Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 27, 1992 TAG: 9201270078
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TED BRIDIS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CLAREMORE, OKLA. LENGTH: Medium
WILL ROGERS REGAINS POPULARITY IN VIDEOS, MUSICAL AND BOOK
Nearly six decades after his death, Will Rogers is in the midst of quite a revival.That would probably surprise the cowboy humorist, who once wrote of dying: "I don't know why we hate to go. Maybe it's because we haven't done anything that will live after we are gone."
"The Will Rogers Follies," won six Tony awards and was named the season's best musical on Broadway by the Drama Desk, a critics' group.
Videotapes of four Rogers films are on sale, and 20th Century Fox said it would consider selling more. He made 71 in all, mostly slapstick comedies in the 1930s.
Oklahoma spent $207,000 for repairs to the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore. The museum also received from a Chicago donor a $350,000 collection of Rogers' letters, cartoons and photographs.
And memorial Director Joe Carter has written a book, "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like," which includes a Rogers biography and some of his quotes and writings.
Carter, who manages the Rogers archives and oversees maintenance of his tomb, once wore Rogers' clothes for the experience. Over coffee at a country diner, he talks like a scholar who wants to impart all his knowledge.
In explaining Rogers' comeback, Carter says: "He articulated an agrarian populist view, able to reduce complexities to understandable terms. He meshed these complicated ideas with humor.
"He said America's diplomacy is an open book - a checkbook. He said America is the only nation in the world to go to the poorhouse in an automobile.
"In a world where millions were out of work but the granaries were full, there was apparent abundance at a time people were going hungry."
Part of Rogers' allure always has been his relevance, Carter says. The movie star, columnist, commentator and adventurer loved most to poke fun at politicians' follies.
"People read this and say, `My God, you're sure he didn't write that today?' Everybody thought it was timely at the time, but it's timely 60 years later," he says.
"When he was rising, there had been a bunch of Republican presidents and the economy was in shambles. He was relevant. He was on target."
Rogers claimed to be "not a member of any organized party. I'm a Democrat." And, with insight into anti-incumbent sentiment, he once suggested: "This year is TYFOH: Tough Year For Office Holders."
Rogers grew up roping cattle but later embraced then progressive ideas such as aviation and radio. His love of flying ended his life along with that of aviator Wiley Post in 1935 in a plane crash at Point Barrow, Alaska.
"He loved fast horses, but when something faster came along, he was in those automobiles and in those airplanes," Carter says. "His life was saturated with adventure and exploration.
"He was a man of the world from a little old ranch in the fresh-born wilderness. It was an amazing 55 years he lived."
The Rogers book was a first for Carter, a former White House aide to Presidents Johnson and Carter and former reporter for United Press International.
"Will Rogers is a lot more complex than my book, and a lot more important than my book," Carter said. "But if you present somebody with a 10- or 12-volume set of books and say, `You've got to read this to know Will Rogers,' a few of them are going to blink twice.
"My book, old people are going to read it because they like Will Rogers. Young people are going to read it, and you hope they end up liking Will Rogers," Carter says. "This guy was genuine - no profanity, no excesses, loyal to his wife, faithful and loving father.
"He's a lot bigger than a Broadway show; he's part of the complexion of America. He really did like everybody."