Where there’s a Will

Will Rogers historian and impersonator Doug Watson visited Hulbert Thursday.

By TEDDYE SNELL

HULBERT – Cowboy humorist and native son Will Rogers may have died over 70 years ago, but his memory lives on, thanks to folks like Doug Watson.

Watson visited Hulbert Thursday, giving presentations at both Hulbert Schools and the Hulbert Public Library as part of the Will Rogers in Schools program sponsored by the Will Rogers Memorial Museum.

“I spoke to 200 third- through sixth-graders and about 75 high-schoolers this morning,” said Watson. “Occasionally, when it works out as it has today, I visit libraries and other organizations.”

Watson, a retired professor from Oklahoma Baptist University, said he began portraying Rogers a little over 13 years ago.

“I made some good friends at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore and for me, this program is fun and informative for the kids,” he said.

Watson said since Rogers has been dead for so long, keeping his memory alive among younger people is often a difficult task. When he visits the schools, he gives a PowerPoint presentation about Rogers’ life history, then moves into the Rogers character to give people a more personal glimpse of the cowboy humorist’s nature.

“Most people think of Will Rogers as a cowboy,” said Watson. “But he was much more than that. He was a political humorist, newspaper columnist, author, film actor and showman.”

During the presentation, Watson donned a cowboy hat, and grabbed a rope while speaking in character, recreating many of the tricks for which Rogers was famous. Watson also stuck a piece of gum in his mouth, saying Rogers often performed rope tricks while talking and chewing gum.

Rogers was born on a homestead ranch near Oologah. The home still exists today, but was moved a half mile from its original spot when Oologah Lake was built. Rogers’ father was a banker, a Cherokee legislator and a senior delegate on the statehood committee, and valued education.

Unfortunately, Rogers wasn’t much of a student.

“A friend of my dad’s gave me a piece of rope and told me, ‘Will, if you keep this with you, you’ll always have something to do with your hands and it’ll keep you out of trouble,’” said Watson in character. “Well, my hands were busy. ...”

According to Watson, Rogers often resented teachers who ignored him, preferring to call on brighter students in the class.

“So, I’d stand in a corner with my rope, working my spinning tricks,” he said. “Sooner or later, the teacher would take my rope. But that was all right. I always seemed to have another one. I kept just enough rope to hang myself.”

After moving from school to school, Rogers finally gave up on education at age 17 without graduating. His father would have liked to have seen his son do more with his education, but it was simply not to be. “I told my father I wanted to be a cow man just like him,” said Watson, in character. “Dad said ‘No.’ He always had a way with words.”

According to Watson, after spending time on the ranch working cattle, Rogers grew impatient.

“I got sick,” he said. “It was a sickness called wanderlust; where you can’t be happy where you are. I wanted to go to South America and be a gaucho.”

Rogers left his home in Oologah with his friend, Dick Paris, and the pair went to New Orleans in search of a ship to take them to South America.

“Well, we didn’t find a boat to South America, but we found one going to New York,” he said. “Once we got to New York, we found a boat going to London, so we took it. When we got to London, we found a boat going to Buenos Aires, so we took it.”

After spending some time in Argentina with no job, Rogers decided to board a boat full of horses and cattle bound for Africa.

“Well, I followed the cows to Johannesburg, where I met Texas Jack, who’d worked for Buffalo Bill Cody,” he said. “He told me he was looking for someone to do rope tricks for $50 a week. I couldn’t believe he’d pay me $50 a week doing tricks I’d learned when I was 7.”

And a star was born.

Rogers eventually made his way back to America, and worked as a showman on Vaudeville and with the Ziegfield Follies.

Despite his father’s protestations, Rogers refused to settle down in Oklahoma, but knew he’d have to compromise if he was to marry the woman he loved.

“I met Betty Blake on one of my trips home,” the impersonator said. “And I got sick again. This time, it was a sickness of the heart. I knew I wouldn’t be happy until I got her to marry me. But it took several tries.”

Blake refused Rogers’ proposals several times, saying she didn’t want any part of a life in show business.

“Well, I agreed to get out of show business if she’d marry me, and she said yes,” he said. “Right after the wedding, I told her I’d made promises to folks earlier to do some shows in New York. Betty told me we could honeymoon in New York, so I could keep my promises.”

After the stint in New York, Rogers made more promises, and Betty either gave up settling down in Oklahoma or truly enjoyed show business. Either way, Rogers ended up being one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood just a few years later.

“Looking back, one of my best roping performances was when I roped Betty,” he said.

According to Watson, Rogers was very wealthy for the times, making more than $1 million per year back in the early 1930s. Rogers shared his wealth, often giving away more than half of his earnings.

“He was also a popular radio personality,” said Watson. “He was so popular that [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt used to schedule his fireside chats immediately after Rogers’ show, because of the listeners.”

Rogers also wrote both daily and weekly newspaper columns, which were nationally syndicated.

“He wrote over two million words before he died, and was published in 500 or 600 papers across the country,” said Watson. “I’ve met people in New Hampshire and Arizona who remember reading his columns in the local papers.”

Rogers was also a big fan of airplanes, but never became a pilot. He flew with Charles Lindbergh and Oklahoman Wiley Post, among others.

“In 1935, Rogers flew with Wiley Post in a new plane to Alaska,” said Watson. “The plane was experimental, and Post knew it was nose-heavy, which is why he asked Rogers to fly with him - to help balance the load. The pair got lost in Alaska, landed the plane on water, and despite having pontoons, the plane took on some water. Well, you can imagine, after having extra weight in the back with Rogers and added water, the plane wasn’t ready to fly. They managed to get airborne again, but only rose to 200-300 feet before the engine gave out and the plane crashed, killing both Rogers and Post.”