The Papers of Will Rogers: From the Broadway stage to the national stage, September 1915-July 1928In the early years of his performing career, Will Rogers was a vaudeville performer of limited prominence. Around the age of thirty-five, however, this Oklahoma cowboy philosopher shed his role as local stage entertainer and moved toward fame as a Broadway star and nationally beloved humorist. This documentary history, volume four in the definitive five-volume Papers of Will Rogers, reveals Rogers’s personal and professional transformation during what may have been the most productive period of his diverse career. Between 1915 and 1928—the years covered by this volume—Rogers developed his unique monologues of topical humor, sampled the relatively new medium of radio, and pursued a career in silent films. He also tried his voice in sound recordings, witnessed his work as a writer reach millions of readers of daily newspapers, became one of the most sought-after speakers on the dinner circuit, and embarked on a three-year tour of the nation’s lecture halls. In addition to Rogers’s personal correspondence with family members and friends, editors Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson present more than one hundred letters and telegrams to and from people Rogers touched both inside and outside public life, including prominent figures in politics, show business, literature, industry, government, publishing, and the arts. Much of this material, gleaned from private collections, interviews, manuscripts, and sound recordings, has never before been published. |
Contents
CHRONOLOGY SEPTEMBER 1915JULY 1928 | 7 |
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES | 43 |
May 1916 | 69 |
Sept 1916 | 87 |
BROADWAY STARDOM | 100 |
FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD | 162 |
BACK TO BROADWAY | 197 |
Sept 1918 | 210 |
Dec 1925 Notes for Speech or Stage Appearance | 403 |
Notes for Stage Appearance | 407 |
April 1926 New York State Income Tax Statement | 411 |
May 1926 To George H Lorimer | 427 |
July 1926 Notes for Appearance in Cochrans 1926 Revue | 434 |
Sept 1926 To George H Lorimer | 442 |
Sept 1926 Telegram from Everett Sanders | 452 |
Oct 1926 To George H Lorimer | 458 |
Nov 1918 | 226 |
ca Nov Dec 1922 Gags for Life Magazine | 254 |
RETURN TO HOLLYWOOD | 272 |
Feb 1923 Notes for Banquet Speech | 295 |
June 1924 Notes for Ziegfeld Follies Skit | 341 |
Sept 1924 Notes for AfterDinner Speech | 349 |
ON TO EUROPE | 360 |
Nov 1924 From Maud Rogers Lane | 363 |
May 1925 To Florenz Ziegfeld Jr | 375 |
ca Summer 1925 To Sallie Rogers McSpadden | 383 |
Notes for Stage Appearance or Speech | 399 |
Nov 1926 Statement of Payments for Articles | 467 |
ON TO POLITICSWITH A SMILE | 478 |
Jan 1927 To Will Rogers Jr | 482 |
March 1927 Telegram from Henry H Ogden | 490 |
April 1928 Draft of Telegram to Editor Cincinnati Post | 530 |
ca Spring 1928 Book Foreword by Will Rogers | 578 |
| 583 | |
| 595 | |
| 605 | |