William Penn Adair Rogers, born on November 4, 1879, on a ranch in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was widely loved during the 1920s and 1930s for his gentle humor and homespun philosophies. Part Cherokee Indian, Rogers once told a Boston audience, ‘My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat.’ Rogers got his show business start in 1902 doing rope tricks in a Wild West show. He moved on to vaudeville and, by 1916, he was the wisecracking star of Florenz Ziegfeld’s ‘Follies.’ As a newspaper columnist and book author, Rogers poked fun at important people and events, and he was equally successful as a motion picture actor. Rogers’ film credits include A Connecticut Yankee in 1931 and State Fair in 1933. The nation mourned when Will Rogers, along with pilot Wiley Post, were killed in an Alaska plane crash on August 15, 1935.
Related stories
Portfolio: Images of War as Landscape
Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, […]
Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot
In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.
10 Pivotal Events in the Life of Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (1846-1917) led a signal life, from his youthful exploits with the Pony Express and in service as a U.S. Army scout to his globetrotting days as a showman and international icon Buffalo Bill.
During the War Years, Posters From the American Homefront Told You What to Do — And What Not to Do
If you needed some motivation during the war years, there was probably a poster for that.