The Papers Of Will Rogers The Early Years November 1879 April 1904

Horses, friends, ragtime music, and steer roping-those were the interests of the youthful Will Rogers as he came of age in the Indian Territory and traveled to the Southern Hemisphere in this first of six definitive volumes of The Papers of Will Rogers. By separating fact from legend and unveiling new knowledge via extensive archival research, this documentary history represents a unique contribution to Rogers scholarship and to studies of the Cherokee Nation West. Using many previously unpublished letters and photographs-together with introductions, notes, and biographies of his friends and relatives-volume one illuminates Rogers’s complex relationship with his father, his Cherokee heritage, his early education, first encounters with his future wife, Betty Blake, his voyage to Argentina, and his fledging years in Wild West shows and circuses in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Coorespondence, performance reviews, and rare newspaper documents spotlight the singular experiences that shaped the young Rogers within the context of his family, his ethnic background, and historical events. No other book describes so provocatively and authentically the genesis of America’s most beloved and influential humorist.

This fifth and final volume of The Papers of Will Rogers traces the career of Oklahoma’s beloved entertainer during his most popular years and extends beyond his death in 1935. By 1928, the Oklahoma humorist and commentator had reached national prominence through his newspaper columns, silent films, sound recordings, books, philanthropic endeavors, and lecture tours. His fame, fortune, and influence, however, had yet to crest. This volume showcases a wide variety of documents, including correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the day, revealing Rogers’s rise to fame as the nation’s leading social and political commentator and as a hugely popular star of radio, stage, and film. Rogers’s multifaceted career ended abruptly when he and the famous aviator Wylie Post died in an airplane crash in northernmost Alaska. This documentary history of his final years includes transcripts of radio broadcasts, contracts, and business documents, as well as nearly two hundred telegrams and letters to family, friends, and notable public figures—the majority of which have never before been published. It also covers the aftermath of his fatal airplane accident: the certificate of death, a first-person account of his funeral, settlement of his estate, efforts to pay tribute to his memory, and unauthorized attempts to capitalize on his fame.

"These journals also provide insight into Dodge's character, with reports of his official duties as a military man and of several landmark events in his family life. Extensive commentaries and notes by Wayne R. Kime provide further detail, including a history of Cantonment North Fork Canadian River, a six-company post Dodge established and commanded in the region."--BOOK JACKET.

In 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.

This book highlights the contributions and careers of Native Americans who have carved impressive careers in Hollywood, from the silent film era of the early 1900s to the present, becoming advocates for their heritage. This book explores how the heritage and behind-the-scenes activities of Native American actors and filmmakers helped shape their own movie images. Native artists have impacted movies for more than a century, but until recently their presence had passed largely unrecognized. From the silent era to contemporary movies, this book features leading Native American actors whose voices have reached a broad audience and are part of the larger conversation about the exploitation of underrepresented people in Hollywood. Each chapter highlights Native actors in lead or supporting roles as well as filmmakers whose movies were financed and distributed by Hollywood studios. The text further explores how a "pan-Indian heritage" that applies to all tribes in terms of spirituality, historical trauma, and a version of ceremony and storytelling have shaped these performers' movie identities. It will appeal to a wide range of readers, including fans of Westerns, history buffs of American popular cinema, and students and scholars of Native American studies. A note from the author: Since the publication of this book, the CBC news magazine "The Fifth Estate" released an investigative documentary on October 27, 2023, alleging that Buffy Sainte-Marie had been fraudulently posing as a Native Canadian throughout her career.

Uncovering hidden histories of Indigenous performers in vaudeville and in the creation of western modernity and popular culture Drawing from little-known archives, Christine Bold brings to light forgotten histories of Indigenous performers in vaudeville and, by extension, popular culture and modernity. Vaudeville was both a forerunner of modern mass entertainment and a rich site of popular Indigenous performance and notions of Indianness at the turn of the twentieth century. Tracing the stories of artists Native to Turtle Island (North America) performing across the continent and around the world, Bold illustrates a network of more than 300 Indigenous and Indigenous-identifying entertainers, from Will Rogers to Go-won-go Mohawk to Princess Chinquilla, who upend vaudeville's received history. These fascinating stories cumulatively reveal vaudeville as a space in which the making of western modernity both denied and relied on living Indigenous presence, and in which Indigenous artists negotiated agency and stereotypes through vaudeville performance.

Historical Dictionary of Vaudeville contains a chronology, an introduction, an extensive bibliography, and the dictionary section has more than 1,000 cross-referenced entries on performing artists, managers and agents, theatre facilities, and the terminology central to the history of vaudeville.