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Will Rogers American Entertainer, Writer, and Social Commentator

Will Rogers was a highly popular entertainment personality in the 1920s and 1930s, who starred in films, vaudeville, radio, and wrote widely read columns in the Saturday Evening Post. He was known for his amiable humour, social commentary, and for characterising the ‘common man’ in America. The Cherokee Nation born, Cherokee citizen, became known as “Oklahoma’s Favourite Son”.

Early Career and Vaudeville He began his career in the early-1900s, as a trick-roper in circuses in South Africa and Australia, before returning to the United States to appear at the St. Louis World’s fair and took his rope act to the vaudeville stage. After gaining notoriety for his unplanned roping of a wild, runaway steer at Madison Square Garden in 1905, he became a sought-after performer in New York City. In 1915 he joined the Florenz Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic, by which time he had further refined his act, which included popular monologues on current events while dressed in a cowboy outfit and ‘nonchalantly’ twirling a lasso, an image he became renowned for. The growth in his popularity at the Midnight Frolic led to an engagement at the more famous Ziegfeld Follies.

The Cowboy Image Rogers discovered, early into his career, that audiences identified the cowboy as the archetypical American. This was doubtlessly driven by the cowboy imagery adopted by Theodore Roosevelt. Roger’s cowboy imagery “showed an unfettered man free of institutional restraints, with no bureaucrats to order his life”. Audiences were fascinated by his ‘frontier Oklahoma twang’ and responded well to his laconic but pointed humour.

Social Commentary and Humour Rogers’ time in the Ziegfeld Follies saw the development of his satirical sense of humour. During a performance with president Woodrow Wilson in attendance, Rogers improvised a ‘roast’ of Wilson’s policies that had the entire audience, the president included, in stitches. It was an example of Rogers’ remarkable skill to produce off-the-cuff witty commentary on the topic of current events. This was a skill that his later career was built around.

Silent Films In 1918 Rogers made the transition into film with the leading role in Laughing Bill Hyde. From there, he split his time between acting in films and continued appearances on Broadway. Between 1918 and 1927, Rogers appeared in more than 30 films, including a travelogue series in 1927. Despite enjoying film acting, the silent movies were an obvious limitation to his comedic voice — something that would finally change with the advent of the ‘talkies’ in 1929.

‘Talkies’ Rogers’ first appearance in the ‘talkies’ was for They Had to See Paris, which gave him the chance to display his verbal wit to a new audience. Over 21 feature films, Rogers became a familiar face to film-going audiences, playing alongside big stars of the day. In these films, he essentially played himself, without makeup, and often ad-libbing and working in his own commentaries on politics. His films were even considered a suitable subject for some public school students, who would attend special screening during the school day — due to their “clean moral tone”.

Newspaper Columnist and Radio Personality Beyond his film and Broadway careers, Rogers also gained high visibility and popularity through his sydicated newspaper columns and radio appearances.

This post was inspired by @girlbookwrm who referenced Will Rogers in their awesome fic sidereal. I wanted to learn more to get the reference ;D I agree with @girlbookwrm that Steve would have appreciated Will Rogers’ brand of humour and social views. Look me wanting to help fanfic writing and getting inspired by fanfic instead. Oh my.

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Will Rogers American Entertainer, Writer, and Social Commentator

Newspaper Columnist and Radio Personality Beyond his film and Broadway careers, Rogers also gained high visibility and popularity through his sydicated newspaper columns and radio appearances.

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