Talk:Will Rogers

Kemper Military School

Will Rogers was known to have attended the now closed Kemper Military School as a youth. This was something well known at the institution and there were photos of a young Will in cadet uniform hanging on the walls of the school in the 1990's when it was still open. Not sure how this can be proven now, but it would be nice to put it into the article. It is listed on his official website. www(dot)cmgww(dot)com/historic/rogers/about/biography(dot)html 67.8.99.192 (talk) 03:44, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

Untitled

This article says he was married to his wife from the year he was born, and married to her for almost 70 years... I'm guessing that's a mistake, but I can't fix it since I don't know when they were actually married from and to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.56.17.184 (talk) 18:06, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Untitled 2

yo, the last bit of the introduction is really strange- he provided an epigram of his most famous epigram? dunno — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.112.52.33 (talk) 10:53, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Jarring sentence

This line: "Roach (1980) presents a sociological-psychological assessment of the relationship between Will and his father during the formative boyhood and teenage years" comes without introduction to the author or his/her relationship to Rogers. It ties in to the next two sentences about Will's father's expectations, but its current insertion seems redundant to the footnote - more like an advertisement for the author's book. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.10.143.81 (talk) 12:05, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

This article has tons of questionable verbiage, in my opinion. It could use some tweaking. Joetho (talk) 18:19, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

Request for Comment

http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/rogers.asp "Of part-Cherokee parentage..."

The "California state beach named for him" was ACTUALLY Rogers' property, and was part of the 1944 ceding of his widow in her own will to the California state parks separtment that included the home and its park; the beach became its own state beach entity.

Did Will Rogers speak the Cherokee language? Inquisitivo 06:09, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

"Never met a man..."

Arguably _the_ most well-known thing about Will Rodgers today is his quote "I never met a man I didn't like", yet it is not even mentioned in the article? Pimlottc 13:13, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Added in the publications section. --Claygate 17:48, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Is there any value to the baseball reference to the quote? Surely the quote has been referenced so many times that singling out this one (not even famous) incident feels out of place in the article. Kemperb (talk) 00:36, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

It does seem kind of irrelevant. I'll take it out and see if anyone objects. Cadwaladr (talk) 01:02, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm glad the line is there today. Can anyone confirm that the intended spelling was in fact "dident" and not "didn't"; if so, please append "[sic]" (indicating "spelling is correct") inside the quotation, after the odd word. - Johnlogic (talk) 19:11, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

dident is correct--he used it many times. But we should not add "sic" because it spoils the effect on the reader who is accustomed to seeing sic indicate somebody made a typo. there was no typo. Rjensen (talk) 19:40, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

The "dident" spelling is cited no less than three times in the article: Ben Yagoda's biography, p. 234; Saturday Evening Post, November 6, 1926; Paula McSpadden Love's The Will Rogers Book, pp. 166–67. -Uyvsdi (talk) 19:58, 14 May 2010 (UTC)Uyvsdi

Fascinating bit of trivia. Thanks for including this.PurpleChez (talk) 14:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Alarm Clock

"He brought in a wind-up alarm clock, and its on-air buzzing would alert him to begin wrapping up his comments. By 1935, his show was being announced as "Will Rogers and his famous Alarm Clock"!

According to the book "Will Rogers: Ambassador of Good Will" this was actually a gag, and he was just ringing the bell himself, and then moaning about the 'interruption'. Unless anybody has any contradictory evidence I'm going to change it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.149.81.235 (talk) 14:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC).

