Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1520149
88 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2024 | sagaftra.org I n October 1933, when the new and struggling Screen Actors Guild needed all the "star power" it could muster, Will Rogers — of motion picture, radio and theater fame, as well as a syndicated newspaper columnist — became member No. 847. Five months later, in March 1934, Rogers served as host of the sixth Academy Awards. Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was viewed at that time by Screen Actors Guild as a "company union" — as it had been so dubbed by Actors' Equity in 1927 — evidently it was alright with the Academy that their host had signed up with the "other side"! Rogers was born Nov. 4, 1879, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Rogers County, Oklahoma, is named after his father, Clement. While growing up, Will Rogers learned cattle roping and trick riding so spectacularly that he entered Texas Jack's Wild West Show in 1902, billed as "The Cherokee Kid." When he added comic on-stage commentary to his lariat-twirling act, his career soared, and he became a star of Broadway's Ziegfeld Follies. He did well in silent films, but he really shone in the "talkies," as audiences who never saw and heard him on stage could get the full Will Rogers effect. At the close of 1934, the Motion Picture Herald released its annual list of the top 10 box office moneymakers, and the 55-year-old Rogers was No. 1, outranking stars like Clark Gable, Mae West and 6½-year-old Shirley Temple. On Aug. 15, 1935, the president of 20th Century-Fox announced Rogers had signed a contract for 10 more movies over the course of several years. But that evening, shortly after 8 p.m., Rogers died when the small plane he was riding in crashed just after takeoff south of Point Barrow, Alaska, instantly killing him and the pilot, his friend and famous aviator Wiley Post. On the day of and time of Rogers' funeral, the studios mourned in unison, shutting down all production activities for memorial services and eulogies. Screen Actors Guild and Screen Writers Guild closed their offices for the day and printed in their joint magazine a black-bordered full-page of simply his full name in Gothic script: "William Penn Adair Rogers." His Los Angeles-area home in Pacific Palisades is today part of Will Rogers State Historic Park and can be toured, as can his home at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch in Oologah, Oklahoma. A bronze statue of Rogers is part of the Statuary Hall collection at the U.S. Capitol, one of two representing Oklahoma, and an identical one is displayed at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma. The United States Postal Service has honored Will Rogers with stamps twice, a 3-cent in 1948 and a 15-cent in 1979. Will Rogers, Cherokee Superstar From Stage to Screen to Hollywood Icon Left, all it took was Rogers' name to draw the crowds, seen here on this January 1935 marquee. Below, The Los Angeles Times reported packed houses and moviegoers trailing down Main St. to get into his film An Unwilling Hero in 1921. SAG-AFTRA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS x2