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by, Randy Andrew
When we were kids growing up in the fifties the TV tube was filled with westerns like Have Gun We’ll Travel, The Rifleman, Wyatt Earp, Wanted: Dead or Alive and on and on. There wasn’t a night that went by without cowboys shooting it out somewhere on television. But viewers began losing interest with them in the mid sixties, until the only remaining shows were Bonanza and Gunsmoke. The westerns on television ended in 1975 when Marshall Dillon, Festus, Miss Kitty and Doc took the show to cowboy heaven. Although there have been motion pictures based on stories of the old West, the days of Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and John Wayne are gone forever.
But it was Roy Rogers, the "King of the Cowboys" that I remember best.
Randy Andrew with RoyRogers
(1981) To Read the rest of the story, click Read more>>>>
Me, showing off my Cowboy outfit
I lived on the corner of North 25th Street and Spruce
across from the water tower
(1953)
___________________________________ Every Saturday morning we would turn on the set and watch Roy Rogers and Trigger catch the bad guys. I had Roy Rogers' guns, Roy Rogers' shirts, Roy Rogers' everything. I think almost every boy I knew had a picture taken sitting on the pony that traveled all over Terre Haute with this old guy and his camera. I was sad recently to hear that the “Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum” in Branson, Missouri was closing its doors. Roy and Dale opened their museum in 1966. The first location was Apple Valley, California and later it was moved to Victorville, CA. Roy died in 1998 and Dale passed away in 2001. Two years later Roy (Dusty) Rogers Jr. moved the museum to Branson. He felt that location would be much more suited to the age group that were still fans.
I first visited the museum when it was in Apple Valley. I had just arrived at George Air Force Base in Victorville to serve my military duty. It was October of 1967. I sang at the base church a few times and the Chaplin turned me on to a lady named Fannie Dunnicliff, the hostess of a Friday morning radio breakfast show called “Fannie’s Forum.” The show originated live from Roy Roger’s Apple Valley Inn, directly across the highway from the museum. Fannie was a New York actress who began her career on the radio soap opera “As the World Turns.” I did the show several times and asked Fannie if she could get me an autographed picture of Roy and Dale. When I arrived to do the show, you could imagine my surprise when Dale Evans showed up in person to meet me and pose for this photo.
Me and Dale Evans Rogers
(1968}
The next time I did the show, it was all talent from George Air Force Base and we wore our dress blue uniforms. One of the gentlemen in the audience was professional golfer Lloyd Mangram, a former PGA champion. He invited all of us to his home for drinks after the show. He lived in a beautiful home on the hillside facing the Apple Valley golf course. One of my fellow airmen sat down and played this huge wrap around Wurlitzer organ that was in his family room. As I stood there listening to him play and sipping my Coca-Cola, (I didn’t drink alcohol then), in walked Roy Rogers. It was like I was watching a scene from a movie. He was dressed in a western shirt, boots and a cowboy hat. The only thing missing was his six shooters. He put his foot up on the rail of the bar and Lloyd fixed him a drink… and it wasn’t Coca-Cola. As my friend played the organ I wanted to meet Roy but I was much too shy at that time to introduce myself. All of a sudden he looked at me and began walking over in my direction. I did one of those double looks over each shoulder to see who else was there. But it was me he came over to talk to. He said, “Your friend is a very good organist.” I agreed. He said “my wife and I have the same organ in our home.” I thought to myself, yeah right, Dale Evans, your wife. He put his hand out and said, “My name’s Roy.” We talked for a while and he thanked me for my service in the Military.
Out of all the celebrities I’ve met or worked with over the years, there was no one nicer than Roy Rogers. He was a down home boy from Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the years we appeared together from time to time when I was not on the road or in Las Vegas. On one occasion when I was honorary mayor of Apple Valley, we went down to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA. I sang the National Anthem and Roy threw in the first ball. Roy's throw didn't quite make it to the plate. He came to me and we walked off the field together. He told me he suffered from shoulder problems that was caused by throwing so many fake punches during his movie and TV career. He really was quite an athlete, he did all of his own stunt riding. That was really him jumping off a roof on to Trigger's back. I was in the Apple Valley bowling alley one afternoon. Roy came in and asked if he could join us. His high game was 235. I said to him, “Is there anything you can’t do?”
Me with Roy and Dale
(1982)
The “Roy Rogers Show” went off the air in 1959. With the end of the Cowboy era grinding to a halt, Roy and Dale went into semi-retirement. They never made another movie and appeared only on an occasional variety or talk show. Anyone born after the late fifties probably has no idea who these two marvelous western stars were. As their older fans from the motion picture days pass on, we baby boomers are the last to remember them. During his later years Roy spent his days at the museum greeting visitors, which then had moved to its location in Victorville. He loved to see people’s faces when he walked up to them and introduced himself, just like he did to me so many years ago.
The museum closed December 12, 2009 after 44 years. The good news is, Dusty and his band “The High Riders” will be appearing at Mickey Gilley’s Theatre in Branson from March 2010 through the end of the year. His son Dustin is now his protégé and appears with his dad and the band. Dusty’s goal is to keep the cowboy music alive. Here’s a link to hear Dusty sing, “Great American Cowboy.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyjXv7MOhLU
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