Broadway and Hollywood "Movies" (Jan - Dec 1932)

12 BROADWAY AND more than dressing up for formal parties and as you might suspect he rarely does. Perhaps it is this simplicity, this homespun quality that sets Will Rogers apart. You have only to see him in one of his pictures to realize that Will is not acting, unless being natural can be called acting. As Ichabod Crane in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” he convulsed his audiences and this as well as the other short comedy “Two Wagons — Both Covered,” in which he burlesqued all the leading male parts of that epic production, “The Covered Wagon,” might well be taken out of storage and released to furnish a weary world with a few laughs. Among his full length pictures are: “So This is London”, based on the stage success of the same name, “They Had to See Paris,” in which Irene Rich is again cast as his wife. He was fine in “A Connecticut Yankee,” but possibly his best role was the one Frank Bacon created on the stage in “Lightnin’.” The picture allowed much more leeway for Will’s interpretation of the slow moving, slow thinking character known as “Lightnin’.” In “As Young as You Feel” he played opposite Fifi Dorsay. His latest picture is “Ambassador Bill.” We are forced to say that the scenario is not worthy of Will’s efforts. Too often this is the case of late — mediocre stories are filmed in the evident expectation that the actors can work miracles. His real hobby is flying and he never takes a train, boat, or auto, if he can possibly secure a plane for the trip. Some years ago when he was coming East on a hurried trip he chartered a plane, and on its first landing he wired home to Los Angeles to see if Mrs. Rogers had arrived home safely, for to his mind there was far more danger in city traffic than in flying over the Rockies. This interest of Will Rogers’ in flying is really more than a hobby — it has developed into a driving force that has spurred others on to make improvements. One instance of this is the attention he attracted while flying through the drought stricken area of our Mid West ' early in 1931. His is a vi->. brant personality and when he speaks people listen because he has something to s a y. His caustic comments broadcast in the nation’s newspapers were the reason for many airports being rebuilt after his visits. Probably no one man has done more to make us understood to our neighbors of Central and South America. In two weeks he visited fifteen countries, a trip of about 8,000 miles. Judging from the newspaper reports from these countries, his very presence was a tonic to the people, especially in the stricken areas like Man agua. He’s a man’s man wherever there is real distress. As a flying member of the Exchange Club, whose main objective has been the furthering of aviation, he has been acclaimed as having done more to help this program than any other living person. Perhaps this inadequate sketch will give you a better appreciation of a man who holds a peculiar niche in American life and letters. In closing, I can find no finer tribute than that paid our "Goodwill Ambassador” by an editorial writer in the New York Times in which he says: “Giving wings to most people does not add to their ability to be of benefit to the world in their own persons, though it may increase their economic efficiency or individual enjoyment. But when a genius such as Will Rogers ‘has got wings,’ he becomes a sort of superman, not by reason of a superiority of attitude, but by the multiplication of his contacts with human creatures who need a bit of cheer in their hopelessness or weariness or misery.” As this writer pointed out. Will is a sort of modern minstrel or troubadour. He goes about, like a ministering angel, a very masculine angel to be sure, doing kind deeds and saying kind things to his fellow man. Will has no equal as an after-dinner speaker. His extensive knowledge of men and events instead of making him stuffy as so many men in public life are apt to be has just the opposite effect on Will Rogers. His remarks are more pungent and better calculated to stimulate thought in the minds of his hearers or readers, as the case may be, than anyone else I know. It is small wonder then to find him acting as correspondent for over two-hundred newspapers. His rare understanding of human nature has a universal appeal. His books have been translated and enjoyed by millions all over the globe. His homelife shows the same forthright spirit one senses in his writings. One day recently he dashed into his home on Beverley Hills for something he’d forgotten. Running up two flights of stairs he greeted Mrs. Rogers somewhat in this fashion: “Ma, these stairs are rickety, the floors creak and even sag in places, and I just can’t help but feel afraid that some day it’s going to cave in and I’ll end up in the cellar.” Evidently Mrs. Rogers thought the cellar no place for her Will to end up, so she proceeded to pack the family off to live in the Beverley Hills Hotel, while the housewreckers are tearing down the old manse, preparatory to building a bigger and better house for our favorite Ambassador. In the Connecticut Yankee.