Please cite the reference to the book when you make the edit by using the <ref> tag. This article is a bit short on proper references. Thanks! --Claygate 22:17, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Source of name

I just noticed his full name was William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers. I'm researching county names and it appears the same person Rogers is named after is the same person Adair County, Oklahoma is named after. Might be worth mentioning in the article. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v002/v002p075.html. I thought I'd let somebody who has worked on this article before add it. If nobody does, I will in a few days/weeks. Granted, I have no source that this was in fact who his parents named him after but it almost appears to be common sense.↔NMajdan•talk 21:28, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I was just going to add that he was named for William Penn Adair - thanks for providing the reference! Uyvsdi (talk) 08:21, 18 January 2009 (UTC)Uyvsdi

USS Will Rogers

This 640 class submarine was built in New London, Ct., the last of the "41 for freedom" SSBN's. It is listed under "California Memorials". Would the submarine be more properly listed under "National Tributes"? Just a thought.--Paraballo (talk) 02:59, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Cherokee-American

The article states that Rogers was a "Cherokee-American". Is this an actual classification? It seems redundant. 65.30.180.228 (talk) 23:18, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Ethnically Cherokee, citizen of the United States. It's an increasingly common term. -Uyvsdi (talk) 23:26, 30 April 2009 (UTC)Uyvsdi

I believe he was registered with the Cherokee tribe as half-Cherokee. (But I don't know this topic well enough to know if what I'm reading elsewhere is credible.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alisar (talk • contribs) 22:18, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

California Honours:

There is also a Will Rogers Elementary School in the City of San Buenaventura (Ventura) California, source: Ventura Unified School District. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.238.161.54 (talk) 23:40, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm gonna float the boat

"he used a set that was designed for a larger type, making the already nose-heavy hybrid aircraft still more nose-heavy. According to the research of Bryan Sterling, the floats were the correct type." Needless to say, both these sources can't be right...

Also, IMO, it bears mentioning, if he hadn't been from a fairly wealthy family, he'd never have gotten to 10h grade at all. We forget, before the G.I. Bill, grade 8 was more usual for working class people, & university was almost unheard of. TREKphiler ^{hit me ♠} 08:03 & 08:06, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

What is up with these photo captions?

One caption says "circa 1940s", and the other says 1936. Problem is, Rogers died in a 1935 plane crash, and he looked quite alive in the photos. Therefore, I'm about to blank those two captions. If someone can re-add with something more appropriate, please do. Boogerpatrol (talk) 00:26, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

Dates

I don't know much about Will Rogers, but I get confused as to dates here. Can someone who knows, add more specific dates? When did he rope the steer at Madison Sq Garden? When did he sign with Hammerstein? I think it will help the flow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alisar (talk • contribs) 22:03, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Circus

Do people refer to Wild West Shows as Circus shows elsewhere? To me they are pretty different.Alisar (talk) 22:20, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

The operations that Rogers was associated with used the term "Circus" so we use it too. Rjensen (talk) 22:33, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Philosophy?

There is a lot of good information in this article, but some sections, notably the 'Philosophy and Style' section, read like op-ed. Material acceptable in a biographical book is often inappropriate in an encyclopedic article. At the very least, if this material stays, it must be referenced. Rags (talk) 03:22, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes 'philosophy' is the term often used by the reliable sources. The section in question is footnoted to seven different prominent scholars who have studied the issue and published reliable secondary sources, typically scholarly journals. That's very strong support for the argument in question. Lots of other specialists approach him as a popular philosopher: 1) Mary Malone, Will Rogers: Cowboy Philosopher 1996; 2) Robert V. Waldrop (2012) writes, "a wise-cracking, cowboy philosopher and humorist."; 3) Abraham Resnick et al (2000): "he became a stage and motion picture star, as well as a noted homespun philosopher. People laughed at his jokes and remarks about American society. He opposed greed, hypocrisy and smugness." 4) Debbie M. Liles (2012): "his humor and philosophy captivated the country." Rjensen (talk) 03:36, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Meta-epitaph in use

Is the full "meta" version of his epigram quoted in the lead ("When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: 'I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I dident [sic] like.' I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved") used anywhere at his memorial(s)? Reviewing Commons and Google images, I have not found any carved epigram other than "I never met a man I didn't [sic] like." That said, it looks like the Commons pictures from his memorial may not include all inscriptions. In addition, there is another memorial stone image that I can't identify, much less read the inscription on. Thoughts? SamuelRiv (talk) 18:29, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

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Will Rogers on Politics

During the CBS broadcast of the 1984 Republican National Convention, Dan Rather attributed the following to Will Rogers: "Politics is half timing and half theater." Is there a reference to this quotation? Italus (talk) 12:10, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 November 2019

205.222.3.155 (talk) 18:19, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

He did not spend 204 dollars he spend 20 dollars

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. —KuyaBriBri^Talk 20:30, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

Was Will Rogers a Fraud?

