Biographical Details Will Rogers (United States, 1879-1935 )
Figure 1.--Humoirist and social commentator Will Rogers was an invenertate traveler. Here he is with his wife and two middle children returning from a trip to Britain. The press captuin read, "Rogers Family: S.S. Leviathan arrives New York, Photo shows Will Rogers, noted comedian, with his wife and daughter Mary abd son James holding the family pet, on their arrival here from a 2 1/2 month stay in England. Will collected $33,000 for a fund for [stricken] Florida." $33,000 was real money at the time. The photograph was taken September 27, 1926. He is referred to here as a commedian. By the time of his death a decade leader he had become much more than a commedian. Norice the pose and obvious affectionate familu relationship--just waht yiu bwoukd expect from his public persona.
William Penn Adair Rogers was born into a Cherokee family on Indian Territory now Oklahoma (1879). He was was one if the most appealing personality in the history of show business---the opposite of the modern woke generation. He had an amazing career: stage and film actor, vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator. He made three trips around the world, 71 films (50 silent films and 21 talkies), performed countless times on various stages, and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. He became popular in the 1920s and was a huge star (1930s). He was the leading humorist of the 1930s at the time if his death and the highest paid of Hollywood film stars. He first worked as a cowboy where he learned his trademark rope trucks. He was killed with aviator friend Wiley Post when their airplane crashed in northern Alaska. His show business career began with a Vaudeville cowbiy rope act. This led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies which in turn led a movie career. His act was not just twirling a rope which he was very good at, but while twirling, telling jokes along wirh folksy social criticusm. His movies led to a syndicated newspaper column which along with radio appearances gave him mation-wide visability. Rogers was an aviation ethnthisiast. He traveled by air and wrote first-hand accounts of his travels. With earthy jokes/anecdotes and gente atyle enabled him to poke fun at gangsters, prohibition, politicians, government programs, and a host of other controversial topics without offending. He was even able to target gangsters. The public loved hom and his folky routiens. He was areal humorist, unlike modern comedians think that just mentioning Presiden Trump's name and a profanity is the height of creativity. He couched his aphorisms in humorous terms. They were widely quoted and many are still rememvered today, like "I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat." And about the Depression, he quipped, "Anerica is the first country in the history of the worid to go to the poorhouse in an automobile." Rogers married Betty Blake (1908-35). They had four children.
