Will Rogers: life, legacy, and cultural impact

¶ … life of Will Rogers. In addition, we will be addressing the importance of his autobiography and other writings.

Will Rogers was born in the U.S.A. from an Indian family. His educational background was one of the factors which contributed most to the future development of his life. It is in the cultural and social context in which he grew up that he learned how to use the lasso. In fact, it was his amazing capacity to use that lasso which got him the attention of the world. The Guinness Book of World Records mentions him for his simultaneous triple throw of the lasso. Besides being an excellent lasso thrower, Rogers was also an actor, a comedy man and a journalist. It is safe to say that he was also one of the best loved characters of his time in America.

One of the most important events in his life could be considered the roping and riding contest to which he participated in 1899. The man who organized the contest, called "colonel" Zach Mulhall offered Rogers a job as a cowboy. Rogers started touring with the band throughout the American states and in his opinion it was this very event which marked the beginning of his career in show business.

Another event which contributed to his success was Jack's Wild West Show in Texas. After a series of misfortunes, he got a job there as a trick roper. There he was known as the "Cherokee kid" and it is safe to say that he was getting all the attention of the public who came to see the show.

A further event which impacted the development of his life is represented by the period in which he worked for the Ziegfiled Follies. He had an initial contact with them in 1913 starting to perform on the roof of the Amsterdam theater in a late-night show. In 1916 he joined the group officially. This contributed to defining his status of entertainer." He had come a long way from the serious, single-minded technician who made the customers marvel at his dexterity with the rope. Now he was talking with his audiences -- talking across footlights, to be sure, but taking them into his confidence as if they were all together in someone's living room, conversing and laughing about the events of the day. He had progressed, too, beyond telling a stock line of jokes between rope tricks. Where audiences once had admired his roping and chuckled at his comments, now they were laughing with Will, who seemed more like an amiable friend than a performer." (Ketchum, 139)

Yagoda, in Rogers biography stresses the importance of Rogers' background. According to him, Rogers managed to transform into a good Broadway entertainer, but it was his cowboy persona which ensured his success. In the absence of his cowboy abilities or his personality traits which were obviously the result of a certain life style, he would not have achieved success to the same extent.

A third important step in the life of Rogers was represented by the film in which he starred in 1918, called "Laughing Bill Hyde" and done after the homonym novel of Rex Beach. The film was an outstanding hit and its popularity made the producer house, Goldwyn Pictures offer him a contract. As a consequence he ended up making twelve movies in just two years. This contributed to immensely increasing his popularity. In the 20s and 30s he was basically everywhere. "Newspaper columns, books, motion pictures, radio appearances, recordings, Bull Durham advertisements -- in what seemed every way imaginable, the image, voice, and words of Will Rogers were being disseminated all over the country."(Yagoda, 216)

Writings such as "Never met a man I didn't like" help us better understand the person and the character that Rogers was. The information about his life and his family, together with familiar quotes contribute to creating a more complex portrait of who Rogers was.

Despite the environment in which he was born and raised, one understands that Will Rogers was not only intelligent, but also ambitious. His life experiences allowed him to develop in a constant manner and this can be seen in his career as a journalist. The complexity of the person is reflected in the multitude of the activities which he managed to perform with such a high degree of professionalism.

His activity as a journalist makes us realize that he had a complex understanding of the social and political situation of his times. He was indeed a humorist, which is quality not many people have, but he was always concerned with all the major issues society was confronted with at his time.