Screenland (Nov 1950-Oct 1951)

ing musicals. I didn't. They tried to make me into another Alice Faye at 20th, but couldn't. I was still paying no attention to the sunshine when I won a second try at the movies at Republic. I wasn't cast with Roy at first because t lie Western locations were too rugged for me. Besides, I couldn't ride. When at last they cast me with Roy I had to secretly take some fast riding lessons. I continued to sing torchy songs on the radio, with Edgar Bergen, Jack Carson, and then Jimmy Durante. I only began to sing Western songs when I had to — to sing with Roy. Now I love them. And I love the wholly new way of living he opened up for me. I not only enjoy mountain trips, but I hunt and fish and sleep in zippered sleeping bags high up in the great open spaces, to which he's introduced me. I've gone completely Western in my wardrobe, too. Like Roy, everything I wear has a distinct touch of the West. While it's all been new to me, it's really been a reverting to what I was intended for — because I spent my girlhood in a small town and my parents were very sound, sensible people. When Roy and I married we each sold the houses we had ami picked out our present house. We agreed we'd stay put in it at least ten years. Everyone seems to move around in California, but I've told Roy how much I want roots for us, and he sees my point. We want the children to go to the same school, year after year, so they will feel that they "belong" to it and to the community. They go to a public school, of course. The three older ones are all agog when they can visit the studio, but I limit that to one visit for each of Roy's pictures. We don't want them hanging around the sets, becoming jaded. Here at home the two older girls have definite little household chores. With Dusty, they keep regular hours. They're up early ( aren't we all in this house!) and they rest after lunch, and they are allowed to go to the movies once a week. 58 I don't believe in giving kids too much That smothers their instinct to amount to something by their own wits. I want Robin to have a very normal, happy-aspossible childhood. All of us have but one childhood, and it's the parents' duty to see that it's as advantageous a period as it can be. Protecting and embracing children isn't all you owe your family. Enough to eat and a place to sleep isn't sufficient security for them. You have to love them obviously, so they have no doubt of your stability. You also must love them enough to permit them to be individuals. Each child has the right to grow into his or her unique personality. If you don't respect this right when they're little you are stifling and distorting them. The most valuable thing you can teach a child is to be loving. All of us have a capacity for love, but too often we haven't learned how to develop and use it. A child learns by observing his parents, by imitating. That's why I've told Roy our greatest obligation is to our home. He and I are on probation here, set the example. Of course, it's mighty easy to talk to Roy like this. He's so instinctively such a wonderful father he's miles ahead of me! I've told Cheryl and Linda that they shouldn't tell the other children at school who their father is. "If you have to say your father is Roy Rogers to get any attention, then you're nowhere. We all have to create our own importance." Ego can devour a person, and it must be channelled into a decent ambition. So the four Rogers children are getting as little of the limelight as possible. To be well-adjusted, they must be self-reliant. J think travel is fine for children when it doesn't take them out of their regular school year. Last year we took Cheryl and Linda on their first trip with us, to the Future Farmers of America convention in Kansas City and a benefit at the Boys' Ranch at Amarillo. They missed one week of school then. They fell behind temporarily. I felt guilty. We ould stagger it, and treat each one of e kids to a trip once a year, I've said Roy. He's so eager to have them with m, he beamed! Today it seems to me kids are too gh-strung. They have to be amused, !ien they should exert their own intel•;ence and invent their fun. They ask, .Vhat can I do now?" because they've id too many toys, perhaps. It's a sub:t the Parent Teachers' Association in ponder over. I want to give our children an inner curity, so they can confidently choose hat they want out of life and go after . This means a religious training. Rcy nd I not only take the kids to Sunday mool, but we attend our church faithdly. We are as active as we can be in 1 church doing's, for we feel each person lould be and do all he professes as a hristian. Robin has "joined the party" at our iousc. Each child has a niche in a parent's heart that no one else can ever take, so she won't get any special favors. Nobody is tiptoeing about because of her. Modern doctors agree that a baby's nervous system will be better if it's conditioned to the everyday ways of life right off. Early every morning the two biggest of our fifteen dogs tear up the stairs to gaze at Robin. They can peek through the glass door of her nursery, which was formerly our guest room. ( We have thirty-five -pigeons, six horses, and three hamsters, but they're waiting until Robin can toddle, I guess!) Roy's carpenter shop is in the garage, almost underneath Robin's room. He runs his motors and pounds down there. She's already used to noise. It's been hard to go out on a. personal appearance tour with Roy, leaving the children home. We have completely reliable help. But it's so much fun to watch each child experience childhood! It won't be too long before we're bundling Robin into the car for one of our family picnics at Paradise Cove beyond Malibu. Just watching Linda eating sand on her hamburger is a treat to me. A crew man obliges John Wayne with a light after doing scene for "Operation Pacific."