It give me no joy as an Oklahoman and a long time fan of Will Rogers to report that The Atlantic ran a major story about "A Face in the Crowd" and how it was written and it contains information about Will Rogers from his son that asserts that Will Rogers' claim to be "a man of the people" was a facade. Here is a quote from the article:

A famously down-home wit, Rogers was one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood when his small plane crashed in Alaska in 1935. A few years later, Rogers’s son Will Rogers Jr. was chatting one night with a fellow Hollywood scion, Schulberg, the son of a successful Paramount producer. Rogers Jr. was contemplating a congressional run in 1942.

Both men had served in the military during World War II and knew something of privilege, the real world, and phonies. Drinks were imbibed. Too many drinks. They were two princes reflecting on it all. Schulberg later recounted the conversation for the film critic Richard Schickel.

“My father was so full of shit, because he pretends he’s just one of the people, just one of the guys,” Rogers told Schulberg. “But in our house the only people that ever came as guests were the richest people in town, the bankers and the power-brokers of L.A. And those were his friends and that’s where his heart is and he (was) really a goddamned reactionary.”

“Jesus, Will,” Schulberg replied. “You’d better keep your voice down, because you can’t knock Will Rogers … You can’t win without Will Rogers.”

Rogers Jr. did win the House seat, with the help of his father’s ghost. But his lament about his fraudulent papa stuck with his friend and inspired “Your Arkansas Traveler,” the best story in Schulberg’s 1953 collection, Some Faces in the Crowd.

I must admit as an Oklahoman and a long time reader and fan of Will Rogers that I am shocked. I will leave it to others to incorporate this information in the main article.

2600:1700:DC50:5560:D918:3F73:C536:E514 (talk) 17:16, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

The story may or may not be true. Two men were both drinking too much alcohol and, years later, one of them remembers word-for-word what had been said during their conversation. As an amateur historian one of my rules is: Memory is a bad historian. Sometimes a person is sure he is remembering an event accurately, but will be way off on some details.

Before that story goes into the Will Rogers article it would be best to look for an additional source to back up the allegation that he was a fraud.Karenthewriter (talk) 16:53, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

This seems to be a "Say it ain't so, Joe!" moment. You have discovered that a popular performer may not have been exactly the same person as the role he played on stage. Actors who always play heroes may not be like that when not reading from a script. Comedians who write their own material have a more ambiguous role: some of them do seem to maintain their persona all day, others are quite different off-stage. NRPanikker (talk) 18:52, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

Yes, we're talking about his "persona," a role or character adopted by an author, actor, public person, etc.

An example is Stephen Colbert's Stephen Colbert (character). This is a ubiquitous phenomenon in entertainment and public life. Another example is Trump. A biographer says he never leaves his persona. His whole life is an act. I wouldn't give this anecdote about Rogers too much weight without several RS doing so. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 19:39, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

War hero ?

Under Personal Life, the article states Will Jr. was a "war hero." If you look at Will Jr's WP article it states he received the Bronze Star while serving with the Third Army in Europe in WW II. As a former military veteran myself, I don't think getting the Bronze Star qualifies you as a "war hero." That title is usually reserved for those receiving much higher decorations. Although, I'm perfectly willing to admit most who received these decorations did exhibit bravery, as did many who never received medals. In fact, even many who did receive higher medals didn't deserve them. But I won't go there.

I think it better to say Will Jr. resigned his elected office in Congress to serve in a combat unit. Of course, I could then argue that doing so did make him a hero. :-) Thomas R. Fasulo (talk) 16:04, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Cherokee name

I went through the article but cannot find a ref for the "Cherokee name" at the top of the info box. What am I missing? 73.218.17.248 (talk) 15:12, 6 July 2024 (UTC)