[78-L] Will Rogers

[Ken "Silver Showcase"]

warren moorman wrote:
> Indeed, this was one of the first big celebrity deaths by plane crash, before 
> Amelia Earhart, Buddy Holly, or 
>
> any others. My father had been camping, and noticed that the August meteor 
> showers were especially active that night. When he returned to town, he heard 
> the news of Post and Rogers' deaths. It stayed with him so vividly that decades 
> later (1993) I accompanied him to Barrow, Alaska to see the sight of the wreck. 
> Interesting that unlike other tragedies, it didn't seem to produce many tribute 
> songs.
>
> Warren
>   

I'm a big Will Rogers fan and so all these comments are fascinating to 
me.  Today all the focus is on young sexy pop stars so its difficult for 
people today to understand the impact this middle aged joke teller had 
on our society.  He was funny, wise and well, comfortable.

I wasn't born until 1954, but my mother always talked about how 
devastated people were when Rogers died.  Rogers' picture hung on the 
living room wall in the home of one of my great aunts.  Mom said that 
when Rogers died her aunt cried.

And Warren, I haven't run across any tribute songs, either.  But I do 
have sheet music for a song from his bogus 1928 presidential campaign.  
Its title is "Song of the Bunkless Party."  I don't know if it was ever 
recorded.

-- Ken