ARTS & CULTURE
SILVER SCREEN
black. The Truth always won. It is time we went back to that.”
ROY & DALE The legacy of Roy Rogers spans ten decades; his influence is everywhere, and the Roy Rogers Museum welcomed fans for 42 years. Despite his universal recognition, Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr. wants to share the story of his parents with the modern generation and their fans worldwide. Now they will with the new musical, Happy Trails. “I am excited to be able to introduce Roy Rogers to a new generation and to reintroduce him to his older fans,” wrote Oscar and Tony Award-winning author/writer Marshall Brickman of the Roy Rogers/Dale Evans musical “Happy Trails.’ The creative team also includes Oscar and 13-time Grammy Award-winning composer T Bone Burnett and multiple Tony and Olivier Award-winning director Des McAnuff. According to the show’s producer Jeff Kramer, Happy Trails is the remarkable true story of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, two American heroes who earned their unlikely success through hard work, faith and a willingness to dream. “This has been a long time in the works,” said Kramer. “This production will tell a story that people of all ages and backgrounds can identify with. It is a love story about two people I considered family who impacted countless people around the world.
SONS OF THE PIONEERS
Rex Allen on Koko
On a larger scale, the Autry Museum, National Cowboy Museum, Glenbow Museum and parts of the Smithsonian incorporated silver screen cowboy artifacts and displays. The Autry Museum has expanded its focus to include more than just film stars to remain viable long term. Many focused centres reimagined themselves with the passing of their namesakes, i.e. the Roy Rogers Museum with his death in 1998. “The Rex Allen Museum is one of the last standing,” said Rex Allen Jr. “It has been central to Willcox and Rex Allen Days for more than 60 years.” He added that the Museum is starting a Rex Allen Legacy Project that will focus on
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the values instilled by the early Westerns in generations of fans. “Dad always said that what goes around, comes around, and he felt that other generations would rediscover what made those films special,” said Allen. He added, “When Tom Brokaw of NBC News retired, he wrote a book called “The Greatest Generation.” It was a book about the women and men who fought in World War II. What he missed was where three generations of American men and women got their morality. It was from the films of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Rex Allen. They were only in black and white; good guys wore white hats, and bad guys wore
With Roy Rogers returning to the public eye, his group, the Sons of the Pioneers, are close to celebrating 90 years of continuous music. Their storied history includes 42 different members, radio and movie appearances from 1934 to 1999 (with Roy Rogers and Charles Starrett), two Grammys, memberships in numerous Halls of Fame, and a star on the Walk of Fame. They have been described as a ‘living legend’ by the Western Music Association. “There is talk of a 90th-anniversary tour of Western Canada,” said Trail Boss Tommy Nallie. “We have been performing to packed houses throughout the United States, and band historian John Fullerton recently established a Son of the Pioneers YouTube Channel.”
Canadian Cowboy Country August/September 2023