John M. Silah

631 East Bank Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54935-2853, # (920) 923-1918,  jsilah@fdlct.com

John's Essay

             There were many articles written about Roy Rogers (1911-1998) after his death on July 6, 1998.  Each of the columnists who wrote about him had a slightly different slant on Roy (his fans knew that he would want to be on a first name basis with them.)

            Kenneth Roesslein wrote about the good old days in “They were simpler times, and don’t we miss them?”  (Crossroads Section, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/12/98.)  Ron Grossman told about how “He took America down happier trails,” (Perspective Section, Chicago Tribune, 7/12/98.)  Doug Nye pointed out Roy’s more serious films in “Rogers film trails not always happy,”  (Knight Ridder Newspapers, 7/1998.)

            Equally important are the things that they did not say.  None of them called Roy Rogers a phony.

            He might have seemed to be.  He wore all those wild, even outlandish clothes, decorated with fringe and sequins.  Any real cowpoke who wore anything like that in the old west would have been laughed out of town.  But those sort of “modern cowboy” styles did fit the Hollywood-ized West that Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, his real-life wife and on-screen romantic interest, inhabited.

            But there is a reality that goes beyond fashion, and beyond settings.  Through all the singing cowboys, Hollywood costumes, and improbable plots, you could always sense that there was a real, genuine hero in Roy Rogers.

            No matter what the situation, there was a straightforward truthfulness, righteousness, and just plain decency that showed through.  Roy always insisted on it, both in his personal and in his professional life.

            Sure it was corny, even back in the 1930’s when Roy started out.  At one time or another over the years, studio heads or film directors no doubt pressured Roy to reflect a more “modern” approach, and not always be such a “cornball.”

            Roy said that he was thinking of his young fans, but he was probably just being modest.  It must have taken courage to continue to reflect that wholesome goodness, even when times got tough, and values seemed to change.

            Most likely it was a factor in Roy’s decision to switch from movies to television.  TV was more family-oriented.  Professionals in broadcasting were very much aware that TV was entering people’s living rooms, and was being viewed by very young, impressionable children.

            No matter how sophisticated, even cynical, motion pictures became, TV was a medium that was staying more conservative, and so would allow Roy to demonstrate the values he believed in.  And by his shining example, those values became the values that we all believed in.

            Even today, while we laugh at the anti-establishment antics of the latest rebels and anti-heroes, we shake our heads a bit, knowing that while it’s fun to play around with those ideas, the real foundation for a great society is a just code of ethics.  One that values honor, honesty, integrity, compassion – all those principles that Roy Rogers always stood for.

            We miss Roy because of his good looks, his charming personality, and his many talents.  But most of all, we miss having a hero who personifies those virtues that we most admire.  To his fans, more than any other, that hero was Roy Rogers.

            Both on screen and off, he was a genuine role model.  One of the first, and one of the best.

            For a couple of generations of kids, Roy Rogers lit the campfires of our imaginations.  Now he rides the range of our memories.

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