King of the Cowboys, Queen of the West: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

552 Pages·2005·170.168 MB·English

by  Raymond E. White

King
OF THE COWBOYS,
~een
OF THE WEST
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A RAY AND PAT BROWNE BOOK
Series Editors
Ray B. Browne and Pat Browne
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King
OF THE COWBOYS,
f2.Eeen
OF THE WEST
Roy Rogers Dale Evans
and
RAYMOND E. WHITE
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS / POPULAR PRESS
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The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 2005
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All righ ts reserved
3 5 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
White, Ray (Raymond E.)
King of the cowboys, queen of the west: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans / Raymond E. White.
p. cm.
Roy Rogers's Filmography: p.
Dale Evans's Filmography: p.
Roy Rogers's Discography: p.
Dale Evans's Discography: p.
Dale Evans Rogers Inspirarional Books: p.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-299-21000-6 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-299-21004-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Rogers, Roy, 1911-2. Rogers, Dale Evans. 3. Acrors-United States-Biography.
4. Singers-United States-Biography. I. Tide.
PN2287.R73W482005
791.4302 '8 '092273-dc22
2004025628
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'For I(qthryn
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CONTENTS
III ustrations IX
Preface XIII
Chapter 1 Roy Rogers and Dale Evans: Symbols of the Mythic
American West 3
Chapter 2 Radio Roundup: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on the Air 24
Chapter 3 Waxing the West: The Recording Careers of Roy Rogers
and Dale Evans 45
Chapter 4 Quick Draw: The Comics of Roy Rogers, Dale Evans,
and Trigger 67
Chapter 5 Adventures in Paradise Valley: The Television Careers of
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans 86
Chapter 6 The Bible Tells Me So: Christianity in the Careers of
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans 104
Epilogue 113
Appendix A Roy Rogers's Filmography 117
Appendix B Dale Evans's Filmography 166
Appendix C Log of Roy Rogers's Radio Appearances 174
Appendix D Log of Dale Evans's Radio Appearances 213
Appendix E Roy Rogers's Discography 230
Appendix F Dale Evans's Discography 300
Appendix G Roy and Dale's Song Compositions 340
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Appendix H Roy and Dale's Comics 345
Appendix I Roy and Dale's Television Appearances 400
Appendix J Log of A Date with Dale 459
Appendix K Dale Evans Rogers's Inspirational Books 479
Notes 485
Bibliographical Essay: In Their Own Words 505
Index 517
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Stanley and Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers) with their instruments, somewhere in
Southern California, circa 1931 7
Hugh Farr, Fuzzy Knight, Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan, Mary Carlisle,
Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers), and Lillian Miles in The Old Homestead, 1935 8
Roy Rogers and Mary Hart (Lynn Roberts) from the Republic feature In Old
Caliente, 1939 11
Roy, Dale, and The Sons of the Pioneers perform in Roll on Texas Moon, 1946 13
Roy and Dale in a publicity photo for one of their early Republic Westerns,
circa 1944 15
Dale Evans with dark hair, Apache Rose, 1947 16
The Roy Rogers family in the late 1940s. Dale, Roy Rogers Jr. (Dusty), Roy,
Linda Lou, Cheryl 17
Roy Rogers and Clay O'Brien team up as a drifting bronc buster and a homeless
boy in Mackintosh and T.], Rogers's last feature film, 1975 22
Hugh Farr, Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, and Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers) in radio
publicity photo of The Sons of the Pioneers, circa 1934 25
The Sons of the Pioneers and the Randell sisters perform before a microphone,
circa 1935 26
Dale Evans, as a vocalist in her first professional job, stands before the WHAS
microphone in Louisville, circa 1935-36 28
Dale Evans performed as a vocalist on the Jimmy Durante-Gary Moore Show
on CBS in 1946 31
A young Roy Rogers poses with unidentified performer for a publicity photo
for CBS broadcast, date unknown 33
IX
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