Will
Rogers was born in Indian Territory in 1879 to a prominent Cherokee
family. Rogers quipped that his ancestors did not come over on the
Mayflower. Instead they "met the boat."
He
learned cowboying from the ranch hands on his father’s Dog Iron Ranch.
Cherokee freedman Dan Walker taught him roping, which later proved to be his
road to success.
Quick
to learn ranching, he was in his own words a poor student, saying that he
"studied the Fourth Reader for ten years." He was much more
interested in cowboys and horses. Much of his later humor involved both.
“You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a
horse going broke betting on people.”
He
left home to work on a Texas ranch, where he was known for his lassoing
abilities. He then tried to make it as a ranch owner in Argentina, but
when he ran out of money, he traveled to South Africa. There, he joined
Texas Jack's Wild West Circus."
He
rode broncos, but his real talent was throwing lassoes. He didn’t just
throw one rope; he threw three, and his trick of lassoing a horse’s neck, legs,
and the rider all at the same time earned rave reviews.
“Best doctor in the world is a veterinarian. He can't ask his
patients what's the matter. He's just got to know.”
He
returned to America in 1904 and joined the vaudeville circuit. During his
trip to Madison Square Gardens, a wild steer broke out of the arena and began
climbing the viewing stands. Rogers roped the steer to the delight of the
crowd. The feat got front-page attention from the newspapers, giving him
valuable publicity and an audience eager to see more.
At
first, he worked in silence, but when he discovered that audiences responded to
his western drawl, he began ad-libbing. Soon people were lining up to hear his
words of wisdom.
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your
parrot to the town gossip.”
His
folksy style enabled him to poke fun at politicians, gangsters, prohibition,
and other controversial subjects in such a way that no one took offense. People
were too busy laughing. Knowing that President Woodrow Wilson was in the
audience during one performance, Rogers improvised a "roast" of
presidential policies that had Wilson, and the entire audience, in stitches.
“Even if you are on the
right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
He
went from being a cowboy to a vaudeville performer. Before long, he was known
as a humorist, newspaper columnist, social commentator, and humanitarian.
As an entertainer, he traveled around the world three times and appeared in an
astounding 71 movies. He also wrote six books, and more than 4000 syndicated newspaper columns.
Somehow,
he still managed to marry and father four children. Who knows how much
more he would have accomplished had he not died at the age of 56 in an airplane crash?
Fortunately,
his witticisms live on and are just as relevant today as they were a hundred
years ago when he first uttered them. The man who cautioned us to “always
drink upstream from the herd,” also had a lot to say about politics, which
could just as easily be written today.
- This would be a great time in the world for some man to come along that knew something.
- We shouldn’t elect a President. We should elect a magician.
- Both parties have their good times and bad times at different times. Good when they are out. Bad when they are in.
- I can’t see any advantage of having one of your own Party in as President... I would rather be able to criticize a man than to have to apologize for him.
- So much money is being spent on the campaigns that I doubt if either man, as good as they are, are worth what it will cost to elect them.
- The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.
What is your favorite Will Rogers'
quote?
This was a great post! Thank you! I can't pick one quote, they are all gems.
ReplyDeleteHi Connie, I know what you mean about them all being gems. Thank you for stopping by.
ReplyDelete“I never met a man I didn’t like.”
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie, yes, that was one of his sayings, all right. It says a lot about Rogers, doesn't it?
ReplyDelete