JOAN E. BAUER

The Will Rogers Ranch House      

Lost in the Palisades fire, along with the horse stables.
Some artifacts survived: Will's boots, a banjo, Navajo rugs.

Artwork. The philosopher cowboy born in Oklahoma,
wrote a weekly column for the New York Times.

He’d begun in vaudeville, then the Ziegield Follies, 71 films,
mostly silents. Rugged face, unassuming manner, unruly hair.

His father, a Cherokee senator, judge & rancher, disappointed
when Will left school after tenth grade. His mother hoped

he'd become a minister, but she died when he was ten. 
Will Rogers found his own way of preaching:

chewing gum, hands in his pockets or twirling a lasso.
His sermon: tolerance, honesty, humility, fair play.

Humorist, radio star, philanthropist, friend to Presidents,
he toured the country, as had Mark Twain.

Beloved for folksy jokes & plain-spoken wisdom,
"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."

He loved horses & riding. In his Hollywood years,
he built polo grounds on his Palisades ranch.

You can find photos of him in full polo regalia playing 
with Spencer Tracy, Walt Disney, Carole Lombard.

When he died in an air crash in Alaska with aviator
Wiley Post in 1935, the nation mourned.

Rogers spoke for the common man. He was friends
with everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to Helen Keller,

Harry Houdini to Emily Post. Their signed volumes
in his ranch house library, lost in the flames.

 

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