Cassidy was a natty dresser and I liked to form a group consisting of himself, Bob his laugh. “Here Comes Santa Claus” and Nolan, and Tim Spencer. Originally called the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” never sound Pioneer Trio, they developed a smooth style of as good sung by anyone other than Gene Autry. close harmony, including original songs written But of the three popular cowboys who rode by Nolan and Spencer. Their name became Sons across the range of movies, TV, and radio during of the Pioneers when a radio announcer decided the 1940’s and 1950’s, my six-year-old heart they weren’t old enough to be Pioneers. belonged to the King of the Cowboys – Roy Rogers. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 5, 1911, with the decidedly non-marquee name of Leonard Frank Slye, the future Roy Rogers was the only son (of four children) of Andrew and Mattie Slye. Andrew Slye had once worked for a carnival and as a musician on a riverboat, but to support his growing family he got a job in a Cincinnati shoe factory. Mattie, a homemaker, also loved music and played several stringed instruments. For awhile the family lived on a houseboat, but when Leonard was eight, Andrew moved them to a small farm in Duck Run, Ohio. It was there that Leonard learned outdoor skills that would later serve him well as a Hollywood cowboy hero. By his teens he was adept at singing, playing the guitar and mandolin, and They became popular on radio and in concerts in calling local square dances. Leonard’s mother Southern California and hired a fourth member, was crippled from childhood polio and his fiddler Hugh Farr. They would eventually father’s brother Will was blind. Perhaps this become a sextet with the addition of Lloyd prompted compassion in the young boy that led Perryman and Farr’s brother Karl. Radio station him to bring home and care for every stray KFWB in Los Angeles gave the Sons of the animal he came across. Once he even brought Pioneers their own program, and they were soon home an old man suffering from amnesia, and offered a contract with Decca records. Their another time a lost child. His dream was to original songs, now classics such as “Tumbling become a doctor or dentist. But when financial Tumbleweeds” (cut at their first recording hardships caused the family to move back to session) and “Cool Water,” made them among Cincinnati, Leonard quit school and went to the most popular of country recording artists. work with his father back at the shoe factory. They made appearances in film Westerns, even Early in the Depression the family visited one of in two Gene Autry movies. Leonard had also his sisters in California, and the balmy weather done some movie work as a bit player and extra and possibility of improving their lot prompted under the name Dick Weston. One day while the family to move there in 1930. Jobs were getting his hat cleaned in a hat shop, he heard hard to find, but the young man got work driving that Republic Pictures was looking for a new a gravel truck and picking fruit. To earn a little singing cowboy. A successful screen test earned extra cash, he and his cousin Stanley sang at Leonard a spot at Republic. When Gene Autry, parties and square dances. At his sister’s urging, in a contract dispute, failed to show up for the Leonard tried out for a local radio amateur 3 shooting of his latest picture, he was replaced by “The Swiss Yodel” on the air. That’s how he Republic’s newest cowboy. met his first wife Arlene Wilkins. Her mother invited the band over for a fried chicken dinner. Leonard Slye sounds more like a villain than a Good food and Arlene’s good looks won Roy Hollywood hero, so the studio asked him to over. They were married June 14, 1936. They change his name. It was decided to borrow the adopted a four-month-old baby girl, Cheryl, in late Will Rogers’ last name. Sol Siegel, a 1941. Happily, in 1943, they were able to have Republic executive, remembered that “Roy” their own biological child, Linda Lou. More joy meant “king.” The alliteration sounded good, entered their lives with the birth of a son, Roy and so a new star, Roy Rogers, was born. He Rogers, Jr., on October 28, 1946. Tragedy was 26. That first movie introduced another star, quickly followed when Arlene developed an Rogers’ palomino horse, Trigger. “Under embolism and died while still in the hospital Western Stars” (1938) was an instant hit and after giving birth. Roy’s manager and best Rogers was signed to a long-term contract. With friend, Art Rush, recalls hurrying to the hospital plenty of experience singing, but no training as and finding Roy standing in the parking lot, tears an actor, he had to work at becoming the next big running down his face, signing autographs for cowboy star. Building on his farm background, some kids. he rented a horse and rode for hours until he became at ease in the saddle. He bought some It was the custom to have young contract starlets six-shooters and spent more hours practicing play “the girl” in the Westerns, and Roy’s drawing, twirling, and shooting. He was soon movies employed many of them. With the one of Republic’s top stars and, based on box filming of “The Cowboy and the Senorita” in office receipts, he was the number one cowboy 1944, Roy Rogers acquired a permanent leading star from 1943-1954. The studio wanted him to lady.

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