Old-fashioned festival features Roy Rogers’ movies
Each of the week-long series of double-feature afternoon or evening showings through July 3 will be introduced by Rogers-Barnett, discussing her life growing up as Rogers’ oldest child. Between the movies, she’ll also field questions and sign copies of her book, “Cowboy Princess.”
“I always hear new stories about them [Rogers and actress-singer wife Dale Evens] the so-called King of the Cowboys and Queen of the West,” said Rogers-Barnett. “It’s wonderful to realize what a positive influence they were on so many people.”
The humble, down-to-earth, humorous and caring man that Rogers portrayed in 107 movies was not merely an image, but his actual identity, said local western historian Fred Goodwin, who is producing the festival to keep these movies and their music alive in the public’s memory.
Born Leonard Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rogers got his first break in 1938 in a starring role in “Under the Western Skies” because cowboy star Gene Autry went on strike. Although Rogers went from being a fruit picker to a wealthy, internationally famous star and businessman, he never lost his humility or grace.
From 1943 to 1954, Rogers was Hollywood’s top-grossing cowboy star, acquainting the entire planet with: His wife, Dale Evans, a onetime Memphis clerical worker turned actress-singer, whom he met during a World War II-era California performance to sell war bonds;
Sidekick Gabby Hayes, the classic grizzled and toothless old codger, famous for such slurred remarks as: “Why, you gold-durned whippersnapper!”
The half-dozen singing Sons of the Pioneers, a group founded by Rogers in 1934 and now the longest-running Western music act in American history, still performing in Branson, Mo.
And of course, Rogers’ horse Trigger, “the smartest horse in the movies,” according to an antique Yellow Rose of Texas Republic Pictures promotional poster to be displayed along with other Western memorabilia at the center during the festival.
The festival’s movies will be shown from high-quality prints obtained by Goodwin. They include: “The Lights of Old Santa Fe” (1944); “Silver Spurs” (1943); and “Red River Valley’ (1941).
Roy Rogers’ and Dale Evans loving and caring nature touched the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. Rogers frenquently phoned sick and dying children, visited orphanages, and the couple adopted into their family, among others, a Korean war orphan and a battered child from Kentucky. Rogers-Barnett herself was adopted.
Their westerns and 1950s TV show that made famous the send-off theme song “Happy Trails,” composed by Evans, were laced with humor, romance, uplifting moral lessons and rousing triumphs of good over evil.
“It’s a chance to relive the classic Western movie and have a wholesome family experience,” said Goodwin. “Last year, we had fans bringing not only their children but their grandchildren, too. This year, we already have people coming in from as far away as Texas and Ohio.”
Tickets are $5 for general admission. For more information, contact the Center for the Arts at 904-2